Microsoft loses appeal against EU antitrust ruling

(InfoWorld) - Microsoft failed Monday in its bid to overturn aÂ European Commission antitrust rulingÂ against it, when the European Union's second highest court dismissed the company's appeal and ordered it to pay the bulk of the Commission's legal expenses. TheÂ long-awaited decisionÂ by the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg supports the Commission, the E.U.'s top antitrust regulator, on the two essential aspects of the case. The Commission was right to take action to prevent Microsoft from bundling in Windows Media Player into the Windows operating system, the court concluded. It was also right to force Microsoft to reveal interoperability information to makers of server operating systems. An order for Microsoft to pay a fine of â¬497 million (then around $600 million) also still stands. The only fault the court found in the Commission was the powers it granted to an independent monitoring trustee to oversee Microsoft's implementation of its 2004 antitrust ruling. Brad Smith, Microsoft's top lawyer, said: "We'll study this decision carefully and if there are additional steps that we need to take to comply with it, we will take them." European Commission President JosÃ© Manuel Barroso welcomed the ruling. "This judgment confirms the objectivity and the credibility of the Commission's competition policy. This policy protects the European consumer interest and ensures fair competition between businesses," he said. The Commission's allies also hailed the decision. "This is a great day for European businesses and consumers," said Thomas Vinje, who heads the legal team for the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS). "This decision opens the prospect for dynamic competition in the software industry. No more user lock-in, no more monopoly pricing," he said. Georg Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), said: "Through tactics that successfully derailed antitrust processes in other parts of the world, including the United States, Microsoft has managed to postpone this day for almost a decade. But thanks to the perseverance and excellent work of the European Commission, these tactics have now failed in Europe." Carlo Piana, FSFE's legal counsel, described the court ruling as "a milestone for competition. It puts an end to the notion that deliberate obfuscation of standards and designed lock-in is an acceptable business model, and forces Microsoft back into competing on the grounds of software technology." Software developer Jeremy Allison, co-author of the open source print and file server Samba, also approved the ruling. "This is a very important day for the Samba team: we hope to finally compete on a level playing field, without being denied access to interoperability information. Samba would then be able to offer consumers real choice, with the benefits of software freedom," he said. However, an industry group on Microsoft's side said the ruling was bad for small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). "The Commission just got a treat from the court, but SMEs and consumers will actually foot the bill. Microsoft did not win today, but it is European software developers and consumers that really lost," said Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology. It will take several hours and days to get a true assessment of the implications, he said, suggesting that the detail of the ruling might yet contain a "silver lining" for SMEs. "Following today's judgment, consumers and developers are unlikely to see the technologies they are demanding -- like voice recognition and multitouch interfaces -- integrated into Windows," he said. The implications of Monday's historic court ruling are being assessed by lawyers on both sides of the case, but already some things are clear. On the bundling question, the court stood by the Commission's order to Microsoft to develop a version of Windows with the Media Player stripped out. "The court makes clear that Microsoft retains the right to continue to offer the version of Windows bundled with Windows Media Player and that it is required only to make it possible for consumers to obtain the operating system without that media player, a measure which does not mean any change in Microsoft's current technical practice other than the development of that version of Windows," the court said in a statement summarizing the lengthy appeal ruling. Meanwhile, there was little room for interpretation of the court's decision concerning the interoperability side of the case. The court agreed with the Commission's finding that "Microsoft's refusal [to share interoperability information] limits technical development to the prejudice of consumers." Regarding the trustee, the court said the Commission was out of order granting the trustee an automatic right of access to Microsoft documents, premises and employees. It also said the Commission was wrong to make Microsoft pay all the trustee's expenses. Microsoft was ordered to pay 80 percent of the Commission's expenses, as well as those incurred by the Commission's allies in the case, including ECIS, as well as 80 percent of its own expenses. The Commission must pick up the tab for the remaining 20 percent. Microsoft's allies, including the Association for Competitive Technologies have to foot the bill for their own legal expenses.


Life & style: The number of men choosing to stay at home and raise the kids has doubled in the past 14 years. Blake Morrison asks them what it's like and why they do it.


Safety Group Proposes 3rd Stairwell in High Rises

Adoption of safety requirements proposed after the Sept. 11 attacks means an extra stairwell and more fireproofing could soon be required in tall buildings.


Italian Stefano Baldini won the Olympic men's marathon overnight after a spectator dashed on to the course late in the race and bundled the then leader Vanderlei de Lima into the crowd.


Md. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) has predicted that a new wave of obstetricians will close their practices in the wake of a 33 percent rise in the cost of malpractice insurance, which takes effect Wednesday.


Nepalese rebels set off bombs in capital

Kathmandu - Nepalese rebels shot a policeman and set off two bombs in Kathmandu on Friday while keeping up a blockade that has isolated the capital since midweek to press demands for the release of rebels held by the government.


Pakistani intel accused of al-Qaida help

A leaked document accuses Pakistan's intelligence agency of indirectly supporting terrorist groups including al-Qaida, and it calls on Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to disband the agency.


Bomb at Shiite Shrine Kills 7 in Karbala

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bomb targeting a prominent Shiite cleric killed seven people outside one of southern Iraq's holiest shrines Wednesday as campaigning began for Iraq's first post-Saddam elections - a vote that is going ahead despite suicide attacks and


Lo rivela 'Chi': condurra' su Canale 5 'La sai l'ultima?'


EAGLE, COLO. -- Kobe Bryant's trial began yesterday with 300 prospective jurors arriving at the county courthouse to fill out questionnaires, the first step toward choosing 12 people who will decide whether


Tokyo must keep a thaw in ties with China on track, the frontrunner to be Japan's next prime minister said on Sunday, while urging Beijing to better explain its ballooning military spending.


South Africa coach Jake White praised fly-half Jaco van der Westhuyzen after his try-scoring contribution in the 45-10 win over Scotland at Murrayfield.


A clearly exasperated Hal Sutton, fed up with reminders about the behaviour of the US team at Brookline, Boston, in 1999, told the European contingent in Detroit this week: "You need to forget it.


Il Mibtel perde lo 0,03%, l'All Stars lo 0,07%


Cowboys safety Williams suspended for horse-collar tackle

Dallas Cowboys Pro Bowl safety Roy Williams was suspended for one game for committing his third horse-collar tackle of the season, the National Football League said.


London - Prince Harry has spoken to his father, Prince Charles, about his dustup with a paparazzi photographer outside a nightclub, the princes' office said on Friday.


It began as a friendly basketball game in Mark Mangino's old neighborhood of New Castle, Pa. One of Mangino's teammates kept making mistakes. Finally, Mangino threw up his hands and let the kid have it.


Dopo la cassa integrazione per 250 lavoratori


Free Drugs After Heart Attack Would Save Money, Lengthen Lives

MONDAY, Feb. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Eliminating the cost of medications for people who have heart attacks would lead to longer lives and lower overall medical costs, new research suggests.


Report Rebukes Episcopalians for Disunity but Declines Sanctions

London, Oct. 18 (RNS)-- The Episcopal Church should apologize for stirring disunity but will not face serious sanctions for allowing an openly gay bishop, an Anglican church


Alleged Radical Chief Vanished, Dutch Say

In a letter and notes sent to parliament Thursday, Interior Minister Johan Remkes, who oversees the secret service, gave the clearest picture yet of the Dutch cell allegedly behind Van Gogh's murder.


