Life is growing harder in the Syrian capital, President Bashar al-Assad’s stronghold, as residents complain about electricity rationing, shortages of food and gas, and soaring prices.

Two dueling realities — an improving economy that remains very weak — create serious political risks for top advisers to President Obama and Mitt Romney.

Five people were killed on the second day of clashes between protesters and the police as demonstrators questioned the ruling military council’s ability to run the country.

The group known as Anonymous listened in on a call between the bureau, Scotland Yard and other foreign police agencies about their joint investigation of the group and its allies.

The demolition of a historic house in the imperial city, once home to famous architects who championed preservation, was a cruel blow to Chinese conservationists.

The assessment came as Iran’s supreme leader lashed out at the United States, vowing to retaliate against oil sanctions and threats of military action.

Suspicious of government initiatives, protesters linked to the Tea Party are denouncing all manner of measures they equate with a 1992 United Nations resolution, Agenda 21.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation apologized for its decision to cut grants to Planned Parenthood for cancer screening and said it would restore the funding.

In the past month, at least 22 Afghan children under the age of 5 have frozen to death in refugee camps in Kabul, prompting deep concerns among aid workers.

The aide said that Russian intelligence services previously reported plans for the outbreak of street protests, implying that a blueprint for unrest was drawn up in Washington.

The reports could not be independently confirmed, but the attacks Friday night in Homs appeared to be the bloodiest episode in the nearly 11-month-old uprising, opposition activists said.

A bumper harvest and a surge in emergency food aid have ended a famine in Somalia that killed tens of thousands of people, the United Nations said on Friday.

Chevron said Friday that it had no intention of apologizing for the environmental damage to the Amazon rain forest for which an Ecuadorean court ruled it responsible.

Cuts in a federal energy-assistance program have left some families struggling to pay for oil to heat their homes.

In Silicon Valley, wearing flashy socks is more than an expression of your personality. It signals that you are part of the in crowd.

An allegation by Newt Gingrich’s second wife provides an unexpected publicity bounce for advocates of open marriage.

Top Breaking News Stories from CBSNews.com

Hundreds also wounded in Syrian city of Homs as Assad regime extends crackdown of 11-month-old uprising

Prosecutors end two-year inquiry into seven-time Tour de France champ's alleged use of performance enhancing drugs

Freezing temperatures could reduce the number of demonstrators participating in a protest against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday

The economy created 243,000 jobs in January -- a lot more than economists or Wall Street were expecting

Interstates shut down as winter storm warnings go into effect in Colo., Wyoming, Neb.; 600 flights cancelled in Denver   Photos

Check out Super Bowl ads that have the most online views -- and a couple more from 2012   Full coverage: Super Bowl XLVI

Officer ordered a court-martial for Bradley Manning charged in the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history

Spc. Michael Wagnon had been charged with the unlawful killing of one Afghan civilian in February 2010

Teacher arrested on suspicion of lewd acts upon two girls; Same school had another teacher arrested for committing lewd acts on 23 children

Prosecutors said they plan to file 2 more murder charges against ex-Marine accused of killing 4 homeless men in California

Anger over deadly soccer riot spilled over into 2nd day of street violence that left at least 5 dead and over 1,500 injured

At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women get will get infected with human papillomavirus at some point, according to CDC

Current owners of the dangerous wildlife would be allowed to keep them as pets if they meet strict new requirements

Jim Irsay tweets that star QB has not passed team physical or been cleared to play despite OK from doctor

"Harry Potter" actor, who says he used to drink nightly, revealed he would go to work on the "Potter" set while still drunk

Presidential candidate says a lot of important statistics are excluded from the jobs numbers

Five-year-old pet rabbit wasn't trained to herd sheep, but probably picked it up from watching dogs do the task

As part of our continuing series "On the Road," Steve Hartman tells the story of Jim O'Hara and his iron-willed campaign for the governorship of Montana.

Msnbc.com is a leader in breaking news and original journalism.

The U.N. Security Council plans to vote on a much-negotiated resolution backing an Arab peace plan for Syria on Saturday, a day after government forces reportedly killed more than 200 people in Homs.

In an apparent reversal of Susan G. Komen For the Cure's funding cuts to Planned Parenthood, the founder and CEO of the nation's largest breast-cancer advocacy agency said Friday that the group would amend the criteria that sparked a firestorm.

