7 hostages reported dead in 'final assault' on Algerian refinery

CAIRO — Algerian troops raided a remote natural gas refinery Saturday, killing 11 Islamic militants but not before extremists...

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Wired Science Space Photo of the Day: Sunset on Mars

On May 19th, 2005, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This Panoramic Camera (Pancam) mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of the rover's 489th martian day, or sol. Spirit was commanded to stay awake briefly after sending that sol's data to the Mars Odyssey orbiter just before sunset. This small panorama of...

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AP Source: Lady Gaga to perform at inaugural ball

WASHINGTON (AP) — Watch out Beyonce (bee-AHN’-say) and Katy Perry. There’s another diva set to perform during the inauguration festivities — Lady Gaga.A person familiar with the inauguration tells The Associated Press that the pop star will perform at Tuesday’s ball for White House staffers. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because that person wasn’t authorized to publicly reveal the information.The...

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Personal Health: That Loving Feeling Takes a Lot of Work

When people fall in love and decide to marry, the expectation is nearly always that love and marriage and the happiness they bring will last; as the vows say, till death do us part. Only the most cynical among us would think, walking down the aisle, that if things don’t work out, “We can always split.”But the divorce rate in the United States is half the marriage rate, and that does not bode well...

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Boeing Closer to Answer on 787s, but Not to Getting Them Back in Air

Issei Kato/ReutersSafety inspectors looked over a 787 on Friday in Japan. The plane made an emergency landing after receiving a smoke alarm. With 787 Dreamliners grounded around the world, Boeing is scrambling to devise a technical fix that would allow the planes to fly again soon, even as investigators in the United States and Japan are trying to figure out what caused the plane’s lithium-ion batteries...

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House leaders offer short-term debt increase

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – House Republicans announced Friday that they will vote next week to authorize a temporary extension of the...

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Why Fringe's Finale Marks the Decline of Sci-Fi on Network TV

When Fringe airs its series finale tonight (8 p.m. EST on Fox), it won’t just mean a conclusion to the five year run of stories about Olivia, Peter and Walter’s Weird Science Adventures; it’ll mark the end of an era for science fiction television on broadcast television — for the foreseeable future, at least.While the close of the series doesn’t mean an end to openly-genre shows on the Big...

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Bob Dylan considering Dylan Thomas centenary show in Wales

LONDON (Reuters) – American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan may play a special concert in Wales to mark the centenary of the birth of Dylan Thomas, the Welsh poet after whom he may or may not have named himself.The member of parliament for West Swansea, Geraint Davies, said he had asked Dylan if he would perform in the city as part of a series of commemorative events next year.“Bob Dylan named himself...

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Flu Season ‘Worse Than Average,’ Officials Say

This year’s flu season is shaping up to be “worse than average and particularly bad for the elderly,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the nation’s top federal disease-control official, said Friday. But the season appears to have peaked, added Dr. Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with new cases declining over most of the nation except for the far West. ...

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Media Decoder Blog: John Geddes, Managing Editor, Is Leaving The New York Times

2:37 p.m. | Updated John M. Geddes, a managing editor for The New York Times for the last decade and one of the top three editors at the paper, has decided to leave the company. In a note sent to the newsroom staff on Friday afternoon, Mr. Geddes said he was accepting a buyout package and would depart in several months after helping with transition on the newspaper’s masthead.In his note, Mr. Geddes...

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Bales defers entering plea in Afghan massacre case

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New Metamaterial Camera Has Super-Fast Microwave Vision

A small, microwave-detecting camera that can see through solid materials in real time has been developed. Soon, the device could be adapted and used in law enforcement and security where, among other uses, its inventors envision airport scanners that screen passengers for weapons or explosives as they walk by.The camera features a one-dimensional aperture made from a copper-based metamaterial....