Facebook attracts developers -- and controversy

(InfoWorld) - Many Web developers these days feel a sleep-depriving mix of unbridled enthusiasm and nagging concern over Facebook's social-networking platform. Opened to external developers three months ago, the Facebook platform and tools are well designed and offer developers generous revenue opportunities rare among social networks, along with a fast-growing and deeply engaged community of people. However, this paradise is already getting soiled by developers who, eager to spur the adoption of their applications, design them with self-promotion features that many say are deceitful and trigger annoying and abusive actions,Â such asÂ bulk unsolicited e-mails and intrusive message displays. Although Facebook has acknowledged the problems and in recent weeksÂ outlined corrective measures, it's critical for the company to quickly tighten its rules and unleash stricter penalties, developers say. "It's definitely a problem that needs to be solved. There are additional steps Facebook could and should take," said Ali Partovi, CEO of iLike, which rebuilt its music-discovery site within Facebook in May. As things stand now, the situation is a cat-and-mouse game, with developers seeking and exploiting loopholes in its terms of service and the company plugging them after the fact, he said. By then, however, the damage is done, and the developer who exploited the loophole boosted adoption of his application, to the detriment of competitors who respect the terms' spirit, Partovi said. That prompts honest developers to look for the next loophole as a defensive competitive measure. "That creates an unnecessarily bad environment," he said. "If the rules were simply enforced with clearer penalties, these companies would all fall into line quickly." Partovi said his company has been watching this situation from the sidelines, because, in its category, iLike has a dominant position and feels little competitive pressure. But he sympathizes with developers embroiled in competition with each other. "When you see your direct competitor exploiting a loophole and growing very rapidly and beating you, it's hard to resist the temptation," he said. "To some extent the blame is on Facebook." This comes from someone who otherwise couldn't be happier with the Facebook platform and with the effect it has had on his company. In just three months, the iLike Facebook application has close to 7 million users, almost twice as many as on the company's own Web site, leading to a doubling of the company's revenue, Partovi said. Unlike other social-networking sites, which limit the revenue-generating capabilities of external applications, Facebook has a policy widely considered generous, letting development companies run ads and engage in other commercial activities. This has contributed greatly to the attractiveness of the platform for developers. At press time, Facebook's directory showedÂ more thanÂ 3,500 applications built for the site by outside developers. "The monetization is one of the most unique things they are doing," said Tim O'Shaughnessy, a co-founder and partner at Hungry Machine, which has developed about 15 Facebook applications. "That's what's causing the fervor over the application development. People are looking at the potential to enhance their business. It's not just a distribution play. It can put real dollars in your pocket." Joseph Aigboboh, co-founder of J-Squared Media,Â another Facebook developer, agreed. "Facebook has created an opportunity to build literally any product and spread it virally to achieve unprecedented rates of growth and retention. This means that with a relatively cheap budget, companies can build lucrative products and services [and] drive revenue," he wrote in an e-mail. It's no surprise then that some developers have been overeager in their attempts to boost adoption of their applications and generate revenue, while looking for ways to bend the rules. This week, Dave Morin, Facebook's senior platform manager, addressed the concerns about annoying and abusive applications in an official blog posting, and announcedÂ steps have already been taken, with more coming. Facebook wants the popularity of applications determined by how useful and entertaining they are. Thus, it's shifting how it measures application popularity in its applications directory away from total users and toward user engagement, he wrote. Vowing to protect members' experiences on the site, he said the latest release of the Facebook Markup Language -- version 1.1 -- changes how profile boxes display content, removing applications' ability to display profile content to visitors and hide it from profile owners. The company is also limiting applications' ability to contact members to crack down on spamming of deceptive and misleading notifications. Facebook's user experience has traditionally been considered significantly more elegant, controlled, and organized than the one from key rival and social-networking leader MySpace. Although MySpace remains more popular, Facebook has been gaining momentum for the past 12 months. Its user ranks have ballooned to 37 million active users today from 12 million in December.Â More thanÂ half of its active members return to the site daily. A company called Slide, which creates "widget" applications for social-networking sites and is big on MySpace, jumped on the chance to set up shop on Facebook, which has quickly become one of its most important platforms. Although Slide has created some of the most popular Facebook applications, its detractors have criticized it for engaging in some of the inappropriate tactics flagged by Morin. But Slide's CFO Kevin Freedman said that Slide is as interested as anyone else in providing a good user experience on Facebook and elsewhere. "We listen to our users' feedback first and foremost. Regarding some of those [critical] comments, we haven't necessarily seen the same response from our users and that's really what drives us," Freedman said. Chris Kirkland, CEO of MrKirkland.com, a Web design and development firm, has created three applications for Facebook, but has been unimpressed with the developer program. "I very much consider Facebook to be 'learning on the job' with the development platform," Kirkland wrote in an e-mail. The tools and resources Facebook provides to developers could be better, he wrote. "Overall we have been extremely disappointed. The documentation is reasonable, though sometimes inaccurate, but by far our main complaint is the diabolically poor level of communication. We have a feeling that we are dealing with a bunch of overbusy college kids," Kirkland wrote. He blames this lack of communication for a situation that led Facebook to yank one of his company's applications from the site with, he says, nary an explanation and, in his view, without justification. The application, designed to let members track visits to their profiles, received initial approval from Facebook, but then the company turned around and banned it because it lacked a feature Kirkland says they never told him would be required. He's fuming that a similar application from a competitor continues on the site. "We were given no opportunity to alter the application, no warnings that they would do this, and my attempts at discussing the erroneous TOS reports with Facebook merely received generic replies," he wrote. Aigboboh, of J-Squared Media,Â also sees room for improvement in communicating with developers. "The main issue we see is that Facebook doesn't allow its developer community to interact with Facebook itself very well," he wrote, adding that he suspects Facebook is aware of this and working to correct it. On a related matter, Hungry Machine's O'Shaughnessy, echoing others interviewed, said Facebook could also do a better job of giving developers advance notice of changes on the platform back end that require applications to be adjusted. Ultimately, most developers interviewed said they hope Facebook will rein in the overeager developers and smooth the other wrinkles in the program. "The platform is still very young. As it matures, it'll get more robust and problems we experience today will start to go away," O'Shaughnessy says. "For the stage at which the platform is, we're pretty happy with it." "The people behind the Facebook platform are very smart. I'm confident they will take more steps to improve this," iLike's Partovi said. "It's like the Wild West now, but I don't think [the abuses] will last very long." Facebook didn't respond to several requests seeking comment for this story.


Test Speeds Feedback on Cancer Treatment

Doctors using new technology can get fast feedback on whether treatments are working for breast cancer victims, a new study shows.


Stoppard, "Spring Awakening" sweep Tony Awards

Revolution and rebellion were the theme of this year's top Tony Award winners on Sunday -- Tom Stoppard's Russian revolutionary drama and the rock musical "Spring Awakening" about teenagers learning about sex.


Reports claim 31 post offices across south Wales could close under proposals due to be announced.


Media software firm RealNetworks says it sold more than three million tracks thanks to an aggressive three-week price promotion in the US.


A bomb dropped by a U.S. fighter jet was believed to have killed three British soldiers in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defense said Friday. Two other soldiers were injured.


Is all your information getting backed up?

(Source: EMC) Backup, recovery, and archiving keep your data protected and available. Plan your strategy with this helpful guide.


ITALY:  Eco-Friendly Computers Still but a Dream

MILAN, Oct 6 (IPS) - Italy recycles just 15 percent of its used and  obsolete computers and other electronic devices, making it  difficult to find an effective solution to the problem of  electronic waste.


Yushchenko Warns Against Violence in Vote

Opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko called on the government Friday to prevent any violence in this weekend's crucial presidential repeat vote, as the


'Clintonland' to serve tourists and researchers

Former President Clinton was adamant about what he wanted when planning his presidential library. It had to be in the largest urban area of his home state, in a location


Typhoon Tokage is inching slowly towards Japan Tuesday, lashing the Okinawa islands with heavy rain and high winds as it headed north, threatening the country's main islands with the second typhoon in less than two weeks.


Federal agents armed with search warrants conducted raids in three states Wednesday as part of a nationwide crackdown on the theft of copyrighted materials through the Internet, the Justice Department announced.


OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Twenty months after haunting the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, Jon Gruden experienced a nightmare in the Black Hole.


A Giant Bid That Shows How Tired the Giant Is

The proposed Yahoo deal is a confirmation that Microsoft has become exactly what Bill Gates used to fear â sluggish and bureaucratic.


Iraqi refugees spill into Jordan, driving up prices

Each wave of refugees sends inflation soaring, affecting the real estate market most.


For Struggling Black College, Hopes of a Revival

Wiley College is suddenly feeling the glow of celebrity with the release of a film about the schoolâs debating team.


US health regulators have warned of heart risks connected to over-the-counter painkiller naproxen, creating additional confusion over the safety of similar drugs after recent warnings for two other painkillers.


Lexmark, Dell and IBM printers can pose shock hazard

About 39,400 laser printers made by Lexmark International Inc. and sold by Lexmark, IBM Corp. and Dell Inc. can pose an electrical shock hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned Tuesday.


Verkhovna Rada adopts appeal to Ukrainian people in connection with...

Welcome to the Ukrainian radio's Web Page. We are sincerely glad to you. We shall inform you about the most important events in political, social and economic life of Ukraine frankly and detail.


U.S. group urges $40 bln/yr more for early education

The U.S. government should spend $40 billion more per year on intensive early childhood education akin to "Head Start on steroids," Brookings Institution economists proposed on Wednesday.


Israel showing signs it may be willing to coordinate Gaza ...

JERUSALEM Israel hints that it might coordinate a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip -- if the Palestinians crack down on militants.


The name of this game is who can capture the most adult gamers. Heading into the year-end shopping season, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.


Seven mobile phone companies with a subscriber base of 56 million across Asia announced on Wednesday a joint venture that will develop technology to build a common service platform across the region.


Plame's suit against Bush administration tossed

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by outed spy Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband against Vice President Dick Cheney and other top Bush administration officials.


'Morgan wants `four pillars' on reform agenda

THE Federal Government's control of both houses of parliament created a rare opportunity to overhaul the four pillars banking policy, Westpac chief executive David Morgan said yesterday.


Could video-on-demand overtake HD discs by 2011?

According to analysts, just three years from now, 129 million people worldwide will be subscribing to Direct-to-Home Video, most likely with high definition. Will HD optical drives plummet into a niche market along the way?


CNET News.com covers Bill Gates' CES keynote live, with details about demo updates and celebrity sightings. Check back often during the speech for updates.


A Stradivarius violen worth around 2.5m euros ($3.4m) is returned to its owner in Vienna after its theft last month.


Three dead as Kenyan police battle protesters

KISUMU, Kenya  - Kenyan police fought hundreds of protesters in trouble spots across the country on Wednesday, killing three, as the opposition defied a ban on rallies against President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election.


Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton drew a distinction between President Bush's decision to commute the sentence of White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby — which she has harshly criticized — and her husband's 140 pardons in his closing hours in office.


Sears: Boeing Ex-CFO Pleads Guilty In Air Force Hire

Michael Sears says he dunnit. The former chief financial officer at Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) pleaded guilty Monday to illegally hiring a top Air Force procurement officer.


Penelope Cruz wins European best actress prize for 'Volver'

Penelope Cruz was named Europe's best actress of 2006 for her role in Pedro Almodovar's movie "Volver" at the continent's version of the Oscars.


Halloween lovers hoping to create the perfect jack-o-lantern might want to shop carefully this year because of a pumpkin fungus that has put a dent in some crops.


Tom Stoppard's satchel enjoys a long run off Broadway.


Yum Brands' 4th-qtr earnings top estimates

Fast-food company Yum Brands Inc.  on Monday reported a 2.6 percent rise in quarterly earnings as a lower tax rate and strength in China and other international markets offset fallout from an E. Coli outbreak at some Taco Bell restaurants in the United States.


Martens not guilty, says her days in assisted suicide movement are over

DUNCAN, B.C. (CP) - Evelyn Martens, found not guilty Thursday of helping two British Columbia women commit suicide, said her days in Canada's assisted suicide movement are over.


Stoner extends lead with British MotoGP victory

Casey Stoner of Australia extended his overall world championship lead after claiming his fifth victory of the season at the British MotoGP here on Sunday.


Un Natale molto animato i cartoon per i piÃ¹ piccoli

Dal pinguino ballerino di tip tap di Happy Feet alle avventure del topolino Roddy in  GiÃ¹ per il tubo. Le novità natalizie al cinema per i bambini


Iraqis search for survivors following a third US military airstrike on the northern part of Fallujah, outside Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004.


Oilsands Region Gets $396M From Alta Government, but Avoids Call for Slowdown

By JAMES STEVENSON  CALGARY (CP) - Alberta's overheated oilsands region will get a $396-million infusion to help pay for desperately needed new medical clinics, affordable housing and upgraded water treatment facilities over the next three years.


Early bird Graeme Souness dashed back to Tyneside from Holland today to complete Newcastle United's preparations for tomorrow's game with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.


White Roses, Candles Bring in Solemn New Year

PATONG BEACH, Thailand  - People held candles and  white roses on the tsunami-hit island of Phuket, tearfully  embracing as they grieved, in a poignant symbol of the mood  which darkened New Year celebrations across the globe.


Huckabee Steps Back Into the Pulpit at Evangelical Church in N.H.

