Iran: Military captured foreign "enemy drone"

TEHRAN, Iran Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saturday that it captured a foreign unmanned aircraft during a military exercise in southern Iran. Gen. Hamid Sarkheili, a spokesman for the military exercise, said the Guard's electronic warfare unit spotted signals indicating that foreign drones were trying to enter Iranian airspace. Sarkheili said Guard experts took control of one drone's...

Read More..

Fiery Last-Lap Daytona Crash Injures 15 Fans

A fiery last-lap crash at the Daytona International Speedway injured a number of spectators today, who were seen being carried away from the stands on stretchers.Fifteen spectators were taken to the hospital, according to ESPN, with one on the way to surgery with head trauma.The 12-car crash happened moments before the end of the Nationwide race, and on the eve of the Daytona 500,...

Read More..

Tens of thousands in Spain protest economic policy, corruption

MADRID (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched through cities across the country on Saturday to protest deep austerity, the privatization of public services and political corruption. Gathering under the banner of the "Citizen Tide", students, doctors, unionists, young families and pensioners staged rowdy but non-violent demonstrations as a near five-year economic slump shows...

Read More..

Berlusconi slams Europe's 'lords of austerity'

ROME: Italy's Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday said Europe's "lords of austerity" had tried to get rid of him, speaking in apparent breach of rules for candidates to stay silent the day before elections."I contradicted the lords of austerity who are now trying to get rid of me," Berlusconi was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying in Milan in an interview with Greek television.Leftist...

Read More..

Google laptop shows Apple a thing or two

The 3.3-pound Google Chromebook Pixel sports a 12.85-inch, 2,560x1,700-pixel display and an Intel Core i5 processor. (Credit:Stephen Shankland/CNET)Thank you, Google. For obsoleting my MacBook. Question: What two killer hardware features are missing on MacBooks? My answer: a touch screen and 4G. What a coincidence. Just what Google is offering on the Chromebook Pixel. And in a package that comes close...

Read More..

Pentagon grounds F-35 fleet after engine crack found

WASHINGTON The Pentagon on Friday grounded its fleet of F-35 fighter jets after discovering a cracked engine blade in one plane. The problem was discovered during what the Pentagon called a routine inspection at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., of an F-35A, the Air Force version of the sleek new plane. The Navy and the Marine Corps are buying other versions of the F-35, which is intended to replace...

Read More..

Jodi Arias' Friends Believe in Her Innocence

Accused murderer Jodi Arias believes she should be punished, but hopes she will not be sentenced to death, two of her closest friends told ABC News in an exclusive interview.Ann Campbell and Donavan Bering have been a constant presence for Arias wth at least one of them sitting in the Phoenix, Ariz., courtroom along with Arias' family for almost every day of her murder trial....

Read More..

Rockets hit Aleppo, killing at least 29: monitor

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rockets struck eastern districts of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, on Friday, killing at least 29 people and trapping a family of 10 in the ruins of their home, activists in the city said. "There are families buried under the rubble," said an activist called Baraa al-Youssef, speaking by Skype after visiting the scene in his Ard al-Hamra neighborhood. "Nothing...

Read More..

Pope to quit Twitter after stepping down: Vatican Radio

VATICAN CITY: The pope's official Twitter account, which has more than two million followers in nine languages, will close next week when Benedict XVI leaves office, Vatican Radio said Friday.After a high-profile launch on December 12 under the name @pontifex, the pontiff's online musings quickly attracted over 1.5 million followers in English. Around a million other users of the site...

Read More..

Get lost in a stunning 320-gigapixel image of London

This zoomed-in image of the London Eye carousel -- which sits nearly 3 miles away from where the panorama was taken -- demonstrates the insane levels of magnification available at your fingertips.(Credit:British Telecommunications)How well do you know the landmarks of London? Get up close and personal with a stunning 320-gigapixel image of the city captured atop the BT Tower.Snapped by panorama experts...

Read More..

Movement in budget cuts battle?