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“Diff’rent Strokes” star Conrad Bain dies at 89

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actor Conrad Bain, best known for his role on the 1970s and ’80s television comedy “Diff’rent Strokes” as a wealthy, white New Yorker who adopts two young black boys from Harlem, has died at age 89, his daughter said on Wednesday.Bain, who starred opposite the young Gary Coleman on the NBC sitcom as his adoptive father, Philip Drummond, died of natural causes at a comfort-care...

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Well: Life, Interrupted: Brotherly Love

Life, InterruptedSuleika Jaouad writes about her experiences as a young adult with cancer.There are a lot of things about having cancer in your 20s that feel absurd. One of those instances was when I found myself calling my brother Adam on Skype while he was studying abroad in Argentina to tell him that I had just been diagnosed with leukemia and that — no pressure — he was my only hope for a cure.Today,...

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With Debt to Sell, Troubled Euro Nations Find Willing Buyers

MADRID — January is turning out to be a bumper month for Spain and some of the euro zone economies most in need of debt financing, with governments and companies flooding the market with bonds that have sold at significantly lower interest rates than just a few months ago. On Thursday, the Spanish Treasury sold €4.5 billion, or $5.9 billion, of debt, including bonds with a maturity of as...

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Woman held captive in Nordstrom Rack raped 'multiple times'

Prosecutors said one of the five people charged in connection with the take-over robbery at a Nordstrom Rack department store...

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Video: Discovery of the Spider That Builds Spider Decoys

In December, we reported on a new species of spider discovered in Peru. Tiny, and likely a new member of the genus Cyclosa, the spider builds large, spider-shaped decoys — and vibrates its web, acting as a master puppeteer.Here is a video shot at the moment the spiders were discovered.“I don’t know of any potential species discovery that has been caught on video to...

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Cotillard named Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard (koh-tee-YAR’) has been named the 2013 Harvard University Hasty Pudding Theatricals Woman of the Year.The French actress, who won the 2007 best actress Oscar for her role in “La Vie En Rose,” will be honored with a parade and roast, and given her ceremonial pudding pot, at Harvard on Jan. 31.The 37-year-old Cotillard has appeared...

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Well: Ask Well: Do I Need a Flu Shot if I've Had the Flu?

First, how do you know you had the flu? There are more than 100 viruses that can cause “colds and flu” symptoms — though a bad flu is worse than most of them. Doctors often describe it as “high fever, aches and the feeling that you’ve been hit by a truck.” The country is having an early flu season, plus a big wave of norovirus (sometimes called “stomach flu” or “winter vomiting flu”), plus its worst...

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Deepening Crisis for the Dreamliner

Noboru Tomura/Asahi Shimbun, via Associated PressAn All Nippon Airways flight in Takamatsu, Japan, after an emergency landing on Wednesday. TOKYO — The two largest Japanese airlines said Wednesday that they would ground their fleets of Boeing 787 aircraft after one operated by All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing in western Japan. The latest episode elevates the safety concerns about...

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L.A. City Council drops $3-billion bond measure for this year

The Los Angeles City Council scrapped plans Tuesday for placing a $3-billion bond measure on the May 21 ballot, opting instead...

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Facebook's Bold, Compelling and Scary Engine of Discovery: The Inside Story of Graph Search

Beast had a birthday last week. The First Dog of social networking — live-in companion to Mark Zuckerberg and his bride, Priscilla Chan — turned two. The proud owners baked a cake for the Hungarian sheepdog and decided to throw an impromptu party. Naturally, when it came time to compile the guest list, the couple turned to Facebook, the $67 billion company that Zuckerberg founded in his dorm room...

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Netflix to carry more Time Warner shows

(Reuters) – Netflix Inc will carry more shows from Time Warner Inc, intensifying efforts by the video streaming company to attract more subscribers and beat back competition.Netflix signed licensing deals with Warner Bros Television (WBTVG) and Turner Broadcasting System Inc for previous seasons of shows from Cartoon Network, Warner Bros Animation and Adult Swim for U.S. subscribers.Shows such as...

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