Author: Alexander Abad-Santos

Syrian Electronic Army Adds Financial Times to Its Social Media Hacks

Reuters

The Financial Times became the latest news agency to fall prey to the Syrian Electronic Army, the hacking group which has claimed the social media scalps of the AP, The Onion, the BBC, and NPR, perhaps signaling that news outlets should be more like The Onion and come clean about how they're getting hacked.

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 30, 2013

Nate Silver's Super Bowl Pick: The 49ers

Sure, he was on-point during the 2012 election, but before you place your bets behind the bespectacled number genie, remember that he predicted that this would be a Seahawks-Patriots Super Bowl — and that he's gotten a little better at the politics game than anything else.

Comments | 2,414 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 30, 2013

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Wild Monkeys Ransacked a Town

A pack of 10 monkeys went on a rampage in the town of Toddang Pulu in Sendenreng Rappang, Indonesia, on Tuesday. In their wake, they've left seven people injured—one critically—and one shaken village.

Comments | 2,414 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

Let's Slow Jam the News with Brian Williams

Today in viral videos: the slow jam that the news really deserves, the power of the jumbotron, and a wave that we won't be catching.

Comments | 345 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

Cans of Fresh Air Are an Easy Sell Now That China's Toxic Smog Is So Bad

The increasingly toxic smog in Beijing has reached a level somewhere around "choking," and now it's about to make one of China's most eccentric billionaires even richer by allowing him to peddle one of the most eccentric inventions of all time.

Comments | 1,418 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

This Is Jeff Zucker's CNN Overhaul

As news arrives today that some of its most familiar (and familiarly loud) faces are on the way out and some new (and potentially household-name) anchors may be on the way in, the future of CNN is starting to take shape under its powerful new boss. Here's what that might look like — no Sarah Palin allowed.

Comments | 1,887 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

The Obama Skeet-Shooting Truthers Think the President Is Scared of Guns

President Obama said in an interview published this week that he has, in fact, shot a gun recently, and conservative skeptics are having a field day with the latest in presidential sport shooting.

Comments | 3,247 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

The Most Inspiring Things About Quadruple Amputee Brendan Marrocco

The first solider to survive after losing all four limbs in the Iraq war has been live-tweeting his recovery from a Baltimore hospital room. Here's what we know about him so far — aside from the fact that he is, you know, amazing.

Comments | 818 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

British Troops Are Going to Mali, Despite What David Cameron Said

Today, the U.K. announced that it would be sending around 350 troops to support the French operation in Mali, which means Prime Minister David Cameron has some explaining to do

Comments | 1,379 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 29, 2013

North Korea and Its Gulags Are Now on Google Maps

Thanks to citizen cartographers, Google was able to fill in what was what one of the last blank spaces on earth. And now we can see things like North Korean mass transit routes, the Pyongyang's  parks and of course, the country's gigantic gulags.

Comments | 5,844 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

And Now, Back to Charles (Barkley) with the Weather

Today in viral videos: proof that Charles Barkley should stick to his day job, proof that Australia is pretty scary, Manti Te'o gets auto-tuned, and more.

Comments | 1,058 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

Meet the Rogue Sheriffs Who Won't Enforce Obama's Gun Proposals

Obama and Biden met with a group of sheriffs and police chiefs this afternoon, calling them a representation of law-enforcement officials across the country. But the truly not gun-shy are these 100-something sheriffs — and counting.

Comments | 1,995 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

The Ban on Gay Boy Scouts Could Be Gone by Next Week

The Boy Scouts of America's decades-long national policy of banning gay scouts and ex-communicating gay scout leaders could be crashing down, set to be replaced by a new policy that would leave admissions decisions to local sponsoring organizations.

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

Who Shot at Rick Ross and His Rolls Royce?

Fort Lauderdale police have their hands full figuring out what happened during a shooting early Monday morning that eventually led to a Rolls Royce crashing into an apartment building, but Rick Ross fans have been all too eager to help.

Comments | 26,176 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

Was the Brazilian Night Club Disaster Made Worse by Its Bar Tab Policy?

As Brazil and the city of Santa Maria prepare to bury the 233 people who died in a nightclub fire, we are slowly getting more information on what really happened early Saturday morning.

Comments | 5,111 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

Chris Brown Apparently Punched Frank Ocean Over a Parking Spot

Chris Brown is under police investigation for an alleged assault at a Los Angeles recording studio last night involving six men, one of whom happens to be Frank Ocean.

Comments | 5,976 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

Juvenile Accused in Delhi Gang Rape May Only Get Three Years

The Indian Juvenile Justice board ruled Monday that one of the suspects in a fatal gang rape last month will be tried as a juvenile—and if convicted, the worst sentence he can face for the will be three years in a detention facility. 