Play VideoSequestration poses threat to government agency budgetsFor the first time since the waning days of the "fiscal cliff" battle in late December, President Obama reached out to congressional Republican leaders to talk about next week's impending budget cuts known as the sequester. "He placed calls earlier today to [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell and [House] Speaker [John] Boehner,"...

Read More..

Las Vegas Shooting Launches Multi-State Manhunt

An argument in the valet area of a Las Vegas hotel led to a deadly drive-by shooting on the occupants of a Maserati on Vegas' glitzy strip, initiating a multi-state manhunt for the black Range Rover from which the shots were fired.Three people were left dead in the attack, including two who died when their taxi was struck by the careening sports car and exploded into flames."What...

Read More..

French, Malian forces fight Islamist rebels in Gao

GAO, Mali (Reuters) - French and Malian troops fought Islamists on the streets of Gao and a car bomb exploded in Kidal on Thursday, as fighting showed little sign of abating weeks before France plans to start withdrawing some forces. Reuters reporters in Gao in the country's desert north said French and Malian forces fired at the mayor's office with heavy machineguns after Islamists were reported...

Read More..

Football: Laudrup tells Swansea to take initiative in final

LONDON: Swansea City coach Michael Laudrup said his side should have no concerns about being branded favourites ahead of their meeting with fourth-tier Bradford City in Sunday's English League Cup final.Swansea will be appearing in their first major cup final, but their achievement pales in comparison to that of Bradford, who have eliminated three Premier League sides en route to Wembley...

Read More..

LG announces Optimus F5, F7 ahead of Mobile World Congress

LG announces the Optimus F series on the eve of Mobile World Congress 2013.(Credit:LG)LG today announced a pair of Optimus F series smartphones on the eve of Mobile World Congress. The two will bridge the gap between the entry-level Optimus L and high-end Optimus G series of phones. Both will run the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and will feature 4G LTE connectivity.The Optimus F5 features a 4.3-inch qHD...

Read More..

Rubio, Netanyahu poke fun at "water bottle" incident

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Sen. Marco Rubio, right, grin as they hoist bottles of water to poke fun at Rubio's "water bottle-gate" incident. / R-Fla.,Office of Sen. Marco Rubio Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio met today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Shimon Peres during the course of a trip to the Middle East that includes...

Read More..

Armstrong Snubs Offer From Anti-Doping Officials

Lance Armstrong has turned down what may be his last chance at reducing his lifetime sporting ban. Armstrong has already admitted in an interview with Oprah Winfrey to a career fueled by doping and deceit. But to get a break from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, all he had to do was tell his story to those who police sports doping. The deadline was today, and Armstrong now says he won't...

Read More..

French general urges EU to equip "impoverished" Mali army

BAMAKO, Mali (Reuters) - The European Union should complement a mission to train Mali's army, routed by rebels last year, by providing equipment from uniforms to vehicles and communications technology, a French general said on Wednesday. General Francois Lecointre, appointed to head the EU training mission to Mali (EUTM) that was formally launched this week, said in Bamako equipping the...

Read More..

US stocks dive after Fed minutes

NEW YORK: US stocks piled up losses Wednesday after Federal Reserve minutes showed divisions over asset purchases, with some officials suggesting to wind them down before the jobs market picks up.The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 108.13 points (0.77 percent) at 13,927.54.The S&P 500-stock index fell 18.99 points (1.24 percent) to 1,511.95 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite...

Read More..

Sony gets touchy-feely with new DualShock 4 controller for PS4

Sony's Mark Cerny demos the DualShock 4 controller.(Credit:CNET)Turns out the leaks were right.Alongside the unveiling of the PlayStation 4 today, Sony showed off the new controller that goes with it called the DualShock 4. Key among the new features is a built-in touchpad that goes in the very center of the controller, adding an extra level of control and interaction with games and on-screen menus....

Read More..

Police identify gunman in LA freeway shooting spree

Police investigate a shooting spree in Southern California /CBS Los Angeles (CBS/AP) TUSTIN, Calif. - Southern California law enforcement authorities have identified the gunman in an unexplained shooting rampage as a 20-year-old unemployed part-time student named Ali Syed. Tustin police Chief Scott Jordan says Syed lived at the Ladera Ranch residence where the first victim was slain. Orange County...