Fierce controversy over a policy that cut -- then apparently restored -- funding for Planned Parenthood by the Susan G.

By msnbc.com news services The U.S. economy produced another solid month of job gains in January, offering a hopeful sign for hiring in the year ahead. Employers added a net 243,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The actor died Friday of pancreatic cancer, The New York Times reported. The star of films and plays such as "Anatomy of a Murder" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" was 81.

By msnbc.com staff and wire Steve Appleton, Chairman and CEO of Micron Technology, has passed away in a small plane accident in Boise, Idaho, the company said Friday.

Dwyane Wade scored 26 points, and LeBron James had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lift the Miami Heat to a 99-79 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.

Federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of Lance Armstrong on Friday, ending a nearly two-year effort aimed at determining whether the seven-time Tour de France winner and his teammates participated in a doping program.

A powerful winter storm moving across Colorado forced the state Department of Transportation to close portions of Interstate 70 and Interstate 25 on Friday.

A major blizzard is bearing down on Colorado, Nebraska and nearby states, providing a reminder that winter is far from over. The Weather Channel’s Mike Seidel reports. (TODAY)

U.S. citizen Jamal Tarhuni went to his native Libya to conduct aid work and now finds himself prevented from flying home by American officials for mysterious reasons.

Bradley Manning, the Army private accused in the WikiLeaks scandal, was ordered Friday to face a general court martial on charges he released thousands of documents of classified information.

Protesters laid siege to Egypt's Interior Ministry on Friday, pushing their protest against the military-led government in a show of anger triggered by the country's worst soccer disaster.

A rare snowfall covers Rome and its landmarks in snow

Two Americans and their Egyptian guide were kidnapped in South Sinai, Egypt, by Bedouins, police said Friday.

A sensitive conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard was recorded by the very people they were trying to catch, the hacking group known as Anonymous claimed Friday.

  We already know that one key way to make more money and stay employed is to get more education.

A surge in hiring last month boosted stock prices Friday, with the technology sector hitting an 11-year high as the data boosted hopes the world's largest economy has turned a corner.

It was one of those cases that seemed straight out of pulp fiction, a noir mystery written by one of those hard-boiled scribes who liked to surround damsels in distress with mobsters and movie stars.  Yet it was real life.

Irmela Mensah-Schramm has embarked on her very personal "combat mission" almost daily for 26 years. Her weapons? A scraper, nail-polish remover, a camera and lots of courage. NBC News' Andy Eckardt reports.

A U.S. judge is weighing whether to hold a woman accused of paying a hit man to behead three witnesses in a North Carolina terrorism case.

A search is under way in waters near Mexico for a British cruise ship passenger who apparently went overboard.

Planning an international trip? For Americans who still need to obtain a passport, or renew an existing one, the cost is going up.

 Daniel Radcliffe admitted he was drunk while filming some scenes for the "Harry Potter" movies during a period in his life where he was drinking "nightly," the young star said in an interview. "I have a very addictive personality. It was a problem.

Flagging down a black cab on London's streets may prove a little harder during this year's Olympics after taxi drivers had a request to raise fares by 22 percent turned down.

A Wisconsin woman has been charged with theft over accusations she tried to profit from Facebook's much-anticipated plans to go public by selling fake stock in the social media giant.

John Terry was removed as England captain Friday as he awaits trial for racial abuse, but the Chelsea defender will remain eligible to play for the national team at the European Championship.

According to new data from the Congressional Budget Office, U.S.-based companies paid only 12.1 percent in taxes on profits earned domestically. This is the lowest rate in four decades.

The retailer is turning its back on One Million Moms, a group which called for the talk show host to be dumped as national spokeswoman because she is gay.

The average Facebook user gets more from their friends on Facebook than they give to their friends. Why? Because of a segment of "power users," who specialize in different Facebook activities and contribute much more than the typical user does, a Pew survey finds.

Protesters hold the authorities responsible for deaths of 74 people in soccer disaster.

A nonfiction book on the mysterious heiress Huguette Clark and her family is being written by an msnbc.com reporter and one of Clark's cousins.

While other corporations wring their hands over the decision to pay an average of $3.5 million on a 30 second Super Bowl ad in a down economy, The King of Beers continues to spend.

FOX News Channel - We Report. You Decide.