Comments | 690 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 28, 2013

North Koreans Reportedly Turn to Cannibalism Due to 'Hidden Famine'

News out of North Korean is notoriously unreliable, but food shortages in the country have gotten so bad and people so desperate that there are now reports of men murdering their own children for food.

Comments | 19,596 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

Ryan Gosling vs. Ryan Seacrest: A Battle of Followers

Today in viral videos: Jimmy Kimmel proves that the meek shall inherit Twitter, Christian Bale restores our faith in humanity, and the scientific explanation behind the chicken and the egg.

Comments | 1,371 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

Lennay Kekua's Voicemails Sound Exactly Like Manti Te'o Wants Them to Sound

Manti Te'o's interview with Katie Couric is set to air this afternoon, and from the sound of it, Te'o has come prepared.

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

New Mexico Bill Would Send Rape Victims to Jail for Aborting 'Evidence'

If you thought the so-called "rape caucus" was fading away, there's new evidence — and we mean evidence — that some Republicans are still going to make a lot of people upset with what they see as legitimate concerns about rape.

Comments | 11,392 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

The Evolution of the 'Angry Hillary' Meme

She was all smiles before to introduce John Kerry as her replacement today, but according to plenty of still-swirling reactions to Hillary Clinton's appearance before before the the same Senate committee yesterday, Clinton looked like just like an angry, reactionary lady.

Comments | 1,599 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

The Voice of Manti Te'o Fake Girlfriend Was Apparently Tuiasosopo's All Along

It turns out that all those hours were spent talking to Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, whose lawyer admits the alleged mastermind behind the fake-girlfriend hoax was disguising his own voice the whole time.

Comments | 4,283 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

Meanwhile, in South Africa, 15,000 Crocodiles Escaped from a Farm

The good news is that some of the 15,000 crocodiles that escaped after recent South Africa floods have been recaptured. The bad news is that there are at least 7,500 missing crocodiles still out there somewhere.  

Comments | 4,828 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 24, 2013

Spanish Paper Duped by Fake Hugo Chavez Hospital Photo

The world and Venezuela are anxiously awaiting for Hugo Chavez's first public appearance since fleeing to Cuba for cancer treatment last year. That's why the Spanish paper El Pais decided to run a picture of what they thought was an intubated Chavez.

Comments | 2,017 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 23, 2013

Let's Welcome Back Hockey with This ESPN Commercial

Today in viral videos: ESPN gets a new chef, ponies wear sweaters, and our faith in the awesomeness of people gets renewed.

Comments | 345 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 23, 2013

Salon Gave Truthers a Chance, Decides That's a Bad Idea

After it spent a good portion of last week notably debunking the rise of Newtown conspiracy theories, the editorial team at Salon has come under fire for a decision notable for doing quite the opposite.

Comments | 2,414 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 23, 2013

Court Keeps Sex Offenders on Facebook, Citing Free Speech

The 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Chicago has deemed unconstitutional an Indiana law designed to protect children from sexual predators by limiting registered offenders' access to social media. Here's why the fight's not over.

Comments | 2,023 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 23, 2013

The iPhone App That Helped Save Algerian Hostages in the Desert

Make fun of iPhone 5s and their terrible maps all you want, but the next time you're in an Algerian hostage situation, remember that Apple phone's native Compass app just may save your life.

Comments | 3,621 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 23, 2013

Manti Te'o Is About to Get Katie Couric's Sarah Palin Treatment

For anyone who thought Manti Te'o and his people were beginning to take control of the girlfriend-hoax fallout, well, it's starting to look like Katie Couric still isn't just your average daytime talk-show host.

Comments | 1,897 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 23, 2013

Meanwhile, in a Chinese Zoo, a Man Bit an Ostrich to Death

You'd think the safest place for animals is usually a zoo. That apparently isn't the case in China. 

Comments | 41,164 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 23, 2013

Surviving Relatives of 15-Year-Old Killer Speak Out

In the past few days, police have been able to piece together what happened early Saturday morning when Nehemiah Griego allegedly killed both his parents and his younger siblings with an AR-15 rifle

Comments | 4,828 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 23, 2013

Michelle Obama's Eye Roll Blamed on John Boehner's Bad Small Talk

Since Michelle Obama and Speaker John Boehner won't exactly tell us what was behind the he-said-she-eye-rolled exchange they had on Inauguration Day, we're now having to rely on the inexact science of lipreading.

Comments | 5,894 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 22, 2013

Kate Upton Proves Commercials Warrant Teasers Now

Today in viral videos: Kate Upton's Super Bowl commercial "leaks," animal reactions to the Beyoncé lip-sync controversy, Manti Te'o gets an eHarmony profile, and more.

Comments | 5,345 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 22, 2013

Norway's Roads Are No Match for 59,000 Pounds of Flaming Goat Cheese

For the last six days the Brattli Tunnel in northern Norway has been closed. The culprit? A 27-ton truckload of a burning brown goat cheese called Brunost and the toxic gasses that emerge when you light the stuff on fire.

