Hundreds of French troops drive back Mali rebels

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The battle to retake Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked groups controlling it began in earnest Saturday, after hundreds of French forces deployed to the country and began aerial bombardments to drive back the Islamic extremists.At the same time, nations in West Africa authorized the immediate deployment of troops to Mali, fast-forwarding a military intervention that was not...

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At least 11 killed during Mali military operation

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A presidential spokesman says at least 11 Malians were killed and over 60 injured after the country launched a military intervention to fight al-Qaida-linked rebels advancing on a crucial town.In a communique read on state television late Saturday, Ousmane Sy, the secretary-general at the presidential palace said that the 11 were killed in the town of Konna, which the rebels took...

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Troops head to Mali, as battle for north rages

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The first days of the battle against Islamic extremists holding Mali's north have left at least 11 civilians dead, including three children who threw themselves into a river and drowned trying to avoid falling bombs, a presidential spokesman said Sunday as troops from Mali's neighbors are expected to join hundreds of French soldiers in the fight.Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal and...

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MLB to expand blood testing for HGH

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — Major League Baseball will test for human growth hormone throughout the regular season and increase efforts to detect abnormal levels of testosterone, a decision the NFL used to pressure its players.Baseball players were subject to blood testing for HGH during spring training last year, and Thursday's agreement between management and the Major League Baseball Players...

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UPDATE 2-Baseball-MLB, players agree to expand drug testing

* HGH and testosterone testing to be used this season* WADA-accredited lab hails toughness of new MLB testing (Adds USADA comment in paras 5-7)Jan 10 (Reuters) - Major League Baseball and the players' union have agreed to expand their drug program to include random in-season blood testing for human growth hormone and a new test for testosterone, they said on Thursday.The advanced testing will start...

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MLB, players agree to expand drug testing

(Reuters) - Major League Baseball and the players' union have agreed to expand their drug program to include random in-season blood testing for human growth hormone and a new test for testosterone, they said on Thursday.The advanced testing will start this season, in what will be the sternest doping program in major North American professional sports."This agreement addresses critical drug issues...

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Amazon and Samsung are running away with the Android tablet market

Following the successful launch of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, Android vendors saw a beacon of hope in a market that had been dominated by Apple’s (AAPL) iPad since 2010. The Android tablet space has since become flooded with hundreds of products from a wide-range of companies, but there are only two companies that matter.[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]According...

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Expect more suffering for Microsoft and Intel in 2013

The PC industry is in shambles and no one is going to be hit harder than Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC), according to the latest forecasts from market research firm Canalys. Consumers continue to favor Android and iOS tablets over Windows and Intel (a.k.a., “Wintel”) PCs. The research firm found that combined shipments of desktops, netbooks and notebooks in the fourth quarter of 2012 declined...

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Expect more suffering for Microsoft and HP in 2013

The PC industry is in shambles and no one is going to be hit harder than Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC), according to the latest forecasts from market research firm Canalys. Consumers continue to favor Android and iOS tablets over Windows and Intel (a.k.a., “Wintel”) PCs. The research firm found that combined shipments of desktops, netbooks and notebooks in the fourth quarter of 2012 declined...

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News Summary: US home sales rise 2.1 pct. in Oct.

SALES RISE: U.S. sales of previously occupied homes rose moderately in October, helped by improvement in the job market and record-low mortgage rates. Sales rose 2.1 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million according to the National Association of Realtors.INVENTORIES: A decline in housing inventory is helping push prices higher. There were only 2.14 million homes available...

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News Summary: US 30-yr mortgage rate at record low

RATES AT RECORD LOW: Average U.S. mortgage rates fell to fresh record lows this week, a trend that is boosting home sales.THE NUMBERS: Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said the average 30-year loan rate dipped to 3.31 percent, the lowest on records dating back to 1971. The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage dropped to 2.63 percent, also a record.HOUSING RECOVERY: Home sales and construction are rising,...

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Retirement Savings Plan Reality: Save More

There's a buzz building in California over a state move to create a retirement savings plan for private employees with no workplace 401k. It might seem that everyone has plenty of access to a retirement savings plan, but at least a third of U.S. households get to retirement with just Social Security to back them up, reports MarketWatch.The "pioneering" part of such a retirement savings plan would...