Read More..

Report Fingers Chinese Military Unit in US Hacks

A Virginia-based cyber security firm has released a new report alleging a specific Chinese military unit is likely behind one of the largest cyber espionage and attack campaigns aimed at American infrastructure and corporations.In the report, released today by Mandiant, China's Unit 61398 is blamed for stealing "hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations" since...

Read More..

Syria "Scud-type" missile said to kill 20 in Aleppo

AMMAN (Reuters) - A Syrian missile killed at least 20 people in a rebel-held district of Aleppo on Tuesday, opposition activists said, as the army turns to longer-range weapons after losing bases in the country's second-largest city. The use of what opposition activists said was a large missile of the same type as Russian-made Scuds against an Aleppo residential district came after rebels...

Read More..

Google shares top $800 despite Microsoft challenge

NEW YORK: Internet search king Google's shares pushed past $800 for the first time Tuesday despite a tough new challenge from Microsoft and looming European Union action over alleged privacy violations.Google's closed at $806.85 on the Nasdaq exchange, up 1.8 percent from Friday's close, after having hit $807 during the day.That pushed the company's market valuation to $266 billion. The...

Read More..

uBiome project to sequence the bacteria that live on us

Researchers will be testing swabs taken from thousands of paying volunteers.(Credit:uBiome Project)Oxford University Ph.D. student Jessica Richman, who today finished raising some $350,000 from more than 2,500 people wanting to take part in the uBiome project, isn't shying away from reality: "Yes, we are going to be sampling people's poo," she told the Guardian this week.And for the squeamish, she...

Read More..

U.S. lawmakers visit Cuba, hope for Gross release

HAVANA A high-level delegation of American lawmakers headed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., arrived in Havana at midday on a two-day fact-finding mission that includes meetings with Cuban leaders and an expected visit with jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross. "We would love him [Gross] to be on the plane with us when we leave" Wednesday, said Leahy. However, speaking individually with members of the...

Read More..

Nike, Oakley Distance Themselves from Pistorius

Corporate sponsors of Olympic "blade runner" Oscar Pistorius have begun to distance themselves from the sprinter, who is accused of murdering his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius is back to court in South Africa Tuesday morning on murder charges.Oakley, the eyewear manufacturer, and the sporting goods giant Nike announced today that they would no longer run ads featuring...

Read More..

Time to refer Syrian war crimes to ICC: U.N. inquiry

GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations investigators said on Monday that Syrian leaders they had identified as suspected war criminals should face the International Criminal Court (ICC). The investigators urged the U.N. Security Council to "act urgently to ensure accountability" for violations, including murder and torture, committed by both sides in an uprising and civil war that has killed...

Read More..

Greater US military role in Mali likely after polls: senator

BAMAKO: The United States is likely to play a more active military role in Mali, where French-led forces are battling Islamist rebels, after the country holds elections, the chair of a key Senate sub-committee said Monday.Washington has been providing intelligence, transport and mid-air refuelling to France, which launched its intervention last month, but cannot work directly with the...

Read More..

Dell's thin, high-res XPS 13 laptop does Linux

Dell's XPS 13 with a 1,920x1,080 display is now offered with Ubuntu.(Credit:Dell)Ubuntu just went 1080p on Dell's sleekest laptop. The 2.99-pound XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop is now available on Dell's site for $1,549. Those specifications, with the critical exception of the Ubuntu Linux, are identical to the 1080p XPS 13 for Windows 8. Here are the specs: Operating system: Ubuntu Linux 12.04...

Read More..

In Libya, justice elusive on uprising's anniversary

BENGHAZI, Libya Col. Faraj el-Dersi, who defected to the rebel side from Muammar Qaddafi's police force, was gunned down late last year on the streets of Benghazi, and he bled to death in the arms of his teenage daughter. 24 PhotosElections in Libya35 PhotosThe life of Muammar QaddafiAs Libya on Sunday marked the second anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled Qaddafi, the death of...

Read More..