10 facts about 10 new members of Congress

Which new member of the House is a former reindeer farmer? Who is the biggest new tea party name in the Senate? Here’s a look at 10 new members of Congress with unique backgrounds.cruzwarrenThe 113thCongress is sworn in on January 3, 2013, and it’s a diverse bunch.There will be 90 new members of Congress to start the New Year, with 13 new senators and 67 representatives making their appearances in...

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Factbox: Key players in scramble to avoid U.S. "fiscal cliff"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The outcome of the "fiscal cliff" debate will be decided in four days, with just a handful of powerful leaders in Washington calling the shots, for better or for worse.Here are some of the politicians and administration figures who are involved in trying to head off the tax increases and federal spending cuts that will take hold in January unless Congress acts, possibly pushing...

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Curtain rises in 2013 on final act in soap opera over new arena for Oilers

EDMONTON - It started out as a sports arena but has become Edmonton's longest running soap opera.A cost-shared deal between the hockey-mad city and the Edmonton Oilers to build a palatial downtown rink for the NHL team went from deal to no-deal to possible deal in 2012, with all sides now agreeing a final resolution — one way or the other — must come early in 2013.It has been a series of setbacks...

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The 9 worst political gaffes of 2012

In an election season riddled with gaffes, flubs, and verbal miscues, here are the lowlightsThe arguably most damaging verbal flub of the 2012 election season — Mitt Romney's covertly recorded comments to wealthy donors that 47 percent of Americans are government-addicted moochers — wasn't even a classic inadvertent gaffe: He meant to say it, and even revisited the theme after he lost the presidential...

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Best of 2012: The Year of Comedy, Citizens United, Health Care Competition, and Trolls

AP Photo/Jacquelyn MartinRed lights illuminate Pennsylvania Avenue as the U.S. Capitol glows in the twilight, in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, as talks continue on the looming fiscal cliff. The Political Landscape is a weekly conversation with National Journal writers, editors, and outside experts on the news of the day.2012 was a year of ineffable change domestically and abroad. At home:...

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‘iPhone 5S’ could feature new ‘touch-on display’ technology

The display Apple (AAPL) uses in the iPhone 5 could be replaced as soon as this year. It has been reported that the panel’s in-cell touch technology, which allows for a thinner design by combining the touch sensor and display into one panel, has been causing interference problems with the touchscreen and is also part of the reason behind recent supply shortages. According to a report from The China...

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APPLE’S Q1 IPHONE SALES MAY HIT 50 MILLION AS IPAD SALES CLIMB TO 24 MILLION

Shares of Apple (AAPL) are down more than 20% in the past three months from highs in the $700 range. Despite guiding for a record holiday quarter, Wall Street continues to be split on Apple’s future. Some analysts expect the company’s success to continue while othershave argued that “people overbelieved in Apple.” Rob Cihra of Evercore Partners thinks the company will...

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NY pension fund sues Qualcomm for political records

 New York State's $150-billion public pension fund has sued Qualcomm Inc., seeking to force the chipmaker to reveal its political spending, according to the state comptroller.The suit was filed late on Wednesday in Delaware Court of Chancery, after Qualcomm refused the request by the New York State Common Retirement Fund -- a Qualcomm shareholder -- to inspect records detailing the use of corporate...

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6 takeaways from Google's antitrust settlement

Google Inc. has settled an U.S. antitrust probe that largely leaves its search practices alone. In a major win for Google, the Federal Trade Commission unanimously concluded that there is not enough evidence to support complaints from rivals that the company shows unfair bias in its search results toward its own products.Below are six of the biggest takeaways from the decision announced Thursday:—...

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The Milky Way Is Home to 100 Billion Scary Alien Planets

A new study published in the peer-reviewed Astrophysical Journal presents evidence that approximately 100 billion "alien planets" — that is, astronomical objects determined to be orbiting a star — reside in the Milky Way, the galactic home of planet Earth. The Caltech astrophysicists who authored the study say their estimate is "conservative"; there could very well be 200 billion...

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