Offbeat game recasts Xmas tune as 'Little Bummer Boy'

If you don't want to be 'LDB Out,' avoid 'Little Drummer Boy' at all costs.(Credit:@Nelz9999)There's a bigger danger this holiday season than ending up on Santa's naughty list. A lump of coal in a Christmas stocking is one thing. What can happen to you if you hear "Little Drummer Boy" is something else altogether. You know the tune: "Come they told me/Pa rum pum pum pum/A newborn King to see/Pa rum...

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Rebels threaten to storm 2 Syrian Christian towns

BEIRUT Rebels have threatened to storm two predominantly Christian towns in central Syria, saying regime forces are using them to attack nearby areas, an activist group said Saturday. It says such an attack could force thousands of Christians from their homes. Russia's foreign minister, meanwhile, said that Damascus has consolidated its chemical weapons into one or two locations to protect them...

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'Fiscal Cliff' Leaves Boehner a Wounded Speaker

John Boehner is a bloodied House speaker following the startling setback that his own fractious Republican troops dealt him in their "fiscal cliff" struggle against President Barack Obama.There's plenty of internal grumbling about the Ohio Republican, especially among conservatives, and lots of buzzing about whether his leadership post is in jeopardy. But it's uncertain whether...

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Egypt's constitution seen passing in referendum

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt extended voting by four hours on Saturday in the second and decisive round of a referendum that was expected to approve the country's new Islamist-drafted constitution after weeks of protests and violence. Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Mursi, who was elected in June, say the charter is vital to move Egypt towards democracy, nearly two years after an...

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Low Latency's comic take on the big stories of 2012

In late 2011, Crave welcomed Low Latency, CNET's first-ever weekly tech comic. Every Thursday morning(ish), the pair behind the comic's shenanigans, artist Blake Stevenson and CNET editor Jeff Bakalar, give their amusing take on a prominent tech happening. Here, a look back at 10 of the year's big stories through Low Latency's unique lens. Click on each panel for a larger version, and to see every...

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John Kerry tapped to be next Secretary of State

President Obama is nominating Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, CBS News has learned. An official announcement is forthcoming later today. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, has widely been seen as the frontrunner for the position since U.N. ambassador Susan Rice withdrew her name from consideration. Rice came under heavy fire from Republican...

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Amid Protest, NRA Calls for Armed Guards in Schools

For the past week, leadership at the National Rifle Association has largely stayed away from the media, but this morning the group may weigh in on how to keep a deadly shooting massacre like last week's at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school from happening again.The NRA will hold a news conference in Washington, D.C., just before 11 a.m.Its leadership has held off on interviews...

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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said. The operation risks inflaming already raw sectarian tensions as the 21-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule - during which the president's Alawite sect...

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Park Geun-Hye adds to Asian women's rise to power

SEOUL: South Korea's president-elect Park Geun-Hye is joining a long list of Asian women whose rise to power has, to varying degrees, been founded on the political legacy of a male sibling, father or husband.Park, who will become the country's first female president in February after her historic election win on Wednesday, is the daughter of former military ruler Park Chung-Hee.Despite...

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Best of the best from this year in Crave

What's your favorite Crave story from the last year?(Credit:Image by Christopher MacManus)It's been an eventful year here at Crave, what with the discovery of Dungeons & Dragons dice from the Ptolemaic Period; the strange tail of the robotic butt; a ship that flips over on purpose, and cow lady parts that text farmers when it's time for a booty call. Our retrospective gallery below gives you...

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New York Stock Exchange to be sold

NEW YORK The New York Stock Exchange (NYX) is being sold to a rival exchange for about $8 billion, ending more than two centuries of independence for the iconic Big Board. The buyer, IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE), an upstart exchange based in Atlanta, made clear Thursday that little would change for the iconic trading floor in Manhattan's financial district if regulators approve the deal....

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Schools Threatened Nationwide After Sandy Hook

Schools across the country, already on edge following last week's massacre of 20 students and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school have been further unnerved following a series of copycat threats, sometimes yielding arrests and caches of deadly weapons.From California to Connecticut, police in the past five days have arrested more than a dozen individuals in Indiana,...

