Cycling at the Tour de France has taken a techie turn. Not only is Lance Armstrong posting to Twitter from the race, but a Chalkbot -- a robot that writes in water-soluble paint -- is scribing messages onto the road, offering inspiration to the competitors and to cancer survivors. The Chalkbot takes input from text messages and Twitter posts sent by the public. The robot, a tractor-like device that's pulled around by a truck, then paints those messages in ...

Defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre has exclusively told CNN that he does not care what happens in the alleged dispute between rivals Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador at Astana -- and is only concentrating on retaining his title. On Sunday night, seven-times Tour champion Armstrong told French TV that there was tension between himself and 2007 winner Contador, the latest in a series of comments made by the American that has raised doubts about the Astana team's ...

Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso will dissolve the lower house of parliament this month and call for a general election in August, the government said Monday. The lower house of the Diet will be dissolved the week of July 21; elections for new lawmakers will be held on August 30, said Jun Matsumoto, the chief Cabinet spokesman. The beleaguered prime minister has faced increasing pressure from within his party, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), to step down as his ...

An Iranian family learned of their 19-year-old son's death nearly a month after he was shot during a demonstration over the Islamic republic's disputed election results, an international human rights group said Sunday. Sohrab Aarabi was apparently shot dead June 15 during one of the bloody protests that followed the June 12 presidential elections, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. At least 20 protesters were killed in the chaos and more than 1,000 were ...

Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo has won the ninth stage of the Tour de France from Saint-Gaudens to Tarbes, outsprinting Italian Franco Pellizotti after the pair had broken away from their fellow escapees as the race left the Pyrenees. Bouygues Telecom rider Fedrigo, who also won a stage in the 2006 Tour, just got up on the line to deprive Pellizotti -- who finished third overall in this year's Giro d'Italia -- of his first-ever Tour stage victory. Fedrigo completed the 160.5km ...

Eight-time gold medal winner at the Beijing Olympics and multiple world-record holder Michael Phelps warmed up for the Swimming World Championships in Rome by setting a new men's world record in the 100 meters butterfly. The 24-year-old American shaved 18-hundredths of a second from the previous mark set by compatriot Ian Crocker in 2005, with a time of 50.22 on the third day of competition at the U.S. National Championships in the Indianapolis. "I was pretty happy with ...

Thomas Voeckler won the fifth stage of the Tour de France as Lance Armstrong remained in second place in the overall standings behind Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara. It was a hugely popular victory for one of the heroes of French cycling, who had been part of a six-man breakaway group for much of the 196.5 km stage from Cap d'Agde to Perpignan. The 30-year-old Bouygues Telecom rider achieved cult status when he held the yellow jersey for ten days in ...

Lance Armstrong has failed by under a second to take the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, after the American's Astana team powered to victory in the 39km fourth stage team time-trial around Montpellier. Seven-times winner Armstrong began the day 40 seconds behind race leader Fabian Cancellara in third position on general classification -- and his Astana team duly beat Cancellara's Saxon Bank team by that very margin, with the Garmin team splitting them in second position. The result ...

No legal "bombshell" or personal scandal lies behind Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation, but off-color jokes by talk-show host David Letterman contributed to her decision to step down, Palin's attorney said Monday. Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, abruptly announced Friday that she would leave office in late July. The decision to resign a year and a half before her term ends, and her rambling, often-disjointed resignation speech, have fueled days of debate among political analysts. But Thomas ...

Mark Cavendish has won the third stage of the Tour de France to cement his reputation as the fastest man in cycling, following a devastating spell of riding by his Team Columbia colleagues. Cavendish, who is now becoming unbeatable in sprint finishes, once again showed his rivals a clean pair of heels, beating Norwegian Thor Hushovd to the line at the end of a dramatic 196km stage from Marseille to La Grand Motte. The victory, Cavendish's second after ...