WINDHAM, N.H., Jan. 6 -- A pastor from Texas was scheduled to deliver the sermon Sunday at a church here called the Crossing.


Powell: Worsening insurgency makes election difficult in Iraq

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that the escalating insurgency in Iraq could make the organizing of election in the country difficult, while atleast 16 people were killed in rebel attacks in Iraq.


Remy Cointreau reports an annual loss after a costly decision to exit a distribution alliance.


Taiwan leader visits disputed Spratly islands: ministry

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on Saturday visited the Spratly islands, the defence ministry said, in a move aimed at underscoring Taipei's claim to the disputed group but which will likely spark tensions in the region.


Afghan gov't tries to secure UN hostages' safe release

Despite unproductive talks and failure to meet the kidnapers' demand for the last over two weeks, Afghan government is still hopeful to secure the safe release of three UN employees


Exercising without losing weight increases death risk

.Exercise only is not enough to reduce the death risk associated with being obese, a study of over 116,000 female nurses has revealed.


Chinese hot spring resorts "hotbeds of bacteria"

Beijing's booming hot spring resorts have been ordered to raise hygiene standards after health inspectors found two-thirds of them failed bacteria tests in the first inspection of its kind, state media said on Wednesday.


Dan Dierdorf knows what it's like to be in the spotlight on national TV, both as a Hall of Fame offensive lineman and as a football analyst for CBS since 1999.


A private space rocket launched from New Mexico malfunctions before it reaches space.


Zurigo, 17:11 - CALCIO, FIFA; BLATTER: OCCORRE TUTELARE AUTONOMIA DELLO SPORT

La Fifa ha si è dichiarata favorevole ad adottare le risoluzione individuate durante il semin...


Germans are watching the first film to portray Hitler as human

Young women looking for secretarial work rise to meet their prospective boss, and in a movie moment that's historic and worrisome to many Germans, they're greeted by a gentle, smiling, friendly Adolf Hitler.


Microsoft's $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo on Friday revived debate about AOL's plan to remake itself as an online advertising company and whether it might too become a target for acquisition.


Yanukovych's rating 6% higher than Yushchenko's - poll

Thirty-seven percent of Ukrainians are ready to vote for presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych and 31 percent said they will vote for his rival, Viktor Yushchenko, a poll conducted by the Public Opinion ...


Africa Needs to Refocus Her Policy On Tackling Aids

On the eve of this year's International AIDS Day, there was a radio programme on BBC highlighting the prevalence of HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa with several examples cited in the fight against the disease.


Oltre 400 appuntamenti animati da un migliaio di artistiTutto Ã¨ filato liscio, mobilitÃ  senza momenti critici                                            Notte bianca per 2 milioni e mezzo Roma resta sveglia, pochi intoppi                                                                                E Veltroni fa il vigile urbano allontanando alcuni venditori abusividi ELENA DE STABILE


Fallen troops remembered on Memorial Day

The shrine is just some sheets of plywood and a couple of two-by-fours. The carpenter who lovingly built it, Sgt. Curtis Dorr, wishes it could be grander — perhaps some pieces of felt to hide the knotholes or some trim to make it a more fitting tribute for a Memorial Day ceremony.


OCTOBER 08, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Microsoft Corp. is investigating a reported vulnerability in ASP.Net that could allow an attacker to bypass security features on a Web server and view sensitive content, the company said yesterday.


Oil edged further above $70 a barrel   on Friday, as traders anticipated waiting several weeks before   the United Nations decides on sanctions against the world's   fourth-largest oil exporter Iran.


The authorities in Brasov, central Romania, declare a rabies alert after an infected bear kills a man and injures others.


Generic drugs may gain from stronger Democrats: WSJ

The newly empowered Democrats' vow to  cut healthcare costs might spell bad news for the brand-name  pharmaceutical industry, but could provide new momentum for  generic drug rivals, the Wall Street Journal reported on its  Web site on Tuesday.


Stock futures fell on Friday, as bond yields rose and lingering credit worries looked set to drag on financial stocks.


For a filmmaker who has built his career on the cutting edge of controversy, Oliver Stone delivers a surprisingly conventional take on Alexander the Great.


Before it's all over, the boos might boost him to a Olympic gold medal, America's first in boxing since the 1996 Games. "Yeah, I like it," Ward said.


Dipartimento pubblica sicurezza: rischio per sedi Usa


Palestinian Militants in Egypt for Israel Truce Talks

Leaders of Palestinian Islamic militant factions are in Cairo for cease-fire talks with the Egyptians, days before Egypt is to host an Israeli-Palestinian summit, officials from the groups said in Gaza on Wednesday.


AFRICA/SOMALIA - La spirale perversa di guerra, integralismo e disastri naturali. Ultimatum delle Corti Islamiche: ÂFuori dal Paese le truppe etiopiche entro 7 giorni o sarÃ  guerraÂ Mogadiscio (Agenzia Fides)-  Mentre non si placa lÂemergenza umanitaria causata dalle inondazioni che da mesi flagellano vaste zone della Somalia, si addensano sul Paese del Corno dÂAfrica nuove nubi di guerra. Sia il Governo di transizione nazionale...


Tough sell for writers at NY literary "speed-dating"

If you think speed-dating is tough, try selling your book to an editor in three minutes.


Legge prevede 10% pubblicita' per Mediaset, 15% canone Rai


By Tom Mooney, The Providence Journal, R.I.  Mar. 8--Corrections Director A.T. Wall was prepared yesterday to tell the  House Finance Committee that the soaring prison population his department now  struggles with isn't just a Rhode Island problem; other states are suffering,  too.


The drug giant Merck suspends trials on an HIV vaccine that was regarded as one of the most promising.


Americans awarded economics prize (Oct. '03)

Two Americans won the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences today for using psychological research and laboratory experiments in economic analysis.


India rules out direct dealing with Iraqi hostage-takers

India's junior foreign minister said efforts were underway to free three Indian truck drivers held hostage by Iraqi insurgents but ruled out direct negotiations with the captors.


Painfully, Europeans Ponder Cutback in Wine Industry

Efforts to shore up the European wine industry by tearing out vineyards have set the stage for a debate as Europeans contemplate the cost of their love affair with the grape.


Microsoft to Release Free Music on Xbox Live

New Ignition feature will focus on promoting up-and-coming acts through free music and video downloads.


OpenBaseMovil J2ME app framework 3.0 (stable) released

OpenBaseMovil is an enterprise-class J2ME application framework, which includes many features being the most notable the J2ME Relational Database Engine openbasemovil-db, but also the user interface engine that allows you to create your views using XML, and lots of other useful things like local connectivity to Bluetooth devices like bar-code scanners, printers or GPS antennas.   With this release you have every thing you need to create your own enterprise-class J2ME applications with little effort, without worrying about device bugs or differences, screen sizes, and all the things that usually make J2ME development a nightmare. We have included in this release a Quick Start Guide, that explains how to use the application template to create your project skeleton and then how to build a working application very quickly: PasswordKeeper, a KeePass like application. Of course, the full source code for the framework, the application template and the sample application are available for download: http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=210619 Visit the project home page for more information: http://www.openbasemovil.org


Pat Burrell hit a grand slam in the first inning off Roger Clemens and the Philadelphia Phillies kept their slim NL East title hopes alive with a 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Friday night.


(InfoWorld) - Microsoft released a beta version of its next-generation Windows Live OneCare 2.0 desktop security and management package on July 11, touting a number of improvements made to the product, including the ability to monitor multiple PCs on a local network. Available for free download on the company's Web site, the combined software and service offering -- which is aimed specifically at consumers and small businesses -- also adds new functionality for backing-up data and protecting against malware attacks. Introduced roughly six months after the launch of Microsoft's OneCare 1.5 release in January 2007, the beta -- which like its predecessors includes firewall, AV (anti-virus), backup, and anti-spyware programs -- boasts security improvements, including new tools for locking-down wireless networks and an automated, self-adjusting firewall. Among the new management features being introduced in the product are support for the sharing of printers among multiple computers, a start time optimizer for speeding computer boot cycles, and an online backup system for photos and other images. As part of the service portion of the offering, Microsoft said it has added more proactive system fixes and end-user configuration suggestions to the package along with monthly reports on important computer events or recommended upgrades. The centralized backup feature claims the ability for users to configure and monitor automated storage controls for all PCs covered under a lone OneCare subscription -- which can cover up to three machines -- in a single network location. The newest iteration of the package also adds support for 64-bit PC systems. Microsoft, whose security software product business remains in its early stages, is the third major company to release a new version of its consumer endpoint protection tools in the last month alone as both McAfee and Symantec have also revamped their competing applications. The software giant gave no indication as to when it might push OneCare 2.0 from beta into production but said it is actively seeking feedback from users who decide to try out the package. Since its initial launch in May 2006 OneCare has drawn mixed reviews from end users and security researchers. While many experts have said that the product's pricing -- $49.95 for protection and management of up to three PCs for one year -- has drawn the interest of many consumers, the product has fared poorly against its rivals in some head-to-head bake-offs. In such a comparison study published in March 2007 by researchers at AV-Comparatives -- a project based in Austria and overseen by security researcher Andreas Clementi -- OneCare performed poorly next to similar products made by Symantec, McAfee, Kaspersky Lab, BitDefender, Fortinet, F-Secure, and several other anti-virus providers. According to the report, OneCare ranked last among the products tested in detecting Windows viruses, worms, macros, scripts, and other OS threats, detecting 91 percent of the threats. In stopping systems intrusion through backdoors, Trojan viruses and other malware attacks, OneCare also ranked last out of 13 vendors with 79.6 percent detection. Despite any perceived shortcomings in OneCare, at least one industry analyst said that Microsoft has had a significant impact on the consumer AV landscape for its relatively short run on the market, specifically around pricing. By offering coverage for multiple PCs for much less than it would have cost using older products from market leaders Symantec and McAfee, Microsoft has forced those companies and others to drop their own pricing and changed consumer perceptions about the cost of AV tools, said Natalie Lambert, analyst for Forrester Research. "The market is dramatically changing, and Microsoft is part of reason for that," Lambert said. "If you look at demand, consumers are not willing to pay for security software as they were in the past, they've found ways to get these programs for free, and Microsoft started some of that activity by driving prices down." In terms of functionality, Lambert said that OneCare 2.0 appears to have pulled Microsoft closer to some of its rivals, although she does not believe that most consumers are ready to use all of the tools, such as centralized backup for multiple PCs. Instead of buying off-the-shelf AV products as they may have done in years past, the analyst said that consumers are increasingly using programs bundled for free in their PCs or signing up for services offered by their ISPs, many of which are offered at no charge. "Partnerships are more essential than ever before in this market," she said. "Winning this space will come down to who has the most and best partnerships in the future; consumers want full functionality, but they don't want to pay for it, and the vendors will need to get money from someplace, and it will be from the PC manufacturers and ISPs."


