Temasek raises stake in Olam

SINGAPORE: Temasek Holdings has raised its stake in commodity trader Olam International to 17 percent from 16.3 percent. In a filing with the Singapore Exchange, Olam said Temasek had bought 200,000 shares for S$293,000 from the open market on Tuesday through its investment vehicle Aranda Investments. In an emailed comment to Channel NewsAsia, a Temasek spokesperson said: "We have invested...

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National Geographic turns off Instagram over new terms

The backlash over announced changes to Instagram's terms of service has led National Geographic to suspend its posting activity on the photo sharing app.The Facebook-owned app ignited a storm of protest with the announcement earlier this week that it had perpetual right to sell users' photographs without payment or notification. Under the new policy, Facebook claimed the perpetual right to license...

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Obama moves on taxes in latest "cliff" counter-proposal

President Obama gave up Monday on his demand for higher taxes on households earning $250,000 and upped it to $400,000 while embracing smaller cost-of-living Social Security raises in a counter-proposal to House Speaker John Boehner meant to narrow differences and forge a pre-Christmas "fiscal cliff" deal. Mr. Obama and Boehner met for nearly an hour in the Oval Office on Monday and sources familiar...

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Conn. Kids Laid to Rest: 'Our Hearts Are With You'

Visibly shaken attendees exiting the funeral today for 6-year-old Noah Pozner, one of 20 children killed in the Connecticut school massacre last week, said they were touched by a story that summed up the first-grader best.His mother, Veronique, would often tell him how much she loved him and he'd respond: "Not as much as I [love] you," said a New York man who attended the funeral...

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Syrian rebels take control of Damascus Palestinian camp

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels took full control of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on Monday after fighting raged for days in the district on the southern edge of President Bashar al-Assad's Damascus powerbase, rebel and Palestinian sources said. The battle had pitted rebels, backed by some Palestinians, against Palestinian fighters of the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation...

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Mayan calendar is only part of rich legacy

GUATEMALA CITY: The most precise and sophisticated calendar ever created is only one of the legacies of the ancient Maya, who also left their mark on the arts, architecture and cooking, experts say.The Mayan "Long Count" calendar says an era of more than 5,000 years ends on December 21 - doomsday for some but a reason to rejoice for many others in Mexico and Central America, where the...

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Samsung loses bid for new trial after Apple's $1B verdict

A federal judge today denied Samsung's request for a new trial against based on allegations of jury misconduct.The South Korean electronics giant had asked that Apple's billion-dollar verdict be thrown out, arguing it was tainted by the jury foreman's failure to disclose previous litigation with Seagate Technology, a company in which Samsung is a major investor, as well as an alleged bias made evident...

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Two Topeka, Kan., police officers killed in shootout

Officials stand outside a Topeka, Kan., grocery store, where two police officers where killed in a shootout on Dec. 16, 2012. / WIBW-TV Updated 11:48 p.m. ETTOPEKA, Kan. Authorities say two Kansas police officers shot outside a grocery store have died at a hospital. Police say the 22-year-old male suspect in Sunday evening's shooting in Topeka remains at large and is believed to still be...

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Obama: Nation Faces 'Hard Questions' After Shooting

President Barack Obama said at an interfaith prayer service in this mourning community this evening that the country is "left with some hard questions" if it is to curb a rising trend in gun violence, such as the shooting spree Friday at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School.After consoling victims' families in classrooms at Newtown High School, the president said he would...

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U.N. chief alarmed by escalating violence in Syria

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm on Sunday at the worsening violence in Syria, including the reported mass killing of Alawites and alleged firing of long-range missiles on Syrian territory, Ban's spokesman said. "The Secretary-General is alarmed by the continued dramatic escalation of violence in Syria over the past several days, and the grave...

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