Official: 3 Americans total died in Algeria attack

Updated at 2:53 p.m. ET WASHINGTON Three U.S. citizens were killed in last week's hostage standoff at a natural gas complex in Algeria, while seven Americans made it out safely, the State Department said Monday. The State Department confirmed that gas workers Victor Lynn Lovelady and Gordon Lee Rowan were killed at the Ain Amenas gas field in the Sahara. U.S. officials identified Texas resident...

Read More..

President Obama Calls for 'Collective Action'

Invoking the nation's founding values, President Obama marked the start of his second term today with a sweeping call for "collective action" to confront the economic and social challenges of America's present and future."That is our generation's task, to make these words, these rights, these values -- of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- real for every American,"...

Read More..

Algeria says 37 foreigners died in siege led by Canadian

ALGIERS (Reuters) - A total of 37 foreigners and an Algerian died at a desert gas plant and five are still missing after a four-day hostage-taking coordinated by a Canadian gunman, Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said on Monday. Sellal also told a news conference that 29 Islamists had been killed in the siege, which Algerian forces ended by storming the plant on Saturday, and...

Read More..

Obama issues inaugural call for unity, equality

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama issued a impassioned call for equality and national unity as he was inaugurated for a second term Monday, warning political "absolutism" must not thwart renewal and change.Obama was publicly sworn in for another four White House years before a flag waving crowd of hundreds of thousands on Washington's National Mall. Then he delivered an address steeped...

Read More..

Functional Iron Man gauntlet zaps enemy balloons

The gauntlet has lasers in the palm and in a retractable forearm shooter. No, it doesn't let you fly too.(Credit:Patrick Priebe )What are you going to do to mark the upcoming release of "Iron Man 3"? If you're superfan Patrick Priebe, you build your own Iron Man laser gauntlet. As a 6-foot-tall, Mohawk-sporting hockey player, Priebe can come across as intimidating. His penchant for making laser weapons...

Read More..

Officials: N.M. teen gunman kills 5 inside home

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A teenage boy fatally shot two adults and three children inside an Albuquerque home, authorities said Sunday. The boy was arrested and booked on murder and other charges in connection with the shootings Saturday night, Bernalillo County sheriff's spokesman Aaron Williamson said. The victims' identities haven't been released, and the boy's motive and connection to the five victims...

Read More..

President Obama Sworn In for Second Term

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden today officially embarked on their second term, taking the Constitutionally mandated oath of office in two separate private ceremonies inside their homes.Shortly before noon in the Blue Room of the White House, Obama raised his right hand, with his left on a family Bible, reciting the oath administrated by Chief Justice John...

Read More..

Veteran jihadist claims bloody Algeria siege for al Qaeda

ALGIERS/IN AMENAS, Algeria (Reuters) - A veteran Islamist fighter claimed responsibility on behalf of al Qaeda for the Algerian hostage crisis, a regional website reported on Sunday, tying the bloody desert siege to France's intervention across the Sahara in Mali. Algeria said it expected to raise its preliminary death tolls of 23 hostages and 32 militants killed in the four-day siege...

Read More..

French launches "total reconquest" of Mali's north

BAMAKO: French troops on Sunday consolidated gains in Mali's Islamist-held north as Paris said the aim was its "total reconquest" and Russia, Canada and Germany offered vital aid for the offensive.The French advance towards the jihadist strongholds came amid reports that the Al-Qaeda linked militants were abandoning some of their positions and converging on the mountainous region of Kidal,...

Read More..

Schmidt, daughter open up about trip to North Korea

Google's Eric Schmidt (right) arrives in North Korea on January 7, 2013, with former N.M. Gov. Bill Richardson.(Credit:CBS News/Screenshot by CNET) Google's Eric Schmidt is back from his much-publicized trip to North Korea, and he's got a few details to share about his humanitarian mission.The search giant's executive chairman had already revealed some of the reasoning behind his trip to reporters...

Read More..