Oil prices up in Asian trade

SINGAPORE: Oil prices rebounded in Asian trade Wednesday on stronger US demand for heating oil but an impending showdown in the US Congress over the debt ceiling could limit gains, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February was up 15 cents to $93.43 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for February delivery climbed 22 cents to $110.52.

Islamabad: D-Chowk security ramped up

ISLAMABAD: Hoping to keep the Tehrik Minhaj-ul-Quran’s (TMQ) marchers at bay, a third layer of shipping containers was being lined up between D-Chowk and the sit-in site, Geo News reported.

The authorities in federal capital are trying their best to stop the thronging sit-inners from making inroads towards the Parliament House or other sensitive establishments that fall in the Red Zone.

On the other hand dozens of TMQ‘s stick-wielding activists kept a vigil about the sit-in site all night long.

Earlier on Tuesday the TMQ leader Dr Tahirul Qadri said

Home internet access increses,but not everywhere

WASHINGTON, -- Just under a third of adults worldwide report having home Internet access, a U.S. poll indicates.
The Gallup survey conducted in 148 countries found 32 percent of adults saying they had Internet access, up from 29 percent in 2010, 25 percent in 2009, 23 percent in 2008 and 21 percent in 2007.

Thousands at memorial ceremony near Paris

Thousands of Kurds have attended a memorial near Paris for three activists shot dead in the city, amid reports of Turkish air strikes on the PKK.

Carrying flags and posters of the three dead women, they followed the coffins across frozen ground to a community centre where they were put on display.

The victims, a senior official in the separatist PKK group and two political activists, will be buried in Turkey.

Jets reportedly bombed PKK targets in Iraq despite peace talks.

Japan grounds 'Dreamliner' jets after series of issues

TOKYO –  All Boeing 787 planes in Japan are being grounded for safety checks in the latest blow for the new passenger jet, the country's transport ministry said Wednesday.

One of the 787s operated by All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing Wednesday in western Japan after a cockpit message showed battery problems -- the latest in a series of problems including a battery fire and fuel leaks. No one has been seriously injured.

The ministry said it got notices from ANA, which operates 17 of the jets, and Japan Airlines which has seven, that all their 787 "Dreamliner"aircraft will not be flying.

The grounding was being done voluntarily by the airlines.

Analysis: New China leaders must steady economy in 2013 before driving reform

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's new leaders must stabilize the economy this year to keep employment high while avoiding a surge in housing prices and inflation that could undermine reforms needed to overhaul the country's export-oriented growth model.

Without stability, incoming President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, who are set to be confirmed in March, have no chance of delivering a slew of reforms they say are needed now to tackle a host of financial, industrial and income imbalances that threaten China's future.

Two Dead After Separate College Shootings

Two people are killed and three injured after gunmen open fire at colleges in Kentucky and Missouri.

Two people have been shot dead at a community college in eastern Kentucky as a gunman injured himself and an administrator at another college in Missouri