Was Colin Powell angry? He's so smooth and politic it's hard to tell. But only a week before, the man President George W. Bush once likened to George C. Marshall had been, in effect, fired.


A four-day general strike ends in Nigeria but unions threaten more action in two weeks if petrol prices stay high.


By Donna Littlejohn, Rick Orlov  and Kerry Cavanaugh STAFF WRITERS  A $117 million cleanup of Machado Lake and the Wilmington Drain in the Harbor Area was approved Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council as part of a sweeping package of citywide water quality improvement projects.


In the past week, Steven Groves has informed the online world that he spent a weekend camping, shopped for trees at Home Depot, saw "Pirates of the Caribbean" and worked on a presentation.


Symantec sues some distributors over pirated software

- Security software maker Symantec Corp.   said it sued a large network of distributors selling  counterfeit Symantec software, and sought over $15 million in  damages.


Eli Lilly Posts a Net Loss on Tax Expense

Eli Lilly and Co.  on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter net loss on charges for restructuring and taxes related to the return of overseas profits as sales of prescription drugs rose only slightly.


Ont. judge agrees to appoint Hollinger Inc. inspector

An Ontario court judge has made the rare move of agreeing to appoint an inspector to probe related-party deals at Conrad Black's Canadian holding company Hollinger Inc


US rout England to reach World Cup semis

Two-time champions the United States shocked England with three goals in 12 second-half minutes to reach the women's World Cup semi-finals on Saturday.


`The Boy From Oz` costs Hugh Jackman an Oscar nomination

Hugh Jackman could have easily earned his very first Oscar nomination had he starred as the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's film instead of acting in Broadways'The Boy From Oz.


Forti in settori tradizionali,ma deboli in intermediazione


Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestoneâs control over the sport may be on the decline after a court ruled against him in a dispute with three banks.


Photo from the CEATEC technology showcase in Tokyo.


A judge strikes down a law which bans the sale of bootleg recordings of live music in the United States.


YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia  - A year after a powerful earthquake devastated an area around Indonesia's ancient royal city of Yogyakarta, thousands of homes have been rebuilt but deep physical and mental scars remain for many survivors.


Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will go back to Pakistan next week and 250 of his supporters have been arrested in anticipation of their exiled leader's return, his party said Wednesday.


Ukraine poised for crucial vote under watchful eye of West, Russia

Ukraine prepared for a crucial runoff presidential vote that pits a pro-Russia prime minister against a Western-leaning opposition leader as Washington warned Kiev of consequences if the poll is rigged.


Robert Redford's war on terrorism saga, "Lions for Lambs," with Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, will premiere at the 51st London Film Festival.


Movie Review | 'Day Watch': Rejoining the Champions of Light and Dark

Unfolding in a decrepit, present-day Moscow, âDay Watchâ dazzles and confuses with equal determination.


Scotland Joins Growing Anti-Tobacco Movement

Scotland became the latest country to take a stand against tobacco on Wednesday by announcing a ban on smoking in public buildings.


Give Them What They Want but Keep It Sort of Cool

One of hip-hop's most exciting new voices brought together old-fashioned electro and futuristic dancehall reggae, London grime and Atlanta crunk to the Knitting Factory on Saturday.


Google Debuts 200 Year News Archive Search

News and history junkies take heart: Google's new News Archive Search lets you search back over twenty decades worth of historical content, including scads of articles not previously available via the search engine.


Forest Whitaker wins Oscar for Idi Amin role

Forest Whitaker won the Academy Award as best actor on Sunday for his acclaimed portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland."


Darfur Peace Talks Delayed as AU Prepares Troops

The African Union recommended a four-day  postponement of peace talks over Sudan's Darfur region on  Thursday after a transport mix-up left delegates stranded  across the continent.


Maoists call strike in Nepal to protest alleged custody deaths

Maoist rebels called a dawn-to-dusk strike aimed at blocking all road traffic in the far southeast of Nepal to protest the alleged deaths of two rebel commanders in army custody, Maoist sources said.


(HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy of Thomson CenterWatch:


Seven die in Indian Kashmir clash: police

Four Islamic militants and three members of the Indian security forces were killed in a gunbattle near the de facto border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, police said Sunday.


Anil reiterates opposition to share buy-back scheme

MUMBAI, Dec. 27. - Mr Anil Ambaniâs opposition to the buy-back proposal was reiterated at the RIL board meeting here today. Before entering the board room he quoted a Chinese philosopher: âObjective


Bain Capital offers $3.5 bln for S.Africa's Edcon

Bain Capital LLC has made a 25 billion rand ($3.48 billion) buyout offer for South Africa's largest fashion retailer Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon)  in the country's biggest private equity deal yet.


Fast outgrowing its status as an under-the-radar phenomenon, American Apparel is seen as a new model for the marketing of hip.


The Republican revolt against President Bush's war strategy accelerated yesterday as two of the party's most respected voices on national security proposed legislation envisioning a major realignment of U.S. troops in Iraq starting as early as Jan. 1.


Forrester security show stresses risk management

Enterprise security decision makers have long been more likely to be swayed by flashy new technologies than by the notion of comprehensive IT restructuring to protect data and other corporate assets, but the situation is evolving rapidly, according to experts participating in Forrester Research's ongoing Security Forum.


The Environmental Protection Agency ignored the advice of its employees in rejecting Californiaâs request to set rules on automotive carbon dioxide emissions.


Few Internet entrepreneurs practice what they preach as devoutly as LinkedIn Corp. co-founder Reid Hoffman, whose business revolves around his belief that good fortune flows from good relationships.


Morales fires 2 Bolivia mining officials

President Evo Morales fired two top mining officials late Friday after a clash between rival bands of miners over access to the country's richest tin deposit left at least 16 dead and more than 60 injured.


Japan Defense Policy Breaks Cautiously with Past

Japan unveiled a revamped defense policy on Friday that eases a decades-old ban on arms exports and, in carefully couched words, suggests a shift from the purely


The mutilated body of a Western woman was found by American forces in Fallujah yesterday, lying on the street covered with a blood-soaked cloth.


Israel's High Court orders the government to respond to a World Court ruling on the West Bank barrier.


Fuel oil-laden tanker grounded off New York City

A tanker carrying more than 19 million gallons of fuel oil grounded off New York City on Thursday but was not leaking, the U.S. Coast Guard said.


Yahoo's Presidential 'Mashup Debate' Won't Support Mashups

The much-touted, first-ever presidential "mashup debate" this week has its footage locked up on the eve of the Yahoo event, so there's unlikely to be much creative re-mixing involved. Instead, citizens will merely be able to choose what clips to watch on Yahoo's pages.


Hungarian anti-PM protesters clash with police

Hungarian protesters clashed with  police and attacked and occupied the state television building  to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany in  the first such violence of the post-communist era.


Venerdi' Tar Roma esaminera' ricorso del consigliere Petroni


Researchers See Chance U.S. Might Pull COX-2 Drugs

Doctors who led three studies showing prescription painkillers called COX-2 inhibitors raise the risk of heart attacks and stroke said on Tuesday the whole class of drugs was in danger of being pulled from the market.


Schering-Plough eyes Bristol-Myers deal: newspaper

Schering-Plough Corp.  is  seriously considering approaching Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.   about a possible merger, according to a report in The  Star-Ledger newspaper on Friday.


Karl Rove makes Chuck Colson look like a girly man. Colson didnât have the audacity to go after John Kerryâs military record when President Nixon was looking for dirt on antiwar leaders.


Amid the furor involving pain drugs, it may be of interest to ponder the theoretical problem of the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) prematurely deciding to ban a drug whose benefits outweigh its risks.


Rams QB Bulger Injured Against San Francisco

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Sports Network) - Quarterback Marc Bulger  of the St. Louis Rams left Sunday's game against San Francisco  with a right shoulder injury.


Madrid, 17:58 - CALCIO, VA NISTELROOY: RONALDO, DAVANTI PIU' FORTE DI SEMPRE

Ruud Van Nistelrooy non ha dubbi: "Credo che Ronaldo sia il miglior attaccante di tutti i tempi, ho ...


Reuters Poll: Bush Opens Four-Point Lead on Kerry

President Bush opened a four-point lead on Democratic Sen. John Kerry the day after the final debate between the White House rivals, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Friday.


HDL Cholesterol Inversely Related to Stroke Risk

NEW YORK  - Levels of high-density  lipoprotein (HDL), the "good" cholesterol, are inversely  associated with stroke risk in elderly men, according to a new  study.


ESPN shows Champions League games online

ESPN is expanding its coverage of the European Champions League, streaming all 125 games of this year's tournament on its Internet sites for $9.95 per game.


Amy Winehouse is no longer favourite to win the Mercury Music Prize next week, according to bookmakers.


Si profila una nuova 'guerra energetica' tra i due paesi


A partire da novembre 500 mila barili al giorno in piu'


Are you holding out on DVD technology by holding on to your VCR? If so, you may soon be two generations behind the curve, some industry experts said.


Carlyle to buy Manor Care for $4.9 billion

Manor Care Inc. , the largest U.S. owner of nursing homes, on Monday said it agreed to be acquired by Carlyle Group for $4.9 billion, the latest health-care provider taken off the public market by a private equity buyer.


Nintendo patent profers wacky Wii add-ons

Scatter-gun peripheral design protection? A European patent application filed by Nintendo has reveals a raft of ways the console giant could extend the use of the Wii Remote, ranging from the strange to the downright ridiculous.â¦


Seabed at Tsunami's Center Shows Ruptures

The first images of the seabed that was rocked by the earthquake that triggered Asia's catastrophic tsunami revealed huge ruptures spanning several miles along the Indian Ocean's floor.


A wind-whipped forest fire forced the evacuation of 60 homes and threatened to burn several houses as smoke billowed above this small city near the South Carolina coast Sunday, officials said.


