Friday’s Games
UPDATE 1-Cycling-Road-Tour Down Under classification after stage 5
Jan 26 (Infostrada Sports) – Classification from Tour Down Under after Stage 5 on Saturday 1. Tom-Jelte Slagter (Netherlands / Blanco) 16:35:33″ 2. Javier Moreno (Spain / Movistar) +13″ 3. Ben Hermans (Belgium / RadioShack) +25″ 4. Jon Izagirre (Spain / Euskaltel) +28″ 5. Geraint Thomas (Britain / Team Sky) +29″ 6. Tiago Machado (Portugal / RadioShack) 7. Gorka Izagirre (Spain / Euskaltel) +32″ 8. Daniele Pietropolli (Italy / Lampre) 9. Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands / Blanco) 10. Jussi Veikkanen (Finland / FDJ) +37″ 11. Jack Bauer (New Zealand / Garmin) +41″ 12. …
Ratcliff scores 3 as Washington gets revenge against Edmonton with 12-10 win
EDMONTON – The Washington Stealth weren’t about to give up another game to the Edmonton Rush.
SF district attorney won't file charges against 49ers' Crabtree for alleged sexual assault
SAN FRANCISCO – Criminal charges won’t be filed against 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree after an alleged sexual assault in a hotel after the team’s playoff victory over the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco’s district attorney said Friday.
Canadian police allege ex-SNC executive paid bribes to Gaddafi son
(Reuters) – A son of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi allegedly received 120 million euros ($162 million) in bribes for giving major contracts in Libya to SNC-Lavalin Inc, Canada's biggest engineering and co nstruction company, a police document said on Friday. According to an affidavit the Royal Canadian Mounted Police used to obtain a search warrant at SNC's head office last April, the bribes were paid, in a roundabout way, to Saadi Gaddafi by Riadh Ben Aissa, a vice-president at Montreal-based SNC at the time. … Syrian troops and militia push to take Sunni Homs areas
AMMAN (Reuters) – The Syrian army has stepped up an offensive on opposition Sunni Muslim strongholds in the central city of Homs, bringing in ground forces and loyalist militia to try to secure a major road junction, opposition sources said on Friday. Around 15,000 Sunni civilians are trapped on the southern and western edge of the city near the intersection of Syria's main north-south and east-west arteries, crucial to let the army travel between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast, opposition campaigners in Homs said. … Leblanc's goal leads Toronto rally as Rock defeat Minnesota Swarm 13-12
TORONTO – Stephan Leblanc's goal with 6:02 remaining capped a torrid Toronto rally as the Rock scored the last five goals and defeated the Minnesota Swarm 13-12 Friday night in the National Lacrosse League.
Brazil: bar codes on sidewalks give tourist info
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Rio de Janeiro is mixing technology with tradition to provide tourists information about the city by embedding bar codes into the black and white mosaic sidewalks that are a symbol of the city. Doubts raised about fairness of Delhi rape trial
NEW DELHI (AP) -- In the court of public opinion, the men being tried in the gang rape of an Indian university student should be hanged in a public square. Angry protests leave 7 dead on Egypt anniversary
CAIRO (AP) -- Violence erupted across Egypt on Friday as tens of thousands took to the streets to deliver an angry backlash against President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, demanding regime change on the second anniversary of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak. At least seven people were killed. Round 2 for Sloppy Joe's bar, a Havana original
HAVANA (AP) -- A half-century later, Jose Rafa Malem remembers the balmy breezes blowing through the bar's arching porticos, the grain of the tall wood stools, the whiff of Pedro Domecq brandy on his father's breath. Analysis: Lengthy 787 probe, fixing problem, may cost Boeing dear
SEATTLE (Reuters) – The slow progress of investigations into battery problems on Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner jets suggest the new plane could be grounded for months, raising fears that the financial hit to Boeing will be greater than had been initially predicted. Wall Street had been working on the assumption that safety inspectors would find the root cause of two battery incidents in the United States and Japan within weeks and Boeing would implement a speedy fix costing no more than a few hundred million dollars. But on Thursday, the head of the U.S. … Ex-banker accused of helping in Olympus fraud granted bail
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former Singapore banker charged with helping Japan’s Olympus Corp engineer a $1.7 billion accounting fraud was granted bail by a U.S. judge on Friday. Chan Ming Fon, a Taiwan citizen who lives in Singapore, may be released on $5 million bail, secured by $1 million of cash and $4.5 million of properties, according to an order by U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan. The former Commerzbank AG and Societe Generale banker had been arrested on December 20 in Los Angeles. …
US park officials seek to rid Grand Canyon of elk after too many run-ins with humans
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Grand Canyon is an international destination where spectacular views are not the only thing that grab tourists’ attention.
Syrian forces escalate offensive in Homs
BEIRUT (AP) -- Syria's army unleashed a barrage of rocket and artillery fire on rebel-held areas in a central province Friday as part of a widening offensive against fighters seeking to oust President Bashar Assad. At least 140 people were killed in fighting nationwide, according to activist groups. 
