Egypt appoints 10 new ministers, including finance chief, ahead of fresh talks with IMF

CAIRO - Egypt swore in 10 new ministers on Sunday in a Cabinet shake-up aimed at improving the government's handling of the country's ailing economy ahead of talks this week with the International Monetary Fund over a badly needed $4.8 billion loan.The reshuffle, which President Mohammed Morsi had promised in response to public anger over Egypt's economic malaise, affected two key ministries, the...

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Fighting Irish vs Crimson Tide: 2 storied programs try to live up to hype in BCS title game

MIAMI - Sometimes, the buildup to a game can overwhelm what actually happens on the field.Certainly, No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Alabama would have to play nothing less than a classic to live up to all the hype for Monday night's BCS championship.Before either team stepped on the field in balmy South Florida, this was shaping up as one of the most anticipated games in years, a throwback to the era...

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Fowler flies blind on yardage at windy Kapalua

Yardage numbers were often meaningless for Rickie Fowler on a brutal Friday at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii where the first round was eventually abandoned because of severe gusting winds.With golf umbrellas bending sharply in intermittent driving rain and balls being blown off line on the more exposed greens, Fowler realized he simply had to choose his shot and then try to pull it...

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PGA Tour's season opener at Kapalua gets mulligan

KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — A bum deal for Webb Simpson. A big break for Scott Stallings.And a mulligan for the PGA Tour.The new golf season was not even two hours old when the wind squalls roaring down the mountains above Maui made conditions too severe to continue Friday in the Tournament of Champions. Because the first group off had only completed eight holes — six players had not even started — and...

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Golf-Play abandoned for second straight day at Kapalua

Jan 5 (Reuters) - The official start of the 2013 PGA Tour was postponed for a second consecutive day because of strong gusting winds at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii on Saturday.First-round play in the PGA Tour's season-opening event had been entirely scrapped on Friday because of similar conditions and hopes of playing 36 holes on Saturday had to be abandoned.Winds gusted up to 40mph...

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Insight: Security fears dogged Canada debate on China energy bid

OTTAWA (Reuters) - In September, two months after China's state-owned CNOOC Ltd made an unexpected $15.1 billion bid for Canadian energy company Nexen Inc, Canada's spy agency told ministers that takeovers by Chinese companies may threaten national security.The rare warning from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), which was disclosed to Reuters by intelligence sources, did not stop...

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Huawei shows off 6.1-inch Android phablet ahead of CES [video]

It looks like things are going to get worse before they start to get better. Further blurring the line between a smartphone that is too big to be used comfortably and a tablet the is too small to be used efficiently, Huawei has plans to unveil a new smartphone-tablet hybrid device at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January. The Android “phablet” was recently shown off by a Huawei executive...

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Iran says defeats cyber attack on industrial sites

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Internet virus attacked computers at industrial sites in southern Iran, in an apparent extension of a covert cyber war that initially targeted the country's nuclear facilities, an Iranian official said.Iran, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, has tightened online security since its uranium enrichment centrifuges were hit in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer worm, which Tehran believes...

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Iran media report new cyberattack by Stuxnet worm

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian semi-official news agency says there has been another cyberattack by the sophisticated computer worm Stuxnet, this time on the industries in the country's south.Tuesday's report by ISNA quotes provincial civil defense chief Ali Akbar Akhavan as saying the virus targeted a power plant and some other industries in Hormozgan province in recent months.Akhavan says Iranian...

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Phablet wars heat up with ZTE’s quad-core Nubia Z5

2013 is shaping up to be the year of the “phablet” with virtually ever major handset maker preparing to challenge Samsung’s (005930) impressive Galaxy Note lineup. While there’s no clear definition on how large a phablet is, most tend to have screens that hover in the 5-inch range, though Huawei’s upcoming 6.1-inch smartphone will only push that boundary. ZTE’s newly announced Nubia Z5 packs a 5-inch...

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