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Record earnings for South Korean league

(Reuters) - South Korean baseball underlined its continuing growth by posting a record $33 million in revenue last year, local media reported on Wednesday.Winning gold at the Beijing Olympics and finishing runners-up at the 2009 World Baseball Classic boosted baseball's popularity and attendances crossed the 7 million-mark for the first time last year, Yonhap News agency reported.The league pocketed...

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Judgment day for Bonds, Clemens, Sosa at Hall

NEW YORK (AP) — Judgment day has arrived for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa to find out their Hall of Fame fates.With the cloud of steroids shrouding many candidacies, baseball writers may fail for the only the second time in more than four decades to elect anyone to the Hall.About 600 people are eligible to vote in the BBWAA election, all members of the organization for 10 consecutive...

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Column: No suspense for Bonds, Clemens in HOF vote

 a baseball game against the Chicago …more RELATED CONTENT  Enlarge PhotoFILE - In this July 23, 2007, file …Enlarge PhotoFILE - In this Aug. 4, 2004, file …Barry Bonds can go for a bike ride. Roger Clemens might want to head to the gym for one of those famous workouts that used to make him pitch like he was 22 when he was 42.If the polls are right — and my guess is they're pretty spot...

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Top UBS shareholder pins rebound hopes on private wealth

LONDON (Reuters) - UBS's wealth management business will help it bounce back from a $1.5 billion rap for rigging interest rates, one of its largest investors said, although fears of costly civil lawsuits could cast a pall over its shares for some time.Paras Anand, European equities head at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, said legal action sparked by the Libor scandal posed an unpredictable threat...

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Drugs group Lundbeck's shares hit by profit warning

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Shares in Danish drugs firm Lundbeck fell to their lowest level in over 12 years on Wednesday after it cut its profits forecast for the next two years as European sales slow and spending on new products rise to combat generic competition.The company has already warned that earnings would stall until 2015 due to cheap generic competition for its existing drugs, meaning new products...

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New Mauritius Hotels posts 25 pct drop in full-year profit

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Luxury hotels group New Mauritius Hotels (NMH) reported a 25 percent fall in full-year pretax profit, citing higher finance costs and fewer tourists, and forecast a 15 percent drop in first-quarter earnings.Ranked among the Indian Ocean island's most-traded stocks, NMH said on Wednesday that pretax profit for the year to September 30 fell to 603 million Indian rupees, with...

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Hugo Chavez's allies re-elect legislative chief

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Allies of cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez on Saturday chose to keep the same National Assembly president — a man who could be in line to step in as a caretaker leader in some circumstances.The vote to retain Diosdado Cabello as legislative leader signaled the ruling party's desire to stress unity and continuity amid growing signs the government plans to postpone Chavez's...

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US family builds Haiti orphanage for daughter

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — An American family who lost their daughter in a massive earthquake in Haiti three years ago has finished building an orphanage in her memory.The parents of Britney Gengel, Leonard and Cherylann, led about 150 family and friends, including U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, in a solemn ceremony Saturday at the Be Like Brit orphanage in the coastal town of Grand Goave."It...

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Venezuela looks for missing plane with Missoni CEO

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The search for a missing plane carrying Italian fashion executive Vittorio Missoni and five other people has entered its third straight day on Sunday with no signs of the aircraft.Venezuela's government said authorities would not call off the search involving the National Civil Aviation Institute, Coast Guard and Navy until they find the BN-2 Islander plane that disappeared...

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Health officials tell Greece to act fast to control HIV

London (Reuters) - A spiraling outbreak of HIV in debt-stricken Greece could run out of control unless urgent action is taken, European health officials said on Friday.The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said infections with the AIDS-causing virus among drug users and other high-risk groups were rising fast, and that a failure to act would mean far higher costs in future.ECDC...

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Health officials warn of spiraling HIV in Athens

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Health officials warn that the Greek capital is seeing an alarming increase in new HIV infections, particularly among intravenous drug users, as the country struggles through a protracted financial crisis in which funding has been slashed for health care and drug treatment programs.Officials said while there were about 10-14 new HIV infections per year among Athens drug users...

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J&J says it won't enforce AIDS drug patent in Africa

LONDON (Reuters) - Generic manufacturers are to be given a free rein to make cheap copies of Johnson & Johnson's HIV/AIDS drug Prezista for sale in Africa and other poor countries.U.S. healthcare group J&J said on Thursday it would not enforce patents, provided generic firms made high-quality versions of the drug - known generically as darunavir - for sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed...