DR. KEITH: Children want to believe those who are in positions of authority have their best interests at heart

GOP rivals aren't going easy on each other ahead of Saturday's caucuses, with Romney leading in polls

Republicans urge caution on latest jobs report that shows unemployment rate on downward trend, as White House calls report 'encouraging' evidence that the economy is on the upswing.

Lawmakers question Google's web search tracking, want consumers educated on data collection

Pakistan's clandestine Inter-Services Intelligence agency may be holding doctor who played role in take-down

News for nerds, stuff that matters

ananyo writes "One in five academics in a variety of social science and business fields say they have been asked to pad their papers with superfluous references in order to get published. The figures, from a survey published in the journal Science (abstract), also suggest that journal editors strategically target junior faculty, who in turn were more willing to acquiesce. The controversial practice is not new: those studying publication ethics have for many years noted that some editors encourage extra references in order to boost a journal's impact factor (a measure of the average number of citations an article in the journal receives over two years). But the survey is the first to try to quantify what it calls 'coercive citation,' and shows that this is 'uncomfortably common.' Perhaps the most striking finding of the survey was that although 86% of the respondents said that coercion was inappropriate, and 81% thought it damaged a journal's prestige, 57% said they would add superfluous citations to a paper before submitting it to a journal known to coerce. However, figures from Thomson Reuters suggest that social-science journals tend to have more self-citations than basic-science journals."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

__roo writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that an increasing number of companies are replacing traditional meetings with daily stand-ups. The article points out that stand-up meetings date back to at least World War I, and that in some place, late employees 'sometimes must sing a song like "I'm a Little Teapot," do a lap around the office building or pay a small fine.' Do Slashdot readers feel that stand-up meetings are useful? Do they make a difference? Are they a gimmick?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Maximum Prophet writes "After taking board exams, doctors have been routinely getting together to remember and reproduce as much of the exam as they can. These notes are then bound and reproduced. According to the American Board of Dermatology, the exams are protected by copyright laws, and any reproduction not approved by the board is illegal. While I have no doubt that the Board believes this, and pays lawyers to believe it as well, I don't think they understand copyright. Perhaps they should invest in better testing methods."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes "In the Stanford Law Review Online, Professor Daniel Kreiss discusses 'the history of political data, focusing on the recent proliferation in voter data and development of new voter-modeling techniques,' and how 'these data practices undermine privacy and democratic practice, even as they increase participation and voter turnout.' He writes: 'Underlying all of this is a vast data infrastructure that has made targeted online advertising and marketing possible, and has contributed to a revival of field campaigning over the last decade. Online advertising and field campaigning rely on voter modeling based on hundreds of data points culled from surveys, public records, and commercial information sources such as credit histories. This data details the location, demographics, political affiliations, social networks, behavior, and interests of citizens.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

bonch writes "After drawing criticism over iBooks Author's licensing language, Apple has modified it in a software update to make clear that Apple is claiming rights to the .ibook format itself and not the content therein: '[The license restriction] does not apply to the content of such works when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format.' In other words, the content may be sold on competing book stores as long as it is not packaged using iBooks Author."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New submitter The Mister Purple writes "A team of German researchers appears to have cracked the GMR-1 and GMR-2 encryption algorithms used by many (though not all) satellite phones. Anyone fancy putting a cluster together for a listening party? 'Mr. Driessen told The Telegraph that the equipment and software needed to intercept and decrypt satellite phone calls from hundreds of thousands of users would cost as little as $2,000. His demonstration system takes up to half an hour to decipher a call, but a more powerful computer would allow eavesdropping in real time, he said.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

silentbrad writes "Canadians enjoy among the fastest, most widely available and least expensive broadband Internet in the developed world, says a report released Thursday. The report, based on the results of 52 million speed tests of broadband users across the G7 countries and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) membership, was produced by Montreal-based consulting firm Lemay Yates Associates Inc. on behalf of Rogers Communications Inc., the country's largest broadband service provider. It disputes the OECD's own report, published in July, that ranked Canada's high-speed Internet offerings significantly below those of other countries. The report comes days after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission revealed a sharp jump in the number of complaints it has received regarding Internet traffic-management practices, or 'throttling' in recent months." And it's about to get a little better — reader ForgedArtificer points out that Rogers has promised to end all throttling over their network by the end of the year.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