LONDON (Reuters) – Visitors to London have marked its hotels as the worst in a list of 100 cities due to overpriced minibars, lousy breakfasts and slow service, according to a survey released on Friday. A study by travel metasearch website Trivago of hotel reviews from more than 140 accommodation booking sites found London came last in a list of 100 cities that had at least 135 hotels and 60 reviews. It did not include TripAdvisor postings. The German city of Dresden came top with its hotels receiving the highest ratings and most positive reviews from guests. … 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Credit Suisse Group Inc faces a potential $2 billion of exposure over fraud that occurred a decade ago at National Century Financial Enterprises, a result of a federal judge's determination on how to apportion responsibility. Friday's decision by U.S. District Judge James Graham could expose the Swiss bank to hundreds of millions of dollars of added liability over the activities of Lance Poulsen, who co-founded National Century in 1990 and was its chief executive. He is now serving a 30-year prison term and is presumed insolvent. … 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – US Airways Group Inc and American Airlines parent AMR Corp are in the final stages of negotiati ng a merger, with the final price and management structure still to be resolved, four people familiar with the matter said. The two airlines, as well as AMR's creditors and its bondholders, have focused their efforts in recent weeks on reaching a merger agreement, and a deal could come in the next two weeks, the people said on Friday. … 
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada's main stock index dipped lower on Friday as falling bullion prices pressured gold miners and investors paused following a steady climb this year to near 18 month highs. The index, which has risen 3.1 percent since th e new year, touched its highest level since August 2, 2011 earlier in the session before retreating. In the United States, the benchmark S&P 500 saw its eighth straight day of gains and closed above the 1,500 level for the first time in more than five years. "To see a pause on today is not a surprise. … 
VIENNA (AP) -- Thousands of children were murdered by the Nazis because they fell short of the Aryan ideal. On Friday, a hushed audience gathered in Austria's Parliament to watch the world premie re of an opera depicting how the Nazis methodically killed mentally or physically deficient children at a Vienna hospital during World War II. 
SEGOU/BAMAKO, Mali (Reuters) – French-backed government forces advanced into northern Mali towards the Islamist rebel stronghold of Gao on Friday, recapturing the town of Hombori and forci ng al Qaeda-allied fighters to pull back under relentless French air strikes. France sent troops and aircraft to its former colony two weeks ago to block a southward offensive by Islamists occupying Mali's north. French and Malian troops have been pushing forward on either side of the Niger River, securing several farming towns recaptured over the last week. … 
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will recommend to the U.N. Security Council that a peace enforcement unit be deployed in easte rn Democratic Republic of Congo to take on the M23 rebels and other armed groups, a senior U.N. official said on Friday. The intervention unit of a few thousand troops would aim to prevent armed groups from expanding territory in the resource-rich region by overpowering and disarming them. The unit would be contained within the existing U.N. force, known as MONUSCO. "It is not simply peacekeeping, this is peace enforcement. … 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp has reclaimed its place as the largest U.S. publicly traded company by market value one year after losing it to Apple Inc, as shares of the technology giant extended their recent fall on Friday. Apple's market capitalization has fallen by about $250 billion – roughly the total market value of Google Inc – since hitting a high last September, when the stock traded above $700. Apple shares traded as low as $435 before closing down 2.4 percent on Friday at $439.88, for a market value of roughly $413 billion. Exxon shares, up 0.4 percent on the day to $91. … 
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Political newcomer Yair Lapid electrified Israel with his surprising success in this week's election and an Obama-like message of hope and change, and expectations are high. 
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain's economy shrank more than expected at the end of 2012 with a North Sea oil production slump, lower factory output an d a hangover from London's Olympics pushing it perilously close to a "triple-dip" recession. The country's gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday, sharper than a 0.1 percent decline forecast by analysts. The news is a blow for Britain's Conservative-led government, which a day earlier defended its austerity programme against criticism from the International Monetary Fund. … 
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian native leaders vowed on Thursday to carry on the fight for better living conditions as a chief at the center of a simmering aboriginal protest movement ended her six-week hunger strike. Chief Theresa Spence, from a remote northern Ontario reserve, called off the strike after holding negotiations with other aboriginal leaders and opposition lawmakers in Canadian Parliament. "There was an awakening here," Danny Metatawabin, a spokesman for Spence, told a news conference in Ottawa. "Now we have to move forward." "The fight does not end because the hunger strike ends. … 
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- Liberia's people have a novel way of finding out how their government is spending their money. 
CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's official news agency says the death toll has risen to four in clashes in the city of Suez between police and protesters on the second anniversary of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak. 
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- Training the youth for the challenges of a fast-changing world has to be central to any strategy to rebuild the job market following a financial crisis that's wiped out millions of middle-class jobs over the past five years. 
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexicans are engaged in national soul searching over their country's flawed justice system as newly freed Florence Cassez, earlier convicted of and sentenced for being part of a kidnapping ring, makes the celebrity circuit in her native France. 
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraqi troops opened fire on stone-throwing Sunni demonstrators in the country's restive west on Friday, leading to the deaths of at least five protesters -- the first fatalities in more than a month of anti-government rallies. Two soldiers were also killed, apparently in retaliation. 
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- Who created Davos, and why does it exist? 
TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto's divisive mayor, Rob Ford, won an appeal on Friday against a ruling that was set to remove him from office, defusing a showdown that has transfixed Canada's biggest city and allowing him to see out his four-year term. Ford, a magnet for controversy during the two years he has spent as mayor, was ordered out of office last November after he was found guilty of conflict of interest, but he was allowed to stay on the job while he appealed. …