Egypt's ElBaradei urges election boycott

CAIRO: Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei on Saturday called for a boycott of Egypt's upcoming legislative elections, as the president rescheduled the first round after Copts complained it would clash with a Christian holiday."Called for parliamentary election boycott in 2010 to expose sham democracy. Today I repeat my call, will not be part of an act of deception," the Nobel Peace laureate...

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Was a texting pilot behind JFK runway fail?

Texting? Or just trouble getting a signal?We all know that we shouldn't use our cell phones while driving.Yes, of course we do it anyway, but always with a tinge of guilt. Surely, though, few would take that same cavalier attitude if they were piloting a plane. Somehow, one imagines that this task requires a little more concentration, amid the prospect of even more serious danger.Yet it seems that...

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Govs make plea to Washington on budget cuts

The National Governors Association, a bipartisan collection of state executives meeting this weekend in Washington for their annual winter conference, delivered a timely message to lawmakers working on a deficit reduction package: balance the budget, by all means - but not at our expense. "Deficit reduction should not shift costs from the federal government to the states," said NGA chairman Gov....

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Jessica Ridgeway Murder Suspect to Stand Trial

The teenage suspect in the murder and dismemberment of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway will stand trial after a judge ruled there is enough evidence, including an alleged 911 confession, to move forward with the case.Prosecutors played the 911 recording on Friday at a preliminary hearing for Austin Sigg, 18, in which the teen confessed to murdering the fifth grader and trying to...

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Egypt parliament election start moved to April 22

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's parliamentary elections, previously scheduled to begin on April 27, have been brought forward to start on April 22, the presidential spokesman said on his Facebook page on Saturday. Members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority had criticized the planned timing of the elections because some voting would take place during their Easter holiday. (Reporting...

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US sequester cuts will force major flight delays

WASHINGTON: US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Friday that looming automatic budget cuts will force air traffic control cutbacks and cause flight delays in major cities by up to 90 minutes.LaHood said the US$85 billion "sequester" cuts scheduled for March 1 will compel the Federal Aviation Administration to reduce airport staffing around the country, shutting towers at smaller...

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The 404 1,213: Where Sphere says no to Yes to the Dress (podcast)

Sphere's Law of Recurring Subject Matter argues that, given enough time, all conversations with Steve Guttenberg will inevitably become audiocentric. As usual, The Audiophiliac brings a ransom list of talking points today, including Spotify robbing musicians, Benford's law, Say Yes to the Dress, and a Monoprice controversy. Justin Yu Justin Yu covers headphones and peripherals for...

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LaHood: Time for GOP to "wake up" to avoid "calamity" at airports

Updated at 3:10 p.m. ET Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today warned of the "enormous impact" the looming sequester budget cuts will have on air travel in America, given that his department will have to cut nearly $1 billion from its budget, with more than $600 million coming from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As the one former Republican congressman in President Obama's cabinet,...

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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....

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Abe: Japan acting calmly in island dispute with China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday said he told President Barack Obama in a meeting that Japan would act calmly in its row with China over tiny islands in the East China Sea claimed by both Asian countries. "I explained that we have always been dealing with this issue ... in a calm manner," he said through a translator, while sitting next to Obama in the...

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Oil falls again on poor economic data, weak US crude demand

NEW YORK: Global oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel Thursday as traders worried over poor economic data, a potential end to US stimulus measures and signs of weaker-than-expected US crude demand.A barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in April dropped $2.38 to $92.84.European benchmark Brent oil slid $2.07 to $113.53 a barrel.It was the second day in a row in which crude...

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Egypt accused of crowdsourcing censorship

The film has incited riots all over the Arab world.(Credit:Russia Today/YouTube; screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)The Web has made it hard to censor things.Principally because it is both so open and so Byzantine that there are simply so many things out there for a budding censor to sink his opprobrium into.I can remember when I lived in Singapore and my NFL VHS's -- mailed to me from Switzerland...

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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,"...

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Las Vegas Hotel Fight Led to Attack on Maserati

Police believe an altercation at a Las Vegas hotel led to a deadly drive-by shooting on the occupants of a Maserati sports car on the city's glitzy strip early this morning that left three people dead, including two who died when their taxi was struck by the careening sports car and exploded into flames.The occupants of a Range Rover SUV shot at two people in the Maserati, which...