Interceptor missile fails to launch in test

WASHINGTON The first full flight test of the national missile defense system in nearly two years failed early today. An interceptor rocket didn't even get off the ground.


Two presidential candidates in Senegal say they do not accept unofficial results showing the incumbent has won.


NEC develops CD, DVD, HD-DVD drive prototype

KAWASAKI, JAPAN - Engineers at NECÂ have developed a prototype optical disc drive that supports the new HD-DVD format and is also compatible with CD and DVD formats, they said Wednesday.


A Swiss forensic expert hired by an Arab rights group to carry out an autopsy on a Yemeni detainee found hanged in his cell at the Guantanamo Bay military prison said Friday that suicide was possible.


To hear prosecutors tell it, Narseal Batiste and six followers formed a budding homegrown terrorist cell determined to rival the Sept. 11 attacks by toppling the Sears Tower in Chicago.


Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry says President Bush was wrong when he suggested that victory against terrorism might be impossible, declaring that he has a plan to defeat those who threaten the United States.


Food for Jeanne survivors threatened by Haiti's violence, relief ...

Political violence erupting in Haiti's capital threatened urgently needed food delivery Tuesday, and aid officials warned that more than half the 250,000 people in the


Jury rules for franchisees in Shell trial

A federal jury awarded more than $3 million to eight Massachusetts gas station operators after finding Shell Oil Co. used unfair tactics that were effectively intended to drive them out of business.


British airline bomb probe rumbles on as government confirms previous threats

Britain said it had thwarted "at least" four major terror attacks since the July 7 bombings in London last year, as police probed the latest alleged plot to blow up US-bound passenger jets.


NEWARK, NJ Aug. 20, 2004  A judge on Friday ordered a psychiatric evaluation for a doctor who told reporters he had an affair with the former aide accusing Gov. James E. McGreevey of sexual harassment.


Roma, 18:34 - CALCIO, ROMA: AQUILANI IN GRUPPO, TOTTI A PARTE

Roma di nuovo al lavoro in vista della gara di coppa Italia contro il Torino. Aquilani ha lavorato i...


The New Silicon Valley: A Dog-Eat-Dog World

Oracle's attempted takeover of PeopleSoft can be seen as a harbinger of many more in a mature industry.


Motorcycle buffs across the country are buzzing about the man ticketed by the State Patrol in Minnesota for allegedly speeding at 205 miles-an-hour.


Retail sales were weaker than expected in August; confidence wanes.


U.S. Knew of Suspected Iraq Abuse in 2003

Senior U.S. Army generals in Iraq  were told in December 2003 that special operations troops and  CIA personnel were suspected of abusing Iraqi prisoners -- four  months before the scale of prisoner abuse became public in  television photos that shocked the world.


Yahoo set to rebuff Microsoft bid as too low

Yahoo Inc is set to reject Microsoft Corp's unsolicited bid, now worth $42 billion, as too low, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Saturday -- the first clear signal the board might be prepared to negotiate and sell the Internet media giant.


UEFA Cup: AZ Alkmaar beat Glasgow Rangers FC 1-0

Denny Landzaat scored the only goal as AZ Alkmaar inflicted this season's first UEFA Cup defeat on Glasgow Rangers on Thursday.


A quarter of hospital trusts in England are failing to meet new standards on infection control, a survey suggests.


Senate approves tax relief bill for manufacturers

The Senate today passed a far-reaching, $136 billion corporate tax package that cuts taxes for businesses ranging from film companies to bow-and-arrow makers while closing tax loopholes and bringing US exporters in line with


No problems in economic relations with S. Korea - Putin

President Vladimir Putin said there are no problems or barriers hampering Russia's economic relations with South Korea. "We have managed to remove all barriers and all problems that were complicating cooperation


'Sign Bandit' Renews Fight With Stickers

STRAHAM, N.H. - The self-described "Sign Bandit" is back. This time, he's not just throwing away the temporary roadside signs he calls ugly and unsafe. Instead, John Decker is putting bright orange stickers on them and branding them litter.


The Doncaster mother of a severely injured soldier plans to fight his compensation award in the High Court.


Overseas students at UK universities will pay up to Â£500 a year to renew visas from April.


Myanmar completes release of 9,000 prison inmates

YANGON  - Myanmar has completed its mass release of more than 9,000 inmates, a prison department source said, following a shake-up in the military-run regime.


Feline in her movement and sporting scarlet leopard-print to match, Serena Williams made it clear on Saturday she is ready to pounce in Melbourne.


Blair to announce policy review: reports

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce a nine-month policy review that will determine the governing Labour Party's direction for the next decade, according to reports.


Theodore Forstmann, a pioneer in the  leveraged buyout frenzy of the 1980s and 1990s, plans to leave  the business in 2006, the New York Times said on Sunday.


Iona open source ESB melds multiple technologies

(InfoWorld) - On Monday, Iona will release Celtix Enterprise, an enterprise service bus for departmental usage and SOA, in a move to leverage the hybrid business model arising around open source software. Through this model, the company will provide the software for free under an open source paradigm while selling subscriptions for ancillary services and support. In development for about18 months, Celtix mixes in pieces from multiple open source projects and offers capabilities for service routing and messaging. "The main driver [for Celtix] is that people would like to service-enable their existing IT environment and this allows them to do it in a very low-cost way," said Debbie Moynihan, Iona director of open source programs. With Celtix, Iona is expanding its view of open source technology, seeing it as a revenue generator and not just as a lead-in to its commercial Artix ESB, said analyst Tom Rhinelander of New Rowley Group. "What's now happened with Celtix is it's matured and they said, 'Look, we think this can be a real product,' " Rhinelander said. Celtix provides capabilities needed to get started in SOA, Rhinelander said. "Celtix is really about moving up from basic Web services to an SOA," he added. Several open source components comprise the Celtix ESB platform. These include: * Celtix Advanced Messaging, which provides messaging based on AMQP (Advanced Message Queuing Protocol). It serves as an alternative to platforms such as IBM MQSeries. Iona's AMQP implementation was derived from the Apache Incubator Qpid project. * Celtix Advanced Service Engine, based on the Apache CXF project, which merges the Apache Celtix and XFire projects. The services engine offers a pluggable services framework and supports standards such as SOAP and WS-Security. * Service routing and transformation capabilities from the Codehaus Mule ESB. * Tooling for services development through the Eclipse SOA Tools Platform Project. Iona with Celtix is trying to provide an entire SOA infrastructure stack in a single solution. Also packaged with Celtix are the Spring, ServiceMix, and Tomcat servlet containers, to enable customers to deploy services across a variety of technologies. The containers serve as runtime environments for deploying services. Celtix differs from Iona's commercial Artix ESB, which is geared for much larger service deployments and can run on systems such as mainframes. Celtix runs on a Java Virtual Machine and can only integrate with over systems that use a JVM. The Advanced Service Engine and Advanced Messaging components also will be available unbundled from Celtix. "For people who just want to get started in a lightweight, small-footprint kind of way, they can do that with the Celtix Advanced Service Engine," Moynihan said.Â  Service and support prices for Celtix Enterprise start at $900 for six incidents of support.Â


Review: `Definitely' crackles then drags

Surely it's not too early to feel nostalgic for 1992. After all, it was 16 whole years ago. No iPods yet Â and those clunky cell phones! Kurt Cobain was still alive and Bill Clinton hadn't even met Monica Lewinsky, much less have sexual relations with that woman.


Nuovo video dell'orrore: decapitati tre curdi

DUBAI - Un altro video dellâorrore Ã¨ arrivato oggi su Internet. Il cosidetto 'esercito di Ansar al Sunna', ritenuto legato ad Al Qaida, dopo aver annunciato con tracotanza di aver decapitato tre ostaggi


Acer, China Huala Group join Blu-ray Disc camp

(InfoWorld) - Supporters of the Blu-ray Disc format came to Berlin armed with key announcements to underscore their commitment to the next-generation movie disc. The announcements included a flood of new Blu-ray Disc releases, a decision by Acer and China Huala GroupÂ to join as hardware partners, and the establishment of a Blu-ray Disc authoring center in China. They were made Thursday at a news conference organized by the Blu-ray Disc Association at the IFA consumer electronics show. Among some of the big-name movies to appear in the Blu-ray Disc format in the coming weeks are Spider Man from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 300 from Warner Home Video, and a special edition of Sleeping Beauty from Walt Disney. "We've been involved with Blu-ray Disc from the very beginning," said Stephen Foulser, vice president of marketing and business development for Disney in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region. "We will be launching 30 new titles in the format." More than 300 movie titles are currently available in the Blu-ray Disc format, a number that studios plan to nearly double by the end of the year, according to David Walstra, vice chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association. Eight manufacturers of consumer electronic products are now on board, he said. The number of studios supplying content and manufacturers building players are key to the take-up of any new disc format, according to Danny Kay, executive vice president of research and development at 20th Century Fox. Based on the numbers of both of these groups, "the market for Blu-ray Disc is very compelling" he said. "We believe Blu-ray Disc is really the only way to go." Kay declined to comment on the decision of Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation to throw their support behind rival HD DVD, saying only that both studios had access to the same market data as Fox and the other studios. On the device front, Acer will join Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and LenovoÂ as contributing members to the Blu-ray Disc Association, said Walstra, a Sony executive who is also deputy chairman of the association. Huala, a major manufacturer of consumer electronic products in China and supplier of content, has also agreed to become a contributing member, according to Walstra. In addition, the company will team with the China Film Group to establish a Blu-ray Disc authoring center in China, he said. None of the industry executives associated with the Blu-ray Disc Association were prepared to answer a question on whether the expansion into China could lead to greater concerns about software piracy


Super Bowl parties showcase flesh, flash

Nick Lachey strolled right through the lobby, new girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo on his arm, an entourage of about a dozen in tow and a few paparazzi out front.


Bush nominates Zoellick for World Bank chief

U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday officially nominated Robert Zoellick, the former U.S. deputy secretary of state, to be new World Bank president, describing him as a "committed internationalist."


By SUE MAJOR HOLMES  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - An environmental group went to court Thursday in an effort to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to expand a program to reintroduce the endangered Mexican gray wolf in New Mexico and Arizona.


Nokia scraps plans for HSDPA notebook module with Intel

Mobile telecommunications giant Nokia  said on Wednesday it and partner Intel Corp. had scrapped a  joint plan to develop an HSDPA module for notebook computers.


