Officials: 5 Americans Escaped from Algeria Terrorists

Five Americans who were at an Algerian natural gas facility when it was raided by al Qaeda linked terrorists are now safe and believed to have left the country, according to U.S. officials. At least three Americans, however, were being held hostage by the militants when the Algerian military mounted an rescue operation earlier today that reportedly resulted in casualties.Reports...

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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. Nearly 24 hours after gunmen stormed the natural gas pumping site and workers' housing before dawn on Wednesday, little was certain...

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NUS prof Tey questions CPIB officer in "trial within a trial"

SINGAPORE: The law professor on trial for corruption in a sex-for-grades case is cross-examining an anti-graft officer on the admissibility of one of six statements -- in what is called a "trial within a trial".Tey Tsun Hang is questioning Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) Chief Special Investigator Bay Chun How to prove his case that the statement given to CPIB was made under...

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Do you need to uninstall Java to be safe from its vulnerabilities?

Lately Java has been getting a bit of bad press, thanks to several consecutive security holes that have been exploited by malware developers. One notable occurrence was the Flashback malware threat that affected a number of OS X users, which (though due in part to Apple's negligence about Java upkeep) was rooted in the Java runtime. More recently, Java 7 has seen a new zero-day vulnerability that...

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

Updated 7:23 p.m. ET SOUTH BEND, Ind. Notre Dame said Wednesday that a story about Manti Te'o's girlfriend dying, which he said inspired him to play better as he helped the Fighting Irish get to the BCS title game, turned out to be a hoax apparently perpetrated against the linebacker.As news of the alleged hoax spread, Te'o himself released a statement, according to CBSSports.com, saying he as the...

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NRA President Defends Ad Attacking Obama

Jan 16, 2013 6:40pm In an interview with ABC News this evening, NRA President David Keene said the gun-rights lobby is aggressively preparing for “battle” with the White House and Congress over President Obama’s sweeping new proposals to curb gun violence.Keene criticized Obama’s announcement today, surrounded by four children from around the country, for “using kids...

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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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Foreign direct investment in China falls in 2012

BEIJING: Foreign direct investment in China fell 3.7 percent in 2012 to $111.72 billion, according to the government.For the month of December FDI also declined, slipping 4.5 percent from the same month in 2011 to $11.7 billion, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday.Investment from the European Union declined 3.8 percent to $6.11 billion, the ministry said.But investment from the United...

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For 1 in 3 teen girls, online meetings lead to offline encounters

Almost one in three teen girls ages 14 to 17 say they've taken a relationship they started online into the real world, according to new research out of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.The survey of 251 teen girls finds that 30 percent of them went ahead and met offline with people they'd initially met online -- and without first confirming those people were who they claimed to be.Not...

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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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