Obama tapping Biden to lead multi-agency gun violence policy review

President Obama is launching an administration-wide effort to curb gun violence, underscoring the growing political consensus over tightening gun restrictions following the horrific massacre at a Connecticut elementary school.

Sources confirm to CBS News correspondent Major Garrett that Mr. Obama is tasking Vice President Joe Biden, a longtime gun control advocate, with spearheading the effort.

In remarks from the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Obama will outline a process for pursuing policy changes following the school shooting, though he is not expected to call for specific measures.

The president has vowed to use "whatever power this office holds" to safeguard the nation's children after Friday's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. Twenty children and six adults were killed at the school by a gunman carrying an arsenal of ammunition and a high-powered, military-style rifle.

US school massacre: Obama says yes to assault weapons ban

 Washington: In the aftermath of the massacre at Connecticut school, US President Barack Obama has decided to back a ban on assaults weapon, White House spokesperson Jay Carney said on Tuesday.

After the heinous shootings at Connecticut school reignited the debate over gun control laws in America, White House has listed a slew of measures in order to tackle the situation, that President Obama will be supporting.

One of the measures included a bill on reinstating an assault weapons ban as suggested by US Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Jay Carney said Obama was “actively supportive” of the Senator’s idea of crafting a legislation to reinstate an assault weapons ban and would also back any law to close a loophole related to gun-show sales.

"He is actively supportive of, for example, Senator Feinstein's stated intent to revive a piece of legislation that would reinstate the assault weapons ban," Mr Carney said on Tuesday.

Mr Obama would also look into other gun legislations, including on high-capacity ammunition clips and against a loophole that allows for gun purchases at gun shows without a background check, the White House said as per the BBC report. Obama spoke earlier in the day with Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a gun rights advocate who said he would now be open to more regulation of military-style rifles like the one used in Newtown, Connecticut, on Friday.

"He is heartened, I should mention, by what we have all heard from some members of Congress who have been longtime opponents of gun control measures, common sense gun control measures like the assault weapons ban and the like," Carney said.

On Monday, Obama met with senior administration officials including Vice President Joe Biden, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about the issue.

"It's the beginning of a process where ... we will look for ways to address this problem in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown," Carney said.

Talaash: Aamir Khan's film enters the Rs 100 crore club

 Aamir Khan-starrer suspense thriller 'Taalash' has made it to the Rs 100 crore club. The film has raked in Rs 131.78 crore worldwide.

The film, directed by Reema Kagti, and co-produced by Farhan Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani's Excel Entertaiment and Aamir Khan Productions, earned Rs.85.38 crore at the domestic box office within 13 days of its release, Nov 30.

The film has grossed Rs 46.40 crore overseas. 'Talaash' also features Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor.

It was made on a budget of Rs 40 crore, and released across 2,500 screens. Its satellite rights were sold for Rs 40 crore.

India successfully test-fires Agni-I ballistic missile

 BALASORE: Sharpening its missile prowess, India today successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable Agni-I ballistic missile with a strike range of 700 km from a test range off Odisha coast.

The surface-to-surface missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher at about 0830 hrs from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island, about 100 km from here, defence sources said.

Describing the test as successful, ITR Director MVKV Prasad said, "It was a practice trial conducted by the Strategic Force Command of the Indian Army."

Agni-I, a single-stage missile powered by solid propellants, has a specialised navigation system which ensures that it reaches the target with a high degree of accuracy and precision, a defence scientist said.

Weighing 12 tonnes, the 15-metre-long Agni-I, which is capable of carrying payloads up to 1000 kg, has already been inducted into the Indian Army.

Agni-I has been developed by advanced systems laboratory, the premier missile development laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in collaboration with Defence Research Development Laboratory and Research Centre Imarat and integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad.

The last trial of the Agni-I missile was successfully carried out on July 13, 2012 from the same test range.