While costumed comic-book fans fill their tote bags with freebies at Comic-Con, Clive Owen, in a slim-fitting suit, sits coolly in a corner — his brown hair mussed, his green eyes piercing.


Assets of the nation's retail money market mutual funds fell by $1.17 billion in the latest week to $849.98 trillion, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday.


Matsuzaka goes to school on new Red Sox teammates

NEWPORT BEACH, California  - Pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka has done his homework for next month's spring training with his new Boston Red Sox teammates.


Britain fights to save anti-terrorism powers

The British government launched a legal  bid on Thursday to protect the use of anti-terrorism powers  which ministers admit are flawed but argue are still vital for  the nation's security.


Huggies and Pampers Seek to Extend Brands Into Toiletries

Makers of the two top diaper brands, Huggies and Pampers, are both introducing lines of toiletries for babies and small children.


BUSH ON US ROLE: We will head disaster relief effort

Crawford, Texas -- President Bush said Wednesday the United States would spearhead a worldwide effort to provide financial, military and humanitarian assistance to the Asian nations devastated by one of the world's deadliest natural disasters.


Former police informer admits solicitor's murder

A former police special branch informer today admitted the murder of prominent Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. Ken Barrett, 41, looked tense as he pleaded guilty in the dock at Belfast Crown Court.


By Cooper, Phil  Forgive the cliche, but I was in Starbucks in PaIo Alto circa April 1999, the epicentre of the first internet boom a year before the dot-bomb detonated. Start-up executives hustled VCs. who ditched their shirts in favour of black turtlenecks.


Indonesian Police Arrest Jakarta Bombing Suspect

Police in Indonesia say they have arrested a man suspected of having a direct link to last week's deadly car bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.


US intelligence paints bleak picture in Iraq

Along with a recent spike in deadly violence in Iraq, a classified US government report paints a bleak picture of Iraq's immediate future.


Vicenza, 14:31 - CALCIO, VICENZA: CUNICO VICE PRESIDENTE

Il Vicenza ha nominato Tiziano Cunico vice presidente. Succede a Nicola Baggio, che ha rimesso il ma...


Man Burns Marine Van After GI Son's Death

A distraught father who had just been told his Marine son was killed in combat in Iraq set fire to a Marine Corps van and suffered severe burns Wednesday, police said.


Small flu-vaccine doses may suffice for some

It may be possible to stretch the supply of flu vaccine by giving some people reduced doses that are injected into the skin instead of the usual site, a muscle, researchers are reporting.


Renegades trying more conventional approach

"Well," says Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson, laughing at the question before he even starts answering, "you can't stop people from talking.


Considering a career change? Take this simple test to find your true talent and matching colleges. Start your future today.


CORRECTED: SocGen chairman's fate in balance as board meets

Corrects name of BNP CEO in paragraph 8 from Michel Pebereau, who is chairman


Do the outcomes of the Iowa caucuses offer clues to what will happen in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary? A look at the "entrance poll" taken Thursday night in the Hawkeye State offered five things to watch for next week:


Ill., Wisc. launch program to buy refill prescriptions abroad

Illinois and Wisconsin on Monday launched the nation's first state-sponsored program to help residents buy cheaper prescription drugs from both Europe and Canada â-espite federal laws banning the practice.


Remarks from participants and spectators as the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of executing people who were age 16 or 17 when they committed crimes.


Honeywell Posts Rise in Profit and Raises Outlook

Net income at the manufacturer grew 14 percent to $618 million, driven by growth in sales to commercial, defense and space markets.


Milano, 18:57 - CALCIO, SERIE B: MERCOLEDI' PROSSIMO ASSEMBLEA

E' in programma mercoledÃ¬ prossimo a Milano l'assemblea straordinaria di serie B. Si parlerà ...


Tyler Hamilton, the Olympic time-trial champion, faces the possible loss of his gold medal depending on the outcome of a second sample analysis after confirmation yesterday that he had failed a test intended to detect the use of blood transfusions to


French president Sarkozy and wife divorce

President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia have divorced after 11 years of marriage, dealing a severe personal blow to the French leader just six months after he was elected to power.


CRAWFORD, Tex., June 16 -- As he prepared for a visit this week from Israel's prime minister, President Bush held an unannounced meeting with the top leadership of the United States' Jewish community to discuss the dramatic events in the Middle East and other foreign policy issues.


Global stocks posted fresh gains on Friday, shrugging off an astounding $7 billion fraud at French bank Societe Generale, while commodities rallied as a U.S. tax stimulus package helped ease recession fears.


Amazon scales back key features on A9.com

Amazon.com Inc. is scaling back A9, its general-purpose Web search system, removing search-recall and mapping services that were among its most distinctive features, the company confirmed on Tuesday.


Vital food supplies reach crew of space station

AN UNMANNED Russian supply ship saved the day yesterday when it safely delivered 2.5 tonnes (2,500kg) of food to the International Space Station, whose two astronauts were running dangerously low on supplies.


The US government rubber stamps a deal that gives .com administrator control over the domain until 2012.


Decision due on new Lockerbie bomber appeal

A review body was to rule Thursday whether a Libyan man jailed for the 1988 bombing of a US airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie should have a second appeal, amid reports it would be allowed.


Trade gap shrinks as UK exports surge ahead

BRITAINâS trade gap with the rest of the world narrowed unexpectedly in September as goods exports surged to their highest level in more than two years, official data revealed today.


Bangladesh opposition leader 'narrowly escaped assassination'

The leader of Bangladesh's main opposition party came "as close you can possibly come" to being assassinated in an attack at a political rally in which 18 people were killed, her party said.


Time Inc. Director gives praise to European climate policy

Director of Sustainable Development David Refkin from Time Inc., the world's biggest buyer of glossy paper, speaking to Finnish forestry decisionmakers Wednesday, praised Europe calling it a forerunner in ...


Controversial Greek Sprinters Withdraw from Olympics

Greece's two top track and field stars have pulled out of the Athens Olympics after apologizing to their embarrassed nation for a scandal that arose after they missed drug tests.


No Joke, Bulb Change Is Challenge for U.S.

When 2012 hits, stores will no longer be able to sell the cheap but inefficient incandescent light bulbs that are fixtures in most homes.


Mavericks trounce Timberwolves for 13th straight win

The Dallas Mavericks recorded a 13th straight victory on Tuesday, easing to an emphatic 91-65 win over a dismal Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis.


Flight Attendants Union Chief Seeks Strike Authorization

The president of the United States' largest flight attendants union urged authorization of a nationwide strike and criticized the airline industry for using the bankruptcy process to obliterate collective bargaining rights.


Dutch arrest 8 Islamists in van Gogh killing

PARIS Eight suspected Islamic militants were arrested Wednesday in the killing of a renowned Dutch filmmaker, Theo van Gogh, Dutch officials said.


Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is to hold talks with Russia's foreign minister on a second visit to Moscow in a year.


Uganda sees local justice as key to peace

Talks are raising hopes that a central African conflict involving the Lord's Resistance Army is winding down.


Wall-Eye May Have Helped Rembrandt's Vision

Rembrandt, the 17th-century Dutch master known for his skill in using light to carry perspective, may have been wall-eyed, a US researcher proposed on Wednesday.


France leads Russia 1-0 lead in Fed Cup final

Nathalie Dechy jolted US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 7-6 (4), 8-6 Saturday, giving defending champion France a 1-0 lead over Russia in the Fed Cup final.


Obama under attack ahead of New Hampshire debates

NASHUA, New Hampshire  - Barack Obama's bid to be America's first black president is under fire from Democrats and Republicans alike before political debates on Saturday to help voters pick who to vote for in New Hampshire's primary.


La Borsa reagisce negativamente, il titolo cede il 5%


California Governorâs Plan for Health Care in Trouble

A California Senate health committee is expected to vote against Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggerâs widely promoted and potentially legacy-defining universal health care bill.


BAGHDAD - A US soldier was sentenced to a 25-year term Saturday after a court-martial convicted him in the death of an Iraqi national guard member in May, the military said.


Investigators picked through the wreckage of an Indonesian passenger plane that crashed in stormy weather, killing at least 32 people in the county's worst air accident in six years.


Warner Music Group Corp.  on Thursday posted a 74 percent drop in its quarterly profit and fell short of Wall Street expectations on a weaker album release schedule than a year before.


Beckham Brings Country into Disrepute - Hurst

World Cup hat-trick hero Sir Geoff Hurst has accused David Beckham of âbringing the country into disreputeâ in deliberately getting himself suspended for tomorrowâs World Cup tie in Azerbaijan.


Finucane Killer Could Be Free in Eight Months

Pat Finucaneâs killer expects to be a free man by next May despite a judge jailing him today for a minimum of 22 years. Loyalist assassin Ken Barrett, 41, is expected


SCHEDA                                          Delitti in famiglia, in due giorni uccisi quattro donne e tre bambini


Obama and McCain get early win in New Hampshire hamlet

Sen. Barack Obama won seven of the 10 votes cast for Democrats in the first balloting of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday in the northern hamlet of Dixville Notch, while Sen. John McCain won the Republican balloting.


Ford has made a four-year commitment to the World Rally Championship, ending fears that they could pull out of that series as well as Formula One, reports Reuters.


Galloway wins Â£150,000 damages as judge lambasts 'Daily Telegraph

George Galloway won a comprehensive victory in the High Court yesterday in his libel trial against The Daily Telegraph over reports that he was in the secret pay of Saddam Hussein.


White House, Cheney's office, subpoenaed

The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's office Wednesday for documents relating to President Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program.


Earnhardt Joins Nascar Powerhouse Hendrick

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the most popular driver in Nascar, announced Wednesday that he will race for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2008.


Christina Kim made a charge on the back nine Sunday, shooting a 6-under 65 at the Longs Drugs Challenge for a one-shot victory over Karrie Webb and her first LPGA win.


O'Reilly Vows to Fight Harassment Charges

NEW YORK - Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly made a TV talk show appearance on what he said was "the worst day of my life" Thursday, vowing to fight sexual harassment charges by one of his producers.    Accuser Andrea Mackris spoke publicly for the first time, saying she felt threatened by her former boss, who filed a lawsuit charging the woman and her lawyer with extortion...


Parma, 20:05 - CALCIO, PARMA; DI CARLO: SERVE GRAN RITMO

Il Parma va a San Siro per giocarsela. ''Quello che ci serve con il Milan - ha detto il tecnico dei ...


