Foreigners still trapped in Sahara hostage crisis

ALGIERS/IN AMENAS, Algeria (Reuters) - More than 20 foreigners were captive or missing inside a desert gas plant on Saturday, nearly two days after the Algerian army launched an assault to free them that saw many hostages killed. The standoff between the army and al Qaeda-linked gunmen - one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades - entered its fourth day, having thrust...

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Tennis: Serena, Murray suck it up to reach sweet 16

MELBOURNE: Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka came through their first uncomfortable moments and Andy Murray was also tested before reaching the Australian Open's last 16 on Saturday.Williams, eyeing a calendar-year Grand Slam, was broken for the first time in the tournament by Japanese number one Ayumi Morita, before recovering from 0-3 down in the second set to win 6-1, 6-3.Defending...

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Crave Ep. 105: How to clip your nails in space

How to clip your nails in space, Ep. 105Subscribe to Crave:iTunes (HD) | iTunes (SD) | iTunes (HQ)RSS (HD) | RSS (SD) | RSS (HQ) This week on Crave, we're back from CES with a look at some of the wackier stuff we spotted at the show. Then, Canadian astronaut Christopher Hadfield gives us a highly important grooming lesson on the safest way to clip our nails in outer space, and...

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T'eo to hoax doubters: "I wasn't part of this"

Updated 12:15 AM ET SOUTH BEND, Ind. Manti Te'o gave an interview to ESPN in which he denied any involvement in fabricating an online relationship with a woman he considered to be his girlfriend. "I wasn't faking it," he told ESPN Friday night. "I wasn't part of this."13 PhotosManti Te'oTe'o also said that he did not make up anything to help his Heisman Trophy candidacy. "When (people) hear the...

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Armstrong Tearful Over Telling Kids Truth

Lance Armstrong, 41, began to cry today as he described finding out his son Luke, 13, was publicly defending him from accusations that he doped during his cycling career.Armstrong said that he knew, at that moment, that he would have to publicly admit to taking performance-enhancing drugs and having oxygen-boosting blood transfusions when competing in the Tour de France. He...

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Hostages still held after Sahara assault

ALGIERS (Reuters) - At least 22 foreign hostages remained unaccounted for on Friday after Algerian forces stormed a desert gas complex to free hundreds of captives taken by Islamist gunmen, an operation in which dozens of the hostages were killed. With Western leaders clamoring for details of the assault they said Algeria had launched on Thursday without consulting them, a local source...

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Cycling: Livestrong "disappointed" by Armstrong's deception

WASHINGTON: Livestrong, the cancer charity founded by disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, said on Thursday it was "disappointed" that he had deceived the organization and many others about doping."We at the Livestrong Foundation are disappointed by the news that Lance Armstrong misled people during and after his cycling career, including us," it said after the broadcast of Armstrong's interview...

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Crave giveaway: Laptop bag packed with CES 2013 swag

Gear, glorious gear. (Click to enlarge.)(Credit:James Martin/CNET)Last year, readers liked our CES swag giveaway so much that we're doing one again this year -- in a big way. CNET staffers collected so many great goodies at CES 2013 that we have enough freebies for two separate giveaways. This week's winner will score, among other prizes, an itty-bitty 1GB NewKube Kube MP3 player; a Moshi VersaCover...

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Manti Te'o kept girlfriend myth alive after revelation

SOUTH BEND, Ind. Not once but twice after he supposedly discovered his online girlfriend of three years never even existed, Notre Dame All-American linebacker Manti Te'o perpetuated the heartbreaking story about her death. 13 PhotosManti Te'oAn Associated Press review of news coverage found that the Heisman Trophy runner-up talked about his doomed love in a Web interview on Dec. 8 and again in...

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Armstrong Admits to Doping, 'One Big Lie'

Lance Armstrong, formerly cycling's most decorated champion and considered one of America's greatest athletes, confessed to cheating for at least a decade, admitting on Thursday that he owed all seven of his Tour de France titles and the millions of dollars in endorsements that followed to his use of illicit performance-enhancing drugs.After years of denying that he had taken...

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Sahara hostage siege turns Mali war global

ALGIERS/BAMAKO - (Reuters) - Islamist fighters have opened an international front in Mali's civil war by taking dozens of Western hostages at a gas plant in the Algerian desert just as French troops launched an offensive against rebels in neighboring Mali. More than 24 hours after gunmen stormed the natural gas pumping site and workers' housing before dawn on Wednesday, little was certain...

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PAP's Dr Koh says he is fighting his own race in by-election

SINGAPORE: People's Action Party (PAP) candidate for Punggol East, Dr Koh Poh Koon, said he is fighting his own race in the by-election.Dr Koh also stressed that the lack of PAP leaders' presence in his walkabout does not signify that the party places less emphasis on this by-election.Dr Koh said he prefers to offer a personal touch by interacting directly with residents and believes constituents...

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CNET Member Giveaway: Fitbit Flex

Fitbit Flex(Credit:Fitbit)After a great CES full of exciting tech and new ideas, we are back and hard at work. A little tired, but also thrilled to bring an exciting opportunity to the CNET audience. We'd like our users to be able to experience a little CES, so we are giving five lucky CNET members the chance to win the Best of CES award-winning Fitbit Flex. Coming out this spring, the Fitbit Flex...

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Manti Te'o says he's the victim of "girlfriend" hoax

Updated 11:20 p.m. ET SOUTH BEND, Ind. Notre Dame said a story that star Manti Te'o's girlfriend had died of leukemia — a loss he said inspired him all season and helped him lead the Irish to the BCS title game — turned out to be a hoax apparently perpetrated against the linebacker. 13 PhotosManti Te'oNotre Dame Fighting Irish Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick held a press conference late Wednesday...

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Notre Dame: Football Star Was 'Catfished' in Hoax

Notre Dame's athletic director and the star of its near-championship football team said the widely-reported death of the star's girlfriend from leukemia during the 2012 football season was apparently a hoax, and the player said he was duped by it as well.Manti Te'o, who led the Fighting Irish to the BCS championship game this year and finished second for the Heisman Trophy,...

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France to stay in Mali until stability restored

BAMAKO/DUBAI (Reuters) - France pledged on Tuesday to keep troops in Mali until stability returned to the West African country, raising the specter of a long campaign against al Qaeda-linked rebels who held their ground despite a fifth day of air strikes. Paris has poured hundreds of soldiers into Mali and carried out 50 bombing raids since Friday in the Islamist-controlled northern half...

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Helicopter crashes in central London

LONDON - A helicopter crashed in central London and plunged to the ground in a ball of flames on Wednesday, with police saying it had hit a crane on top of a building.Fire engines and police were at the scene of the crash near the River Thames at Vauxhall, where a huge plume of smoke billowed into the sky.Paul Ferguson, who was working in an office near the incident, told BBC News: "There...

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Prosecutor in Aaron Swartz 'hacking' case comes under fire

Carmen Ortiz, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts(Credit:U.S. Department of Justice)A politically ambitious Justice Department official who oversaw the criminal case against Aaron Swartz has come under fire for alleged prosecutorial abuses that led the 26-year-old online activist to take his own life.Carmen Ortiz, 57, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts who was selected by President Obama, compared the...

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House passes $50.7 billion Sandy relief bill

FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2012, file photo, a man walks with his dog to a National Guard vehicle after leaving his flooded home at the Metropolitan Trailer Park in Moonachie, N.J., in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. The storm drove New York and New Jersey residents from their homes, destroyed belongings and forced them to find shelter for themselves - and for their pets, said owners, who recounted tales...

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