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Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels thrust into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province on Thursday, activists said, pursuing a string of territorial gains to help cut army supply lines and cement a foothold in the capital Damascus to the south. They have made a series of advances across the country, seizing several military installations and more heavy weaponry, hardening the threat...

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S'poreans are the least positive: poll

SINGAPORE: A Gallup poll said Singaporeans are the least positive, after the same poll found Singaporeans to be the world's most emotionless people.Last year, international pollster Gallup measured positive emotions of 1000 people in 148 countries and areas using five questions. They asked people questions such as whether they experienced a lot of enjoyment the day before the survey, whether...

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Get a free 1-year membership to ShopRunner

Talk about good timing!From now through Dec. 31, you can get a free 1-year membership to ShopRunner -- the service that affords, among other things, free 2-day shipping from dozens of big-name stores. (Use offer code runner when filling out the registration form.) That may come in awfully handy for you last-minute gift shoppers.Before I go any further, and to help prevent another SiriusXM Internet...

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State Dept. official resigns following Benghazi report

Eric Boswell, the head of diplomatic security at the State Department, has resigned, CBS News confirmed, following the release of a harsh report detailing State Department missteps that led to the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Boswell's resignation from his post as assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security is effective immediately. Sources say he will stay on as director...

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Newtown Parents Committed to Staying Put

The people of Newtown, Conn., and the surrounding towns are filled with fear and doubt in light of the rampage that turned their worlds upside down. Despite the uncertainty, however, there is one thing parents are adamant about: They're not going anywhere."I know it's an awful thing, but this town and the towns surrounding it, it's a big community where people come together...

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South Korea president-elect Park says victory is people's hope for economic recovery

In the aftermath of Friday's Newtown school shooting, we've heard tales mostly horrifying and occasionally heroic, from surviving witnesses and mourning citizens alike, but this one lies somewhere in between, all the more unshakeable. One six-year-old Sandy Hook student played dead in her first-grade classroom, her family pastor said late Sunday, with the kind of quick thinking that ended up saving...

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Football: Singapore 3 Thailand 1

SINGAPORE - Singapore took a firm grip on the AFF Suzuki Cup final Wednesday with a 3-1 win over Thailand in the first leg at Jalan Besar Stadium.Goals from Mustafic Fahruddin, Khairul Amri and Baihakki Khaizan gave the Lions a deserved win which will raise hopes of a record fourth Southeast Asian title ahead of Saturday's second leg in Bangkok.Thailand were briefly on level terms in the...

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Apple releases iOS 6.0.2 to fix Wi-Fi issue

Apple on Tuesday released another minor update toiOS 6 that promises to fix a Wi-Fi issue affecting some devices.The software, which went this morning, says simply that it "fixes a bug that could impact Wi-Fi." No additional features or security fixes are a part of the update, according to the company's release notes.The update comes just a day after Apple gave developers a fourth beta of iOS 6.1....

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First of 8 funerals at Newtown church begins

NEWTOWN, Conn. Family members have gathered for the first of eight funerals for school shooting victims to be held at a Catholic church in Newtown, Conn. A motorcade of dozens of vehicles led by police motorcycles accompanied the family of 6-year-old James Mattioli to St. Rose of Lima on Tuesday. His funeral comes a day after two other 6-year-old boys were laid in the first of a long, almost unbearable...

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Assault Weapons Ban: What Was It and Did It Work?

Editor's Note: This post is part of a larger series by ABC News examining the complex legal, political and social issues in the gun control debate. The series is part of ABC's special coverage of the search for solutions in the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.When the 113th Congress is sworn in in January, expect the debate over gun control...

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Egypt prosecutor's resignation angers Brotherhood

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's public prosecutor resigned under pressure from his opponents in the judiciary, dealing a blow to President Mohamed Mursi and drawing an angry response on Tuesday from the Islamist leader's supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood. Seeking to keep pressure on Mursi, the main opposition coalition will hold new protests against an Islamist-backed draft constitution...

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Police call for death penalty after Delhi bus rape

NEW DELHI: New Delhi's police chief on Tuesday demanded the death penalty for rapists amid growing outrage over the gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a school bus in the city.The physiotherapy student and her male companion were brutally beaten and thrown off the vehicle after the attack, which has provoked street protests and widespread anger over the treatment of women in India."We...

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