Bombs kill 23 across Iraq as sectarian strife grows

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 23 people were killed and 87 wounded in attacks across Iraq on Monday, police said, underlining sectarian and ethnic divisions that threaten to further destabilize the country a year after U.S. troops left. Tensions between Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions in Iraq's power-sharing government have been on the rise this year. Militants strike almost daily...

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Despite emerging deal, US to miss fiscal cliff deadline

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers missed a deadline to avoid the "fiscal cliff" budget crunch Monday but inched towards a deal to ease the worst impact of the crisis by heading off economy-busting tax hikes.In dramatic New Year's Eve brinkmanship, Republicans and the White House reached an agreement that means only the richest Americans will pay more tax, but were still deadlocked on how to avert...

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Pirated iOS app store Installous shutters

Another one bites the dust.(Credit:TorrentFreak)A wee bit of bad news for Apple's jailbreak community right on the eve of the New Year: Installous, a major portal for pirated paid apps from Apple's App Store, won't be around anymore.Development team Hackulous today announced the closure of Installous on their official Web site. As of today, the pirated app store no longer works, and only shows these...

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New technology to keep drunk drivers from driving

(CBS News) CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The message from police to party-goers this New Year's Eve is: "Drive sober or get pulled over." There were nearly 10,000 deaths from drunk driving in the U.S. last year, down 2.5 percent from the year before. There is now a debate over technology that could prevent drunk drivers from starting their engines. Meredith and Matt Eastridge, in an undated photo/CBS News...

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Clinton's Blood Clot Could've Been Life Threatening

Hillary Clinton's latest health update -- cerebral venous thrombosis -- is a rare and potentially "life-threatening" condition, according to medical experts, but one from which the globe-trotting secretary of state is likely to recover from.In an update from her doctors, Clinton's brain scans revealed a clot had formed in the right transverse venous sinus, and she was being...

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Chavez suffers new post-surgery complications

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is suffering further complications linked to a respiratory infection that hit him after his fourth cancer operation in Cuba, his vice president said in a somber broadcast on Sunday. Vice President Nicolas Maduro flew to Cuba to visit Chavez in the hospital as supporters' fears grow for the ailing 58-year-old socialist leader, who has...

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Talks stall as fiscal cliff looms

WASHINGTON: Two days of last-gasp talks produced no deal Sunday between US political leaders struggling to averting a fiscal calamity due to hit the American and world economy within hours.Party leaders in the US Senate groped for a compromise to head-off a punishing package of spending cuts and tax hikes that is due come into force on January 1 and which could roil global markets and...

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YouTube makes brief return to Pakistan after 3-month ban

YouTube blocked by Pakistan(Credit:CBS)YouTube made a brief reappearance in Pakistan yesterday after a three-month absence.The video-sharing service, which was blocked by that country's government in September, was available to Internet users in Pakistan for somewhere between three minutes and three hours on Saturday, depending on which media outlet one believes. The ban on the site, which has been...

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Five killed in Oregon tour bus crash

LA GRANDE, Ore. Authorities say five people died and about 20 more were injured in a tour bus crash on an icy stretch of interstate in Oregon. Police say the bus lost control around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon. The bus crashed through a guardrail and went down an embankment a few hundred feet. Rescue workers are using ropes to help retrieve...

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Hillary Clinton Hospitalized With Blood Clot

Dec 30, 2012 8:11pm (MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images)Secretary Hillary Clinton was hospitalized today after a doctors doing a follow-up exam discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago.She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the...

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India gang rape victim dies in Singapore hospital

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Indian gang rape victim whose assault in New Delhi triggered nationwide protests died of her injuries on Saturday in a Singapore hospital, potentially threatening fresh protests in India where her case is a rallying point for women's rights. The 23-year-old medical student, severely beaten, raped and thrown out of a moving bus in New Delhi two weeks ago, had...

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The gang-rape on a bus that sickened India

NEW DELHI: After spending her evening watching "Life of Pi" in a New Delhi mall, the 23-year-old student and her male companion were looking for a quick lift home when a bus with tinted windows pulled over.The pair were then subjected to a catalogue of violence and sexual depravity which has evoked comparisons with Anthony Burgess's novel "A Clockwork Orange" and brought simmering anger...

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New iOS app shows NY subway arrival times

Now arriving...(Credit:New York MTA)New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority finally joined the smartphone era today by releasing an iOS app showing train arrival times for seven subway lines.Available for the iPhone, theiPod Touch, and theiPad, MTA Subway Time will display train arrival times for 156 stations on the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 lines and the S shuttle line. Though officially in...