arnodf writes "The University of Hasselt (in Belgium) announced today (Google translation of Dutch original) that Belgian and Dutch scientists have successfully replaced an 83-year-old woman's lower jaw with a 3D-printed model. According to the researchers, 'It is the first custom-made implant in the world to replace an entire lower jaw. ... The 3D printer prints titanium powder layer by layer, while a computer controlled laser ensures that the correct particles are fused together. Using 3D printing technology, less materials are needed and the production time is much shorter than traditional manufacturing. The artificial jaw is slightly heavier than a natural jaw, but the patient can easily get used to it."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Lake City library is making news for their staunch position on the First Amendment, censorship, and the right to watch porn in the library. The problem started when library patron Julie Howe found a man watching some questionable material and asked him to move to another computer. The man refused and the librarian also refused to intervene when asked saying that the library doesn't censor content. "We're a library, so we facilitate access to constitutionally protected information. We don't tell people what they can view and check out," Seattle Public Library spokeswoman Andra Addison told Seattle PI. "Filters compromise freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment. We're not in the business of censoring information."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

the_newsbeagle writes "Chieko Asakawa went blind at age 14, learned to program mainframe computers by sense of touch, and has spent her 27 years at IBM-Tokyo bringing personal computing and the Internet to the blind. From the article: 'By 1997 she had developed a plug-in that worked with the Netscape browser, mapping Web navigation commands to the computer keyboard's number pad and using text-to-speech technology to read out content. Computer stores around the world sold IBM's Home Page Reader, and Asakawa says its effect on the blind community was immediate, electric, and sometimes touching. ... Other browsers for the blind followed IBM's groundbreaking efforts, and Asakawa moved on to addressing a deeper problem: the fact that designers were unintentionally creating inaccessible websites. She and her team wrote a program called aDesigner ... to allow designers to experience a site as blind users do and to suggest ways to improve navigation for audio browsers.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

CR0WTR0B0T writes "Micron CEO Steve Appleton was killed in a plane crash around 9AM on Friday, February 3rd. He was flying an experimental fixed-wing single engine Lancair, which crashed in between two runways at the Boise airport."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

superglaze writes "Poland has suspended its ratification process for ACTA, throwing the copyright crackdown into doubt for the whole European Union. ACTA is being handled as a 'mixed agreement' in the EU due to its criminalization clauses, so if a single EU member state (such as Poland) fails to ratify it, it is null and void across the entire union. If that were to happen, at least six of the remaining international signatories would have to ratify ACTA for it to apply anywhere in the world. Outside the EU, only eight countries — including the U.S. — have signed."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

eldavojohn writes "Describing Notifications as 'somewhere between email and IM,' Mozilla has announced this push technology as a way to receive notifications from websites without having to keep them open in your browser — as well as receiving them on your mobile device. A JavaScript API reveals early interface ideas by the team. This core concept is not new — both Google and Apple have their own push notification systems for Android and iOS respectively. However, 'It's important to note that this push notification system is distinct from the existing desktop notification mechanisms that are already defined in pending standards. The desktop notifications that websites like GMail and Seesmic Web display to Chrome users, for example, will only work when the website is left open in a tab. Mozilla's push notification system moves beyond that limitation.' Mozilla is attempting to take push notifications to the entire web for any website to use."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

gbrumfiel writes "In May of 2010, North Korea made the bizarre claim that it had achieved nuclear fusion. Many, many commentators (including faithful Slashdot readers) mocked the dear leader for his outlandish boast, but could there have been a kernel of truth in the claim? Apparently some odd radioactivity was spotted by detectors surrounding the North just days after the announcement. Now, a new analysis by a Swedish scientist suggests that the radiation may have leaked from covert experiments into boosting fission warheads. The evidence is tentative at best, and many are skeptical, but it does seem that something odd was up on the Korean peninsula that spring."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

MrSeb writes "Thanks to a leaked video — a video that Microsoft made for Nokia — we now have lots of details about Windows Phone 8 (WP8). From deep Windows 8, Skype, and SkyDrive integration, through to the addition of NFC 'wallet' payments and BitLocker encryption, it sounds like Windows Phone 8 will be close to iOS and Android in terms of features. The interesting stuff is under the hood, though: WP8 will have the Windows 8 kernel instead of the Windows CE kernel of its predecessors. Through the Win 8 kernel, WP8 will support native code and multi-core processors. It will also have the same network stack, security, and multimedia support as Windows 8. While Win 8 apps won't be directly compatible with Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore says developers will be able to 'reuse — by far — most of their code.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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