Roma, 18:43 - CALCIO, LAZIO: DIFFERENZIATO PER FOGGIA

La Lazio ha ripreso la preparazione in vista della sfida di domenicsa contro la Roma. Lavoro in pale...


Bush Seeks to Energize Supporters, Appeals to Democrats

President Bush is campaigning almost non-stop in the days leading up to next Tuesday's election, seeking to energize members of his Republican Party while appealing to Democrats who may not


Iceland Offers Ex-Chess Champ Fischer Residency

Chess master Bobby Fischer has been offered a new home in Iceland, but it's not clear if he'll be able to make the move from Japan, where he is being detained.


PerchÃ© le commissioni Giustizia, libertÃ  pubbliche e diritti civili del Parlamento europeo hanno bocciato la nomina di Rocco Buttiglione a membro e vicepresidente della nuova commissione di Bruxelles? E


Scotland's free personal care policy was launched without full details of how much it would cost, a watchdog says.


Bloody Battle Dulls Cleric's Heroic Image

Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has emerged from a bloody, two-week showdown with U.S. forces with his militia intact but his heroic image in question.


Radio group GCap Media said yesterday it had sold its Century radio stations in the North-East and Manchester in a deal worth pounds 60m.


Armed men attacked a convoy in Nigeria's oil-rich southeastern delta Wednesday, sparking a gunbattle with security forces, a government security official said.


A hip injury may force Andre Agassi to miss the year's first Grand Slam.


More than a dozen people implored the Maricopa County Board of Health on Monday to stop spraying Valley neighborhoods in its effort to stem the spread of West Nile virus.


Emporio Armani warms with velvets for winter women

Emporio Armani had velvets in rich earth browns and blacks, dabbed with shiny patent leather accessories and spangled with glittering evening wear for its womenswear collection for winter 2008-09 shown on Sunday.


Researchers say elephants can tell whether a human is a friend or foe by their scent and colour of clothing.


BAGHDAD, Dec. 19--Six weeks before Iraq's nationwide vote, another blast of violence hit the country Sunday, including two deadly bombings claiming at least a dozen lives


Singer Dannii Minogue and Grease is the Word panellist Brian Freidman join the judging panel on The X Factor.


'Technically trivial' Evolutionary Database Design (EDD, aka database refactoring) is a controversial topic in the software development world. Itâs a sore point among some DBAs because it promotes the making of changes to schemas that contain live customer data, sometimes with more than one application using the same database.â¦


Londra, 18:40 - CALCIO, G-14: DAVID DEIN NUOVO PRESIDENTE

Cambio al vertice per il G-14, l'associazione che rappresenta i club calcistici  piÃ¹ ricchi e import...


Milano, 15:31 - CALCIO, ANCELOTTI: ROSSI? SERVE UN NUOVO PRESIDENTE

Carlo Ancelotti vuole un uomo nuovo in Figc dopo l'approdo di Rossi alla presidenza Telecom. ''Non s...


Open-source ID project awaits Microsoft's blessing

Higgins-project developers are creating a tool equivalent to Windows CardSpace but need Microsoft's go-ahead for certain features.


Belizean musician Andy Palacio, who  brought the world the music of the Garifuna people descended  from Central American natives and shipwrecked African slaves,  has died aged 47.


Court Bars Regulation of Web Phone Service

A federal appeals court prohibited the state of Minnesota from regulating Internet-based phone calling as if it were a traditional telecommunications service.


Leading independent games maker,  Argonaut, is put up for sale to try to save the UK firm from going under.


Prevista a breve stabilizzazione della redditivita'


Google Inc.'s free e-mail service will shed the final remnants of its invitation-only restrictions Wednesday, extending the reach of an increasingly popular product that has emerged as a vital cog in the online search leader's expansion efforts.


_ 2002: Vermont Gov. Howard Dean spends the year weighing his prospects for the White House, spending considerable time visiting key early primary states.


Terminating Spyware With Extreme Prejudice

Have adware and spyware commandeered your computer? An extreme solution: erasing your hard drive and starting over.


Politicians must listen harder to the "calm voice of moderation and reason" of most Muslims, Tony Blair says.


A bomb rips through a parcel van of a passenger train in India's north-east state of Assam, killing five people.


Celebrex Trial Stopped After Heart Attacks

Pfizer Inc. on Friday said a government-sponsored cancer-prevention trial of its blockbuster arthritis drug Celebrex was halted after patients taking it had more than


Londra, 16:20 - RUGBY, SEI NAZIONI: INGHILTERRA-ITALIA 20-7

L'Inghilterra ha battuto l'Italia 20-7 (14-0) nella seconda giornata del Sei Nazioni di rugby. (N...


Assaltato da alcuni clandestini, fa rotta verso Lampedusa


Britain, S.Africa Renew Call for Fair Zimbabwe Polls

CAPE TOWN/HARARE  - Britain and South Africa  called jointly Thursday for Zimbabwe to establish a conducive  environment for fair elections next year -- after the main  opposition party said it would boycott them.


Prime Minister Tony Blair has been interviewed by police investigating allegations of cash for honours.


News.com Extra: PlayStation's new life in the lab

Plus: How Google maps the world. Read these stories and more from around the Web on News.com Extra.


Musharraf says Pakistan is no "banana republic"

Scoffing at rumors that he had been   overthrown in a coup while visiting the United States,   President Pervez Musharraf said Pakistan was not an unstable   "banana republic."


Zimbabwe opposition says talks with ZANU-PF stuck

Zimbabwe's main opposition party said on Sunday that talks with President Robert Mugabe's government on a new constitution were in deadlock.


Three U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq: military

Three U.S. soldiers died on Thursday of wounds sustained in combat in the western Anbar province, the U.S. military said on Friday.


West Indies batsman Chanderpaul pounces on Panesar error

Shivnarine Chanderpaul cashed in on being dropped by Monty Panesar to lead a West Indies fight back on the fourth day of the third Test at Old Trafford here Sunday.


Protection rackets add Â£600 onto the cost of every new home in a County Armagh town, an MLA claims.


Stocks Flat, Oil Retreats, Dollar Weakens

Stocks finished little changed on Monday as a retreat in crude prices from a record high offset investors' caution about the US presidential election and a fall in the dollar.


New York fashion elites split over red carpets

As hope grows the Oscars will escape the Hollywood writers' strike, experts at New York Fashion Week are split among some saying the industry needs red carpet events and others not bothered by their absence.


Ministro, annullamento contratto mossa sbagliata


Tennis: American top seed Blake cruises into quarters

American top seed James Blake used his precision serve and timely break point chances to breeze past Chile's Paul Capdeville 6-1, 6-4 in a second round match of the Delray Beach Championships on Thursday.


The Indianapolis Colts quarterback is winless in five trips, and it hasn't mattered whether the venue has been Foxboro Stadium or Gillette Stadium, the fancy new home of the New England Patriots.


Politics: 21 December 2004, Tuesday. The Bulgarian delegation to NATO has a new chief after Contra-Admiral Emil Lutskanov took over the military representative duties from General Major Sabi Sabev.


By Traci Watson  A pair of astronauts from space shuttle Discovery undertook a risky spacewalk Monday to prod a jammed solar panel on the International Space Station into place so the station can be finished.


Presto per convocazione ufficiale da parte del Governo


An Israeli spy satellite plunged into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after launch Monday, dealing a severe blow to Israel's attempts to closely monitor potential enemies, particularly Iran.


'Sopranos' Creator Accused of Stealing Ideas

David Chase was in federal court Wednesday to defend his role in creating the Emmy-winning HBO mob drama, "The Sopranos."  The case was brought by a former New Jersey municipal court judge who claims his ideas helped Chase come up with the plot for t...


PEOPLE - Trinity's Dobie Stepping Down; Katie Couric a Ratings Hit

Edgar Dobie, administrative head of Trinity Rep for the past five years, is stepping down at the end of the year to devote more time to a new musical he is producing. For several months now, Dobie has been executive producer of The Pirate Queen.


com October 21, 2004, 5:09 AM PT. ZDNet's survey of IT professionals in October kept upgrading hardware at number two on the businesses radar throughout the year.


TD Ameritrade quarterly profit jumps 56 percent

Discount brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp  posted a 56 percent rise in quarterly profit on Tuesday, beating Wall Street estimates, as client assets grew and stock market volatility led to increased trading activity among clients.


Canal Controversy Divides Venice of the North

Amsterdam, the "Venice of the North,"  is divided over plans to reopen canals paved over more than 100  years ago.


High-carb diet linked to higher blood pressure

NEW YORK  - Carbohydrate-rich diets are associated with slightly higher blood pressure than diets rich in monounsaturated fats, according to the findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.


US FDA approves Merck vaccine to prevent shingles

U.S. health officials on  Friday approved the first vaccine to prevent shingles, a  painful disease characterized by a blistering rash that affects  nearly 1 million, mostly older adults every year.


New software from Ribbit could make it easier to stay in touch.


ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is expected to go on a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia from Monday, sources said on Friday.


U.S. Military Rejects Call To Disband Iraqi Police

Senior U.S. military commanders in Iraq rejected an independent commission's recommendation yesterday to disband the 25,000-strong Iraqi national police force, saying that despite sectarian influences the force is improving and that removing it would create dangerous security vacuums in key regions...


80 reportedly killed in Iranian plane fire

An Iranian passenger plane caught fire   after its tire burst on landing at an airport in Iran's   northeastern city of Mashhad on Friday, killing at least 80   people, state television and officials said.


Walton Approves Housing: At Least Half the Affordable Homes Will Be Reserved for ?Essential County Personnel'

By Heather Civil, Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach  Dec. 15--FREEPORT -- Walton County has moved a step closer to building an affordable workforce housing project.


US Stocks Off as Data Stirs Economy Worry

Stocks fell on Monday after  disappointing U.S. employment data and a slowdown in  construction spending sparked worry about economic growth,  while a drop in crude oil prices hit energy shares.


Sinn Fein and SDLP ministers clash after a tense and heated executive meeting at Stormont Castle.


Pm, valutiamo altri reati oltre all'abuso di ufficio


President to Consider Changes for New Term

President Bush said yesterday that he will spend the weekend considering changes in his Cabinet for his second term, feeding speculation inside and outside the White House over shake-ups in key agencies in coming weeks.


