Earl Smith is the man behind a military patch that President Obama prizes

AUSTIN — That February morning in 2008 found Barack Obama decidedly out of sorts. He was locked in one battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination that showed no signs of ending — and another with a vicious cold that felt the same way. As he rode the service elevator in the backway of a convention hotel here, the snowy-haired African American operating it turned...

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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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Chintan Shivir: Congress leaders pitch for Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate

JAIPUR: Amid talk that Rahul Gandhi will be given a larger responsibility, clamour for declaring the young leader as the Congress prime ministerial candidate grew louder at the party's Chintan Shivir on Saturday. Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rajiv Shukla, Jitin Prasada, senior leader Manishankar Aiyar batted for larger responsibility for Rahul as the party recognised the need to respond...

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Attack at Algeria Gas Plant Heralds New Risks for Energy Development

The siege by Islamic militants at a remote Sahara desert natural gas plant in Algeria this week signaled heightened dangers in the region for international oil companies, at a time when they have been expanding operations in Africa as one of the world's last energy frontiers. (See related story: "Pictures: Four New Offshore Drilling Frontiers.")As BP, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and...

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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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Earl Smith is the man behind a military patch that President Obama prizes

AUSTIN, Tex. — That February morning in 2008 found Barack Obama decidedly out of sorts. He was locked in one battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination that showed no signs of ending — and another with a vicious cold that felt the same way. As he rode the service elevator in the backway of a convention hotel here, the snowy-haired African American operating it...

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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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No question of forming govt with BJP, says Yeddyurappa

BANGALORE: Former chief minister and KJP leader B S Yeddyurappa on Friday ruled out the possibility of his party forming a government with BJP after the assembly polls."There is no question of KJP joining hands with BJP to form the government. Some of them are trying to create confusion in the minds of people. Our aim is to form KJP government on our own," he told reporters after inaugurating KJP's...

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Opinion: Lance One of Many Tour de France Cheaters

Editor's note: England-based writer and photographer Roff Smith rides around 10,000 miles a year through the lanes of Sussex and Kent and writes a cycling blog at: www.my-bicycle-and-I.co.ukAnd so, the television correspondent said to the former Tour de France champion, a man who had been lionised for years, feted as the greatest cyclist of his day, did you ever use drugs in the course...

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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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Uncle of young Newtown shooting victim turning tragedy into action

On Dec. 14, Alexis Haller was on the phone working on a legal brief for the Vatican when his mother texted him to say that there had been a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. His nephew was missing. Haller, a litigator in Washington state, monitored the news and felt his stomach drop when reports emerged that an entire classroom of children had been killed. Confirmation...

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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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20 km highways per day unsustainable: NHAI chief

NEW DELHI: Amid reports of private concessionaires showing no interest in highway projects, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) chairman on Thursday said that the target to construct or award 20 km highways per day is unsustainable. He said that achieving 50-60% of this target would be meaningful if the government manages to maintain this rate. Singh was speaking at a seminar of highway development...

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6 Ways Climate Change Will Affect You

Photograph by AP Photo/Marcio Jose SanchezThe planet keeps getting hotter, new data showed this week. Especially in America, where 2012 was the warmest year ever recorded, by far. Every few years, the U.S. federal government engages hundreds of experts to assess the impacts of climate change, now and in the future. From agriculture (pictured) to infrastructure to how humans consume energy, the National...

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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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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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Indian troops did not cross LoC: Army chief General Bikram Singh

KHAIRAIR (UP): Rejecting Pakistan's allegations, Army chief General Bikram Singh on Wednesday said Indian troops have not crossed Line of Control (LoC) or indulged in unprovoked firing and any casualty on the other said may have been due to retaliatory firing."Our jawans don't cross LoC. We honour human rights. We fire in retaliation when provoked," he said here after meeting the family of Lance Naik...

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Mars Rover Finds Intriguing New Evidence of Water

The first drill sample ever collected on Mars will come from a rockbed shot through with unexpected veins of what appears to be the mineral gypsum.Delighted members of the Curiosity science team announced Tuesday that the rover was now in a virtual "candy store" of scientific targets—the lowest point of Gale crater, called Yellowknife Bay, is filled with many different materials that could...

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NRA Ad Calls Obama 'Elitist Hypocrite'

Jan 16, 2013 12:04am Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP PhotoAs the White House prepares to unveil a sweeping plan aimed at curbing gun violence, the National Rifle Association has launched a preemptive, personal attack on President Obama, calling him an “elitist hypocrite” who, the group claims, is putting American children at risk.In 35-second video posted online Tuesday...

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On inaugural eve, Obama’s most virulent foes want the celebration stopped

Eldon Bell, a retired Air Force officer and physician, is making no plans to see Barack Obama’s second inauguration, in part because Bell considers the president arrogant and dishonest, but more so because Bell is not yet persuaded that the swearing-in will occur at all. “Whether I watch depends on who’s being inaugurated,” says Bell, 78. “If it’s this guy, probably not, because I don’t...