Comments | 6,207 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 22, 2013

Beyoncé Lip-Synced at Inauguration, and Even Beyoncé Truthers Are in Denial

Twenty-four hours after she sang pretty much the best version of the national anthem since Whitney Houston, word is emerging that Beyoncé chose to switch to a pre-recorded version of "The Star Spangled Banner" for Monday's inauguration. The reaction has been pure disbelief.

Comments | 10,671 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 22, 2013

The Latest Subway-Tracks Video Has a Happy Ending

Our newest harrowing tale takes us to Madrid, where one woman fainted and somersaulted below... except she got saved in the nick of time — and there's video of the whole thing.

Comments | 1,379 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 22, 2013

The Manhattan Meth Lab Was Only Cooking (Legal) Bath Salts, Apparently

About that Manhattan apartment where a police raid Monday had people calling it a midtown meth lab: Turns out the place belonged to someone who was just making bath salts, reports NBC New York — the not-so-bad kind of bath salts.

Comments | 1,812 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 22, 2013

The Taliban Says Prince Harry Is a Crazy 'Coward'

Prince Harry may have humble-bragged his way home from Afghanistan, all full of war stories and gunned-down insurgents, but the Taliban isn't having any of it.

Comments | 1,403 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 22, 2013

Inside the Cat Eradication Campaign That's Tearing New Zealand Apart

Okay, maybe economist Gareth Morgan doesn't really want to exterminate cats. But he does want owners to keep their felines indoors for the rest of their lives and not replace them they die, because he believes cats will kill off New Zealand's native wildlife.

Comments | 8,439 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 22, 2013

17 Dead, Dozens Injured by Sequence of Car Bombs In Baghdad

A series of three car bombs situated around the city of Baghdad exploded one right after another on Tuesday—right on the heels of a string of suicide attacks claiming 30 lives last week. This isn't going to make people feel better either: al Qaeda may be involved. 

Comments | 1,064 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 22, 2013

Jill Kelley Finally Speaks About Petraeus, Broadwell, and Blackmail

In her first interview since the bottom of the David Petreaus scandal fell out, Jill Kelley told the Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz that Paula Broadwell is one scary cyberbully.

Comments | 11,902 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 21, 2013

What Prince Harry Did in Afghanistan

After a five-month tour of duty, Prince Harry is heading home from combat — with a little bragging on his way out of Afghanistan.

Comments | 2,414 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 21, 2013

The Best Moments of Inauguration 2013, Aside from the Speech

The 57th presidential inauguration — Barack Obama's second — has been sealed into history, and we'll no doubt remember President Obama's powerful speech, which seems to have gone over well. But there were other bright spots — moments that weren't in the script — that deserve their own special place.

Comments | 8,698 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 21, 2013

President Obama Messed Up the Oath of Office This Time

In 2009 Chief Justice John Roberts flipped some very important words in President Obama's swearing-in. Four years later, it appears the two still haven't figured out how to do get this tradition quite right.

Comments | 20,117 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 21, 2013

Three of the 10 American Hostages from the Algerian Gas Plant Are Dead

We got word on Friday that an American had died in the Algeria hostage situation, but now the AP reports, by way of a U.S. administration official, that two more Americans were killed in the standoff.

Comments | 2,414 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 21, 2013

15-Year-Old Who Killed His Family with an AR-15 Had a Plan to Attack Walmart

More details are emerging about Nehemiah Griego, and they add up to a gruesome picture of a teenager with a van packed with guns and a plan to shoot up his local Walmart in New Mexico.

Comments | 13,843 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 21, 2013

Then and Now: A Lot Can Change in Four Years

Inauguration Day is as good a time as any to look back at four years ago, when a younger Obama officially took over a country that was happy for Chris Brown and Rihanna, rooting for Anne Hathaway, and enduring an otherwise pretty terrible January.

Comments | 1,800 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 21, 2013

The Man Behind Manti Te'o's Fake Girlfriend Sounds Like He's Ready to Talk

We've all wanted to hear from Manti Te'o's other half—Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the alleged mastermind who conceived Te'o fake girlfriend Lennay Kekua, her fake fatal leukemia, and her fake car accident. According to Tuiasosopo's family, the hoaxer is ready to talk.

Comments | 3,449 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 21, 2013

Here's How Lupe Fiasco Got Kicked Off Stage at an Inaugural Concert

Rapper Lupe Fiasco was the headliner at the StartUp RockOn concert to celebrate President Obama's reelection last night. Fiasco celebrated by spending more than 30 minutes rapping an anti-Obama song, and was eventually booted off stage. 

Comments | 14,581 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Jan 18, 2013

Jimmy Kimmel Channels a Cooler Bill Nye

Every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the video clips that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention.

Comments | 1,287 Views

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