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U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan, charged with killing 13 people during a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, will face a court martial trial at the base, a military judge ruled on Wednesday, rejecting his request to change the venue. Judge Tara Osborn, a U.S. Army colonel, last month set July 1 for the start of the court martial for Hasan, who has been in custody since the shooting rampage that also wounded 32 people. Hasan could face the death penalty if convicted. Selection of a jury, or panel in military law terminology, is scheduled to begin in May. Osborn also rejected Hasan's request to select jurors from the Navy or Air Force instead of the Army. Osborn has been trying to get the trial schedule on track after extensive delays while the military justice system debated whether Hasan, who is Muslim, should be required to shave his beard to comply with military rules. Osborn has put that issue aside. Several procedural issues were also discussed at the hearing on Wednesday f

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday announced the next general election will be held on May 11, as the Pakistani Taliban raised tension ahead of the long-anticipated polls by warning people to stay away from political gatherings and public meetings of key mainstream parties during their campaigns. The country's top military brass resolved on Tuesday to continue the fight against terrorism and said that the armed forces would give backing to the Election Commission that will oversee the vote. That expression of support came a day after the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said it was withdrawing from peace talks. ''It was reiterated in unequivocal terms that comprehensive strategy will be followed by armed forces to combat terrorist threat being faced by the country,'' Dawn reported a military spokesman as saying after a quarterly meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. The principal military advisory body announced its backing for the gener

Screenshots have surfaced of what is said to be the next iteration of the Google Play Store, which first appeared over at Droid-Life. The current version Android users are running is 3.10.14 at most, but the version demonstrated in the image after the jump is said to be of 4.0.16. While its not official, there are a few indicators that it could be the real thing. The leak received by Droid Life isn’t a full functioning service, and from what is seen it is not ready for consumers. These things indicate that it could be real, although a Play Store leak isn’t exactly common, making it hard to decide what to think of the matter. If it is real, however, the prospect is exciting, as the user interface shows a complete overhaul. Colors, fonts – everything is different, offering simplicity and a clean design. Headers are larger, icons are larger, the content is front-and-center, and as Android Community notes, the apps are presented in a manner similar to Google Now cards in the “My Apps” s

The head of Colorado's prison system was shot to death as he answered the doorbell at his home in what police said may have been a targeted slaying linked to his high-profile position. The shooting on Tuesday night punctuated an intense debate on gun control in Colorado, coming just hours before the state's Democratic governor signed into law new firearms-control measures spurred by a rash of deadly mass shootings in the state and elsewhere. Police said Tom Clements, 58, appointed two years ago as executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, was shot at his home in a secluded wooded area near the town of Monument, 45 miles south of Denver. The killing did not appear to be linked to any break-in or robbery attempt, and did not appear to be a random act of violence, said El Paso County Sheriff's Department Lieutenant Jeff Kramer. "We are sensitive to the high-profile position in which Mr. Clements served and the fact there could be people who would targ

Cyprus and Russia resumed talks Thursday to strike a deal that could include cooperation on banking and natural gas reserves, the Cypriot finance minister told Reuters agency. Finance Minister Michael Sarris said that natural gas reserves from offshore fields surrounding Cyprus that have yet to be developed could be offered as part of the agreement. Any deal with Moscow should be in Russia's best interests too, he said. Sarris extended a stay in Moscow, where Russian officials said he asked for a further 5 billion euros on top of a five-year extension and lower interest on an existing 2.5-billion euro loan from Moscow. Meanwhile back in Cyprus, talks among the political leadership in Nicosia are set to resume on Thursday after late-night meetings to discuss a "Plan B" broke up on Wednesday without result. Cyprus considered nationalizing pension funds and ordered banks to stay shut till next week to avert financial chaos after it rejected the terms of a European U

Australia’s deeply unpopular government further damaged its public image Thursday with a bizarre internal power struggle in which the prime minister was forced to open her job to challengers only to find that no one from her party was willing to run against her. The unprecedented spectacle of a leadership ballot without a challenger adds to the perception of dysfunction and turmoil that taints Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s party and is likely to harm its already dismal chance of holding onto power at national elections in September. Kevin Rudd, the prime minister whom Gillard ousted in an internal party coup in 2010, had been expected to attempt to replace her. For weeks, his backers had been frenetically recruiting Gillard loyalists who are becoming increasing spooked by the center-left Labor Party’s dismal performance in opinion polls this year. But Rudd made a surprising 11th-hour announcement that he would not attempt to return to the premiership by running for the party’s top jo

A hacking attack that paralysed the computer systems of South Korean broadcasters and banks on Wednesday originated from a Chinese internet address, fuelling suspicion that North Korea may be behind the shutdowns of 32,000 computers. The Korea Communications Commission, which oversees telecoms and broadcasting, said on Thursday that a management server of Nonghyup Bank, one of the three affected institutions, was accessed by a Chinese IP address that generated malignant files. It added that the attacks into six infected institutions all came from a single entity and it was trying to track down the perpetrators. “There can be many inferences based on the fact that the IP address is based in China,” Park Jae-moon, the KCC’s head of network policy, told a briefing. “We’ve left open all possibilities and are trying to identify the hackers.” Experts believe many North Korean hackers operate from China, launching cyber attacks on South Korean organisations. Suspicion of North Korean involve