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Commander of Navy of Oman in S'pore for introductory visit

SINGAPORE: The Commander of the Royal Navy of Oman is on an introductory visit to Singapore.Rear-Admiral (RADM) Abdullah Khamis Abdullah Al Raisi, who is here from January 14 to 16, called on Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen at the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) on Tuesday morning.He also called on Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Neo Kian Hong and Chief of Navy RADM Ng Chee Peng.MINDEF...

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Lt Gen Parnaik: Three ceasefire violations after flag meet

AKHNOOR (J&K): India on Tuesday accused Pakistan of committing three ceasefire violations after a Brigadier-level flag meeting between the two countries but said it will "not act in haste or anger".Lt Gen K T Parnaik, General-Officer-in Command (Northern Command), said the Indian Army has a "lot of options" and is watching the developments closely.However, he said he does not think that a situation...

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"Fantastic" New Flying Frog Found—Has Flappy Forearms

Scientists have stumbled across a new species of flying frog—on the ground.While hiking a lowland forest in 2009, not far from Ho Chi Minh City (map), Vietnam, "we came across a huge green frog, sitting on a log," said Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney and lead author of a new study on the frog.Rowley later discovered that the 3.5-inch-long (9-centimeter-long)...

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Armstrong Admits Doping in Tour, Sources Say

Lance Armstrong today admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he used performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France, sources told ABC News.A goverment source tells ABC News that Armstrong is now talking with authorities about paying back some of the US Postal Service money from sponsoring his team. He is also talking to authorities about confessing and naming names, giving up...

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EC housing scheme still relevant, says Khaw

SINGAPORE: National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the government will continue to be vigilant of any abuse of the Executive Condominium (EC) housing scheme, and defended the scheme as still being relevant.He was responding to questions raised in Parliament on the affordability of ECs.He said: "It is a wonderful scheme. It protects middle-income Singaporeans from competition and...

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Hyderabad police arrest Swami Kamlananda Bharati for hate speech

HYDERABAD: Hindu religious leader Swami Kamlananda Bharati has been arrested for allegedly making a hate speech against the Muslims, police here said on Monday.Police said Monday that Bharati was arrested on Sunday night in Srisailam, about 250 km from here. He is being brought to Hyderabad and would be produced before a court.The special investigation team (SIT) of Hyderabad police took him into...

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse CancelmoA fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew...

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Big Winners, Top Moments From the Golden Globes

Let's finally bury this idea that women can't be funny once and for all. Fey and Poehler were undeniably hilarious throughout the Globes, so much so that many fans on Twitter demanded more of them during the ceremony. From their opening bit -- Poehler: "Meryl Streep is not here tonight, she has the flu. And I hear she's amazing in it." -- to their pseudo drunk heckling of best TV comedy actress...

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How NRA’s true believers converted a marksmanship group into a mighty gun lobby

In gun lore it’s known as the Revolt at Cincinnati. On May 21, 1977, and into the morning of May 22, a rump caucus of gun rights radicals took over the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association. The rebels wore orange-blaze hunting caps. They spoke on walkie-talkies as they worked the floor of the sweltering convention hall. They suspected that the NRA leaders had turned off the...

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One Connect programme launched in Nee Soon GRC

SINGAPORE: About 13,000 private estate residents in Nee Soon GRC will now find it easier to get help on local maintenance issues through One Connect. One Connect is a community programme that provides private estate residents with a one-stop service to connect them to various government agencies. Nee Soon GRC is the fifth constituency to launch the programme. Residents will be able to...

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Pakistan agrees to hold flag meet with India on Monday in Poonch

NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Sunday agreed to a flag meeting in Poonch at 1pm on Monday after the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers. India will reportedly strongly protest against jawan's beheading at flag meeting and demand the severed head, according to TV reports.Indian and Pakistan troops on late Saturday night traded heavy gunfire along the Line of Control in Poonch sector after the movement...

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Pictures: Civil War Shipwreck Revealed by Sonar

Photograph by Jesse CancelmoA fishing net, likely only decades old, drapes over machinery that once connected the Hatteras' pistons to its paddle wheels, said Delgado.From archived documents, the NOAA archaeologist learned that Blake, the ship's commander, surrendered as his ship was sinking. "It was listing to port, [or the left]," Delgado said. The Alabama took the wounded and the rest of the crew...

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Poisoned Lottery Winner's Kin Were Suspicious

Urooj Khan had just brought home his $425,000 lottery check when he unexpectedly died the following day. Now, certain members of Khan's family are speaking publicly about the mystery -- and his nephew told ABC News they knew something was not right."He was a healthy guy, you know?" said the nephew, Minhaj Khan. "He worked so hard. He was always going about his business and,...

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