American Express cuts 5,400 jobs

American Express said Thursday it would lay off 8.5 per cent of its workforce in 2013, in an effort to contain operating expenses and adapt to customers moving to online and mobile platforms.The bank said it would eliminate 5,400 jobs, though some of those will be offset by new positions, for a net cut of 4-6 per cent of the 63,500-strong workforce.The layoffs will span different staff...

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NASA says massive spiral galaxy is 5 times size of Milky Way

Composite image of the giant barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 (Credit:NASA) Most of the big news this week came out of Las Vegas where gadget geeks gathered for the Consumer Electronics Show. But now for some mind-blowing stuff, courtesy of NASA: An international team of astronomers has determined that a stellar system called NGC 6872 is more than five times the size of our Milky Way galaxy and thus...

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Student shot at Calif. high school by classmate

Updated at 4:14 p.m. ET TAFT, Calif. A 16-year-old student armed with a shotgun walked into class in a rural California high school on Thursday and shot one student, fired at another but missed, and then was talked into surrendering by a teacher and another staff member, officials said. The teen victim was in critical but stable condition, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told a press conference....

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Biden Hints at Executive Order on Gun Control

Vice President Biden, meeting today with outside groups on gun safety, told reporters he has already started putting together a list of recommendations that he plans to issue next Tuesday.He has suggested the administration would be ready to take executive action on the issue, which would not require votes from Congress. That prospect has raised alarm bells for gun rights advocates.Biden...

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Twin explosions kill 56 in Pakistani city of Quetta: police

(Reuters) - Twin explosions killed at least 56 people in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Thursday evening, a police official said, hours after a bombing in Quetta's market killed 11. The death toll in the latest blasts could rise, according to Deputy Inspector of Police Hamid Shakil. The first explosion, in a snooker hall, appeared to be a suicide bombing, local residents...

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Football: Ronaldo hat-trick fires Madrid into quarter-finals

MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo responded to missing out on the Ballon d'Or by hitting a stunning hat-trick as Real Madrid beat Celta Vigo 4-0 to reach the Spanish Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday.Trailing 2-1 from the first leg of their last-16 tie, Portuguese star Ronaldo hit two early openers before settling the tie with three minutes remaining to calm his team's nerves after Sergio Ramos...

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Startup to bring touchless gesture control tech to iOS

PointGrab's touchless gesture control technology is coming to iOS next month.(Credit:PointGrab)LAS VEGAS--Touchless gesture control may soon be possible on Apple's iOS devices, thanks to a startup that will be releasing a software development kit enabling the technology.For some time, the Israeli company PointGrab has been making its technology -- which allows users to control activity on screen with...

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Obama to nominate Jack Lew to Treasury Secretary

Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew, seen here walking with President Obama on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington Monday, Feb. 14, 2011, is a leading candidate to succeed Tim Geithner as U.S. Treasury Secretary. / AP Photo/Charles Dharapak President Obama is set to nominate Jack Lew to be the next Treasury Secretary, CBS News has confirmed. The announcement could...

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Holmes Took Disturbing Photos Before Massacre

Hours before James Holmes allegedly carried out a massacre at a Colorado movie theater he took a series of menacing self-portraits with his dyed orange hair curling out of from under a black skull cap and his eyes covered with black contacts.A prosecutor told the court after the photographs were shown that Holmes had a "depravity of human heart."Those haunting photographs,...

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Venezuela court endorses Chavez inauguration delay

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's top court endorsed the postponement of Hugo Chavez's inauguration this week and ruled on Wednesday that the cancer-stricken president remained the South American OPEC nation's leader. The 58-year-old socialist has not been seen in public nor heard from in almost a month following surgery in Cuba. The government says he is in a delicate condition and cannot...

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