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N.J. family in limbo after Russia adoption ban

(CBS News) Two years ago, Kim and Robert Summers decided to adopt from Russia. It took nearly 18 months, but last July, the couple was matched with a 15-month-old boy. Kim says when she saw his picture for the first time, "I knew that this was the child I was meant to parent ... And I took one look at this little ginger boy, and I fell in love with him." Kim Summers and the Russian child she and...

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Did Moses' Exodus Really Happen?

In the Bible, he is called Moses. In the Koran, he is the prophet Musa.Religious scholars have long questioned whether of the story of a prophet leading God's chosen people in a great exodus out of Egypt and the freedom it brought them afterwards was real, but the similarities between a pharaoh's ancient hymn and a psalm of David might hold the link to his existence.Tune in...

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Russia's Putin signals he will sign U.S. adoption ban

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signaled on Thursday he would sign into law a bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children and sought to forestall criticism of the move by promising measures to better care for his country's orphans. In televised comments, Putin tried to appeal to people's patriotism by suggesting that strong and responsible countries should take care...

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World's smelliest and largest flower blooms in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO: Hundreds of visitors are flocking daily to a botanical garden in south-eastern Brazil to watch the rare blooming of the Titan arum, the world's smelliest and largest tropical flower.Also known as the "corpse flower" because of a smell likened to rotting flesh, it began blooming on Christmas Day and is already beginning to close, botanist Patricia Oliveira told AFP.The flower...

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Leaked images suggest BBM video chat coming to BlackBerry 10

Images posted to CrackBerry forums suggest important upgrades coming to BBM. According to leaked slides posted to CrackBerry's reader forums, RIM's upcoming device running BlackBerry 10 will include video chatting and screen sharing through BBM. The images have since been removed, but the folks at BGR were able to snag one with screenshots and a few details on the speculated features.According...

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U.S. shuts embassy in Central African Republic

WASHINGTON The State Department is closing its embassy in the Central African Republic and ordering its diplomatic team to leave as rebels there continue to advance and violence escalates. U.S. officials said the U.S. ambassador and about 40 others, including a number of Americans, were flown out of Bangui on a U.S. Air Force C-40 headed to Kenya. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because...

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Retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Dead at 78

H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the retired general credited with leading U.S.-allied forces to a victory in the first Gulf War, has died at age 78, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News.He died today in Tampa, Fla., a U.S. official told the Associated Press.Schwarzkopf, sometimes called "Stormin' Norman" because of his temper, actually led Republican administrations to two military...

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Syria to discuss Brahimi peace proposals with Russia

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a senior diplomat to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals to end the conflict convulsing his country made by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Syrian and Lebanese sources said. Brahimi, who saw Assad on Monday and is planning to hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials and dissidents in Damascus this week, is trying...

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US childhood obesity dips for first time in decades: study

CHICAGO: Obesity rates among small children may finally be on the decline after more than tripling in the United States the past 30 years, a study out Wednesday indicated.The study found that obesity rates peaked in 2004 and then declined slightly among low-income children aged two to four who receive benefits from a federal food stamp program called SNAP."To our knowledge, this is the...

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Tap Twitter, control a cockroach

Too bad we can't control all cockroaches through Twitter. Yuck.(Credit:Brittany Ransom)Next time you see a cockroach, don't scurry away faster than it can flee. In fact, if you're a lover of the weirder side of life, the intrusive insect could represent one heck of a science project. For example, artist Brittany Ransom created Twitter Roach -- a discoid cockroach that can be controlled through tweets...

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Study: Cancer drug substitute linked to higher rate of relapse

(CBS News) Abby Alonzo was 10 when she was diagnosed in 2009 with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. With proper treatment, 90 percent of patients survive. "It wasn't as hard for me as I think it as it was on my mom and my brother and my dad," Abby says. Abby began a seven-drug regimen. But in 2010, doctors told Abby's mother, Katie, there was a nationwide shortage of one of the...

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Toyota Agrees to $1B Settlement in Acceleration Case

Toyota has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to customers to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged its vehicles accelerated dangerously and without warning, according to statements by the carmaker and the plaintiffs' attorney.The deal, which still needs approval by a federal judge in California, includes a $250 million fund to be paid to Toyota owners who sold their cars at...

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Egypt approves constitution drafted by Mursi allies

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a constitution drafted by President Mohamed Mursi's allies, results announced on Tuesday showed, proving that liberals, leftists and Christians have been powerless to halt the march of Islamists in power. Final elections commission figures showed the constitution adopted with 63.8 percent of the vote in the referendum held over...

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China and emerging powers to pay more for UN

UNITED NATIONS: China, Brazil, India and other emerging powers agreed to major increases in their United Nations payments as the global body hammered out a new budget deal this week to avoid its own fiscal cliff.The boom countries will pay more as economic crisis allows European nations, such as Britain, Germany and France and Japan to cut their contributions.While the sums involved are...

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