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Oracle 2Q earnings rise 18 pct as tech spending up

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Oracle says its latest quarterly earnings rose 18 percent as companies splurged on more software and other technology toward the end of the year.The results announced Tuesday are an improvement from Oracle's previous quarter, when the company's revenue dipped slightly from a year earlier.The latest quarter spanned September through November. That makes Oracle the first technology...

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Oracle sees third-quarter profit of 64 to 68 cents per share

BOSTON (Reuters) - Oracle Corp, the world's No. 3 software maker, said it expects to report non-GAAP earnings per share of 64 cents to 68 cents in its fiscal third quarter.Oracle forecast that third-quarter new software sales and cloud subscriptions sales will rise 3 percent to 13 percent from a year earlier.The company said its sees third-quarter hardware products sales flat to down 10 percent from...

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Oracle beats outlook, shrugs off fiscal debate

BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Technology giant Oracle Corp said software sales growth will stay strong into the new year despite fears that there could be big tax hikes and U.S. government spending cuts that could cause a slump in spending by customers.Shares of the world's No. 3 software maker rose 1.3 percent after it reported fiscal second-quarter revenue and earnings that surpassed Wall Street...

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BofA CEO: Fed wants bank to show consistent earnings

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp needs to show the U.S. Federal Reserve it can produce consistent earnings as part of the annual process to gain permission to return more capital to shareholders, CEO Brian Moynihan said in an interview.The second-largest U.S. bank is turning a profit in most of its main businesses, but it inherited costly legal problems when it acquired companies...

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Top UBS shareholder pins rebound hopes on private wealth

LONDON (Reuters) - UBS's wealth management business will help it bounce back from a $1.5 billion rap for rigging interest rates, one of its largest investors said, although fears of costly civil lawsuits could cast a pall over its shares for some time.Paras Anand, European equities head at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, said legal action sparked by the Libor scandal posed an unpredictable threat to...

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Facebook's SnapChat-Style Sexting App Is Called Poke (Seriously)

Oh, well would you look at Facebook, trying to make a Christmas funny with its SnapChat copycat app. It's called Poke! Get it? Because SnapChat is what the kids are all using for their sexting these days, apparently, and Poke — you know, that once kinda flirty Facebook future that's now pretty much useless — can kind of do the same thing, and it kind of sounds like some bad sexual pun, too! Funny,...

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Facebook releases ‘Poke’ for the iPhone to compete with Snapchat

Facebook (FB) on Friday released a new free application for the iPhone called Poke that competes directly with Snapchat and allows users to send a messages, photos or videos that will self-destruct after a set time. With Poke you can send messages to individual friends or groups that are set to expire after one, three, five or ten seconds. The app is simple to use and only requires you to hold down...

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Facebook’s new easier-to-manage ‘Privacy Shortcuts’ rolling out globally

Managing Facebook (FB) privacy settings can be a daunting nightmare. Facebook’s new “Privacy Shortcuts” is designed to make sharing items as transparent as possible with always-visible privacy button on the top toolbar. The update also brings “an easier-to-use Activity Log, and a new Request and Removal tool for managing multiple photos you’re tagged in.” The new Facebook privacy controls are rolling...

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Student suspended after vague Facebook post about dressing as Santa deemed threatening

A student in Georgia who planned to go to school dressed as Santa Claus was instead suspended after school officials perceived an enigmatic Facebook message about his plan as a threat.On Tuesday at approximately 7 p.m., John George III, a sophomore at Crawford County High School, posted on his Facebook page: “Students of cchs ur in for a big surprise tomorrow ,” reports WMAZ-TV.A parent saw George’s...

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Newsmaker of the Year selection triggers storm of debate on social media

OTTAWA - The selection of Luka Rocco Magnotta as Canada's 2012 Newsmaker of the Year lit up the country's social media and news web sites on Sunday with a cyclone of outrage and condemnation.The alleged killer, who now sits in a Montreal detention centre as his case goes through the legal process, was the subject of a global manhunt last spring after a Chinese engineering student was killed, his body...

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Reid among 7 NFL coaches sacked in firing frenzy

Andy Reid is the winningest coach in the history of the Philadelphia Eagles. Lovie Smith led the Chicago Bears to the 2007 Super Bowl.Now they're looking for work.Seven coaches and five general managers were fired Monday in a flurry of pink slips that were delivered the day after the regular-season ended.Ken Whisenhunt is out after helping Arizona reach the Super Bowl following the 2008 season. Also...

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