NBC has a flair for victory with "Talent"

NEW YORK  - NBC came away with an overwhelming victory in Tuesday's primetime thanks to another winning performance by "America's Got Talent."


The Motley Fool - Here at The Motley Fool, our aim is to educate, amuse, and enrich you with information about personal finance and investing. Today, we're going to do that by introducing you to the top 10 signs you might be making your broker rich. And here they are. Drumroll, please:


Obeying the courts, Windows will no longer have a Media Player in Europe. Also:  Monsanto buys another seed maker & hellip;.  Robot soldiers ready for Iraq & hellip;. and more.


Google gets involved in Kenya, fights back in China

I'm feeling scrappy Not even a bloody ethnic conflict can dampen Google's burning lust for world domination. Kenyan news sources say that the search juggernaut is building up its African headquarters in Nairobi.â¦


Dead and dying trees essential for many other forms of forest life are in short supply, conservationists say.


Wall Street: 'Cheap oil age' may be at end

The world's oil supply is expected to be stretched thin for another two to three years, even as demand tapers off and the industry gears up for an exploration and production spending spree in 2005.


The target keeps getting smaller, so take a shot while you still can.


ABC News Judge Won't Throw Out Peterson Charges

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. Oct. 18, 2004 - A judge on Monday denied a defense motion to dismiss the charges against Scott Peterson, saying the evidence presented so far in his murder trial was enough to justify a conviction if the jury so decides.


Olympic field hockey champions Australia have pulled out of the Champions Trophy to be held in Pakistan in December citing security fears, the Pakistan Hockey Federation said today.


Queen Elizabeth II's speech, which sets the lawmaking agenda for the upcoming year, largely dismayed the Press, with liberal broadsheets attacking it for trumpeting terror worries and conservative ones alarmed about the pricetag of "technocracy".


Manifestazione lavoratori per chiedere riconoscimento Inail


Diverted London Airliner Given All-Clear

A police search concluded there was no threat to a New York-bound Greek airliner forced to make an emergency landing in Britain following a bomb threat that mentioned Iraq, officers said Monday.


FDA Approves a Pain Reliever That Blocks Nerve Channels

The government approved on Tuesday a drug that offers a new way of fighting severe pain, an option for patients who no longer benefit from morphine and other traditional pain medications.


Fire at Honduras women's shelter kills 9

A fire raged through a building housing abused women and their families in Honduras Thursday, killing three adults and six children, officials said.


Bush Returns to Pa.; Kerry Stumps in Ohio

Bush Goes to Pa. Today to Talk About Health Care While John Kerry Heads to Ohio. President Bush speaks during a campaign stop at J & D Manufacturing Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2004, in Eau Claire, Wis.


Ex-General Defeats Indonesia's Megawati, Test Await

Former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono defeated Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in a historic direct election but now has to deliver on promises of tighter security, better government and more jobs.


Reggio Calabria, 18:05 - CALCIO, REGGINA: IN GARA CON PARMA SIAMO STATI PENALIZZATI

La Reggina ha diffuso una note su suo sito internet al termine della gara con il Parma. "Preferiamo ...


N.Korea Says Will Never Dismantle Its Atomic Arms

North Korea will never dismantle its nuclear arsenal and will not resume talks on its atomic programs unless the United States drops its hostile policy, the North's official KCNA news agency said on Saturday.


Statoil Will Buy Rivalâs Energy Units to Create Worldâs Largest Offshore Operator

The merger of Statoil with the gas and oil operations of Norsk Hydro will create a Norwegian powerhouse that produces 1.9 million barrels a day.


Cisco Systems to Acquire Protego Networks

Cisco Systems, Inc. (www.cisco.com) announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Protego Networks, Inc. of Sunnyvale, CA, a provider of security monitoring and threat management appliances used


Report:MediaDefender e-mails leaked to the Web

Leak casts light on controversial tactics that may have been employed by the anti-piracy company.


Results of recent polls on the presidential race. Listed above each set of results is the name of the organization that conducted the poll, the dates, the number interviewed, whether they were adults, registered voters (RV) or likely voters (LV) and the margin of error (MoE). Results might not total 100 percent because of rounding.


Wall Street fell sharply Tuesday, joining a global stock decline sparked by growing concerns that the U.S. and Chinese economies are cooling


Portuguese voted on Sunday on whether to legalize abortion in a referendum that could bring the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country closer into line with most other European states.


E' successo a 'Bruto' durante 'Giulio Cesare' di Shakespeare


In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry is both a tortured adolescent and an epic hero ready to do battle


Three Frenchmen are killed fighting for Iraqi insurgents against US troops, an official says.


Lehman to captain America's Ryder 'underdogs'

Tom Lehman, who was last night appointed captain of the 2006 US Ryder Cup team, admitted: "For the first time ever we will be the underdogs.


WASHINGTON -- The number of Americans in poverty and those without health insurance each rose by more than 1 million in 2003, the Census Bureau reported Thursday.


Presidential rivals gear up for key debates

WASHINGTONâThe US presidential campaign is entering a pivotal two-week period at a boil with Democratic candidate John Kerry and President George W. Bush making emotion-charged arguments to set the groundwork for their first debate on Thursday.


To New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, hearing a white man refer to a black woman using a certain vulgar term would be "highly offensive."


Attorney General Gonzales leaves under pressure

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned on Monday under pressure after months of controversy and political turmoil that President George W. Bush angrily blamed on his administration's critics in Congress.


Days after her party lost congressional seats and the White House race, California Rep. Nancy Pelosi struck a conciliatory tone, saying House Democrats "stand ready to work with" President Bush in his second term.


Two Macedonian construction workers kidnapped south of Baghdad have been beheaded, and the group claiming responsibility accused the men of working as spies for US forces in Iraq, the Arab television network Al-Jazeera has reported.


A car bomb in the northern city of Mosul killed at least four members of the Iraqi national guard Monday, delivering the latest blow to Iraqi security forces struggling to gain credibility and assert control.


Toshiba announces HD-DVD / DVD combo disc

AN ALL-NEW TYPE of media disc, which is to combine the DVD standard with an all-new high definition format, has been developed by Toshiba and Memory-Tech.


Latin American leaders wrap up a summit in Bolivia with a call for more regional initiatives and integration.


Realizzera' connettori per impianti di Taranto e Trieste


A STRONG forecast for commodities lifted an otherwise lacklustre share market yesterday, with the all ordinaries index rising 8.1 points to 3919.5.


ConocoPhillips buys stake in Russia's Lukoil.


Writer-director Alexander Payne's acclaimed story of two men road tripping through Southern California wine country on the eve of a wedding took six awards, the group announced Sunday.


British MPs worried by London-Kabul strains

Criticism by Afghanistan could undermine domestic support for Britain's military and development efforts in the violence-scarred country, an influential body of MPs said Thursday.


More Than 400 Iowans Haven't Received Tax Refunds

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Federal officials say more than 400 Iowans who haven't received their 2003 federal tax refunds still have a chance to claim them.


LOS ANGELES  Fast National ratings for Sunday, Oct. 10, 2004. ABC dominated the late evening with new dramas, but CBS was able to hold off the resurgent network thanks to early evening strength.


Hundreds flee Hamas-run Gaza amid spillover fears

Hundreds of Fatah supporters fled the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip by land and sea on Saturday and the Islamist group threatened to take its fight against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's forces to the West Bank.


Teck Cominco Ltd. (TCKb.TO) on Friday  extended the deadline for its hostile bid for fellow Canadian  miner Inco Ltd. , as it waits to see if Swiss-based  Xstrata Plc  gets Falconbridge Ltd. .


Thousands of Republican faithful are packed into a baseball stadium, awaiting US President George W. Bush, when the word comes over the loudspeaker: "Hold tightly to signs, hats and memorabilia."


Opposition candidate wins Romanian presidential vote

Bucharest: Opposition candidate Traian Basescu won Romania's hotly-contested presidential election dominated by the country's EU membership bid, but the centre-right mayor of Bucharest on Monday faced the arduous task of trying to form a government from a


Milano, 14:41 - CALCIO, INTER: 18 CONVOCATI PER LA SAMP

L'allenatore dell'Inter, Roberto Mancini, ha convocato 18 giocatori per la semifinale di ritorno del...


Bush sidesteps talk of "civil war" in Iraq

President Bush said on Tuesday the hand of al Qaeda lay behind the sectarian violence racking Iraq, and deflected talk of "civil war".


Kujila writes "According to a Chinese Reuters article, China has closed close to 1,600 "Internet Bars" (probably the equivalent of 'Internet Cafes' stateside) and inflicted up to $12.


Brown and Cameron declare battle for 'green' votes

The two men expected to contest the next general election attempted to seize the leadership agenda in keynote speeches Monday, setting out rival visions for tackling climate change.


You be the judge, but a California state senator has worked himself into a righteous lather over RFID.


Blake faces tough defense of Las Vegas crown

American world number six James Blake faces a strong field, including two former grand slam champions, as he bids to defend his Las Vegas Open title starting on Monday.


New Trauma Ctr., Still Concerns Closing King Drew

LOS ANGELES - The news that Los Angeles County will be getting a new trauma center didn't satisfy some South Los Angeles residents.


An alleged threat to blow up US ships may not have come from Iranian speedboats, US navy sources say.


Talks Between Musharraf, Rival Show Signs of Breaking Down

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 31 -- Negotiations on a power-sharing arrangement between Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto appeared to stall on Friday, with officials expressing doubt that a deal could be reached.


Feud turns Zimbabwe opposition into polls 'mincemeat': analysis

The Zimbabwe opposition's failure to bury their differences and agree on a joint electoral strategy means President Robert Mugabe is a virtual shoo-in for a sixth term of office, analysts said Monday.


No proof Iran running 3,000 centrifuges: diplomats

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statement that Iran has 3,000 centrifuges running is not backed up by evidence, diplomats familiar with U.N. inspections said.


Doctors treated storm casualties in a makeshift clinic Wednesday after powerful Hurricane Felix flooded their hospital and wrecked villages on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast. The death toll rose to at least 18 with dozens more missing.


Iraqi Victims to Testify in Texas Abu Ghraib Trial

FORT HOOD, Texas  - Two Iraqi victims of U.S.  abuse at Abu Ghraib prison were expected tell their stories in  videotaped testimony on Tuesday as prosecutors wind up their  case against Spc. Charles Graner, a low-ranking reservist seen  as the leading figure in the scