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WASHINGTON: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, pledging to "strike a balance" between the risk of an overheating economy and the need to keep growth on track, told U.S. lawmakers that the central bank would stick with gradual interest rate increases despite the added stimulus of tax cuts and government spending. Fed policymakers anticipate three rate increases this year, and Powell gave no indication in prepared remarks to the House Financial Services Committee that the pace needs to quicken even as the "tailwinds" of government stimulus and a stronger world economy propel the U.S. recovery. "The [Federal Open Market Committee] will continue to strike a balance between avoiding an overheating economy and bringing ... price inflation to 2 percent on a sustained basis," Powell said in his first monetary policy testimony to Congress as Fed chief. "Some of the headwinds the U.S. economy faced in previous years have turned into tailwinds," Pow...

LONDON: Britain would consider joining US military strikes against the Syrian government if there is evidence chemical weapons are being used against civilians, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. Johnson said he hoped Britain and other Western nations would not stand by in the event of a chemical attack, voicing support for limited strikes if there is “incontrovertible evidence” of the Syrian’s government involvement. “If we know that it has happened, and we can demonstrate it, and if there is a proposal for action where the UK could be useful then I think we should seriously consider it,” Johnson told BBC radio. from The News International - World http://ift.tt/2oG0qOC

MIAMI: It may rain once a decade or less in South America’s Atacama Desert, but tiny bacteria and microorganisms survive there, hinting at the possibility of similar life on Mars, researchers said Monday. The desert, which spans parts of Chile and Peru, is the driest non-polar desert on Earth and may contain the environment most like that of the Red Planet, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Lead researcher Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a professor and planetary scientist at the Technical University of Berlin, and colleagues took a trip to the desert in 2015 to learn more about what kind of life might exist there. Then, unexpectedly, it rained. Scientists detected an explosion of biological activity in the soil, and quickly began using sterile spoons to scoop up samples. Genomic analyses helped identify the several apparently indigenous species of microbial life — mostly bacteria — that had somehow adapted to live in the harsh environment by lying dormant ...

WASHINGTON: Hope Hicks, a close aide to President Donald Trump, arrived at the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Tuesday morning for what could be several hours of testimony in its investigation of Russia and the 2016 US election campaign. White House communications director Hicks was Trump´s spokeswoman during the 2016 election campaign. Committee members told reporters they did not know before her testimony whether she would answer their questions, or refuse by invoking executive privilege. Other Trump aides, such as former White House adviser Steve Bannon, have declined to answer many of the committee´s questions for that reason. from The News International - World http://ift.tt/2oG0fTs

BEIJING: China on Tuesday defended a controversial detention measure set to become law when a new anti-corruption “super-ministry” is formally set up next month, calling it a unique step necessary to combat graft. President Xi Jinping has vowed to intensify efforts to root out corruption among Chinese officials and called for strong mechanisms that will effectively form a “cage” to prevent officials from breaking rules. China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, is expected to pass the new law and amend the state constitution at an annual meeting in March, finalising the establishment of a National Supervision Commission with the power to investigate all state employees. from The News International - World http://ift.tt/2HNvvZb

SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday demanded a 30-year-jail sentence for former president Park Geun-hye, sacked over a wide-ranging corruption scandal which exposed shady links between big business and politics and prompted massive street protests. The 66-year-old daughter of a former dictator was dismissed in March 2017 and has now been in custody for almost a year.“We ask the court to hand down 30 years in prison and (a fine of) 118.5 billion won ($110 million) for the accused, who must take ultimate responsibility for the scandal as the 18th president of this country,” prosecutors said in a statement. They said Park, in collusion with her secret confidante and long-time friend Choi Soon-sil, took or was promised bribes totalling 59.2 billion won ($52 million) from three South Korean companies, Samsung, Lotte and SK, in return for policy favours. from The News International - World http://ift.tt/2oG04Yi

OUAGADOUGOU: More than 80 people went on trial before a military court in Burkina Faso on Tuesday over a failed 2015 coup in a case being seen as a test for justice in the West African country. Two top generals accused of masterminding the plot, Gilbert Diendere and Djibrill Bassole, were cheered by supporters as they arrived at the court in the capital Ouagadougou. Security was high, with forces guarding a 200-metre (yard) cordon around the military tribunal. Traffic was blocked, mobile phones banned and people entering the zone were searched. Bassole and Diendere — key allies of former president Blaise Compaore who was chased from power in October 2014 — are among a total of 84 people on trial, including 66 military officials and 18 civilians. from The News International - World http://ift.tt/2HNXMit