NASA adds $30 million for space taxi work

  

The U.S. space agency awarded $10 million to privately owned Sierra Nevada Corp, $9.99 million to Boeing and $9.59 million to privately owned Space Exploration Technologies to help the firms get their vehicles certified to fly to the station.

 

Since the retirement of the space shuttles last year, NASA has been dependent on Russia to fly astronauts to the $100 billion orbital outpost, a research laboratory owned and operated by 15 countries that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

The companies have separate agreements with NASA to develop space transportation systems, with the aim of breaking Russia's monopoly by 2017. Boeing was awarded $460 million for its CST-100 capsule, Space Exploration Technologies received $440 million to upgrade its Dragon cargo capsule to carry people and Sierra Nevada was awarded $212.5 million for work on its winged Dream Chaser.

The earlier awards were to help fund the spaceship designs, while the new awards will help fund the process of certifying that they meet NASA safety requirements to carry humans.

"These contracts represent important progress in restoring human spaceflight capabilities to the United States," Phil McAlister, who oversees NASA's commercial spaceflight programs, said in a statement.

"NASA and its industry partners are committed to the goal of safely and cost-effectively launching astronauts from home within the next five years," he said.

The contracts run from January 22, 2013, through May 30, 2014.

Strong earthquake hits Indonesia, wakes up residents in Darwin, Australia

A LARGE earthquake has been reported off the coast of Indonesia.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 7.1 on the Richter Scale. It says  the quake struck offshore, with the epicentre 236km northwest of the city of Saumlaki. The quake was reported at a depth of 155km.

GeoScience Australia measured the tremor as 7.3 on the Richter scale.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had no immediate tsunami warning.

There were no initial reports of damage to areas around the site in Indonesia.

The quake hit shortly before 4am AEDT today.

It woke up residents in Darwin with several taking to social media to report the tremor.

"Did you feel that earthquake too?" asked one on Facebook.

"Woke, me up .. the whole house was rocking," said another.

Territorians jumped on to the NT News Facebook to share their quake experiences, some even as it was happening.

"I'm on a 5th floor apartment and it woke me up," posted Kylie Nicholson from the CBD.

"I'm out on Croker Island... brought back memories of 2011 Christmas in Christchurch... scary," wrote Clare Schoeller.

"Oh my god, it sounded like a train," said Shelley Carter in suburban Jingili.

Indonesia is located in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.

Barack Obama leads 2012 Forbes power list, Manmohan Singh 19th

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi have been named among the top 20 most powerful persons in the world by Forbes magazine in its annual power rankings which placed US President Barack Obama as number one for a second year in a row.

India's richest businessman Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and Arcelor Mittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal also feature in the list that comprises 71 mighty heads of state, CEOs, entrepreneurs and philanthropists who "truly run and shape the world of 7.1 billion people."

Gandhi dropped a notch from last year's list and ranks at number 12 this year ahead of Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang and French President Francois Hollande.

Forbes said the 65-year-old leader of India's ruling political party has the reins of the world's second-most-populous country and tenth-largest economy.

"Son Rahul is next in line to take over India's most famous political dynasty," it added.

Coming in at the 20th spot is Singh, the Oxford and Cambridge-educated economist who is the architect of India's economic reforms.

Singh had ranked 19th in the list last year.

"But Singh's quiet intellectualism is increasingly seen as timid and soft," Forbes added.

Ambani, owner of the world's most expensive private residence, ranks 37th in the list.

Forbes said the petrochemical billionaire is India's richest and Reliance Industries is the nation's most valuable company. It however described Ambani's support for disgraced former Goldman Sachs Director Rajat Gupta as a "low point" for him in 2012.

Mittal, ranked 47th in the most powerful people list, has a net worth of USD 16 billion but also has "lots of headaches, including S&P and Moody downgrades of his company's debt to junk status. " A highlight for Mittal during the past year was carrying the Olympic flame in the 2012 Torch Relay.