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Cycling: Armstrong refuses to cooperate with USADA

WASHINGTON: Lance Armstrong said Wednesday that he will not cooperate with a US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) investigation into dope cheats in cycling but would be willing to help other anti-doping inquiries.The move greatly diminishes Armstrong's chances of having his life ban from World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-sanctioned sport reduced even as it forces USADA to move ahead without his...

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Cell phone germs as art: Gross or gorgeous?

Ick? Actually, this cell phone appears to be one of the cleaner of the bunch.(Credit:Simon Park/University of Surrey)It's not news that cell phones harbor bacteria, but there's a difference between knowing that about your device and seeing the germs up close in all their furry, florid glory. Molecular biology undergraduates at the U.K.'s University of Surrey recently got a stark view of just how...

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Pistorius prosecution: Error in "testosterone" testimony

PRETORIA, South AfricaThe investigating officer in the Oscar Pistorius murder case made an error in his court testimony Wednesday when he identified a substance found in the athlete's bedroom as testosterone, the national prosecutor said. Medupe Simasiku, the spokesman for South Africa's National Prosecution Agency, told The Associated Press that it was too early to identify the substance as it was...

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Arias Can't Remember Gory Death of Ex-Boyfriend

Accused murderer Jodi Arias told an Arizona jury today that her ex-boyfriend became enraged when she dropped his new camera, body slammed her to a tile floor and threatened to kill her, and in the frantic struggle that followed she remembers a gun being fired accidentally but does not remember stabbing him.Her version of Travis Alexander's death was the culmination of more than...

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Bulgarian government resigns amid growing protests

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's government resigned on Wednesday after mass protests against high power prices and falling living standards, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during four years of debt crisis. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, an ex-bodyguard who took power in 2009 on pledges to root out graft and raise incomes in the European Union's poorest member,...

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Apple hit by hackers

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple on Tuesday said it was hit by hackers who wormed their way into the California company's system but evidently failed to steal any data.The maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macintosh computers said it is working with law enforcement officials to hunt down the hackers, who appeared tied to a series of recent cyber attacks on US technology firms."The malware was employed...

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Russian meteorite fragments pop up for sale online

This little guy once packed enough of a punch to shatter a city's windows.(Credit:eBay/danieldeffo)Capitalism is certainly alive and well in today's Russia, as demonstrated by the growing number of attempts to cash in on the recent and much-recorded (thanks to the help of ubiquitous Russian dashboard cams) meteor strike in Siberia.The meteor that broke up over the city of Chelyabinsk while also producing...

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Pistorius' account of shooting, in his own words

Oscar Pistorius, the famed double amputee South African Olympian, has been charged by prosecutors with intentionally murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home. Play VideoPistorius: I thought girlfriend was a burglarHe has said it was an accident, that he mistook her for a burglar when he fired several rounds through a locked bathroom door with a 9mm pistol. When a judge ruled...

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Jodi Arias Emails Claim Ex Threatened 'Revenge'

Accused killer Jodi Arias described today a barrage of threatening text messages sent by her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in which he told her he would exact "revenge" on her soon.The messages show a growing discord between the pair in April 2008, less than two months before Arias killed Alexander in a bloody attack that she claims was self-defense."Do not call back," Alexander...

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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...

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Football: Di Canio resigns after deadline passes

LONDON: Colourful Italian coach Paolo di Canio resigned as manager of financially-troubled English League One side Swindon on Monday after the Football League failed to grant approval to the prospective new owners of the club by a deadline he had imposed.The 44-year-old former AC Milan, Juventus, Lazio and Celtic striker had been incensed earlier this month after the club's best player...

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Sony trims Vita price, adds new color

In Japan, gamers can now choose from silver, white, black, red, and blue PS Vitas.(Credit:Sony Computer Entertainment Japan)With a little less than 48 hours to go before the world gets a glimpse at the PlayStation 4, there's some news for the PS Vita coming out of Japan today.Sony announced that the company lowered and equalized the price point for the Wi-Fi and 3G/Wi-Fi-versions of the PS Vita to...

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Jerry Buss, longtime Lakers owner, dead at 80

LOS ANGELES Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers' playboy owner who shepherded the NBA team to 10 championships from the Showtime dynasty of the 1980s to the Kobe Bryant era, died Monday. He was 80. He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said Bob Steiner, his assistant. 23 PhotosJerry Buss: 1933-2013 Buss had been hospitalized for most of the past 18 months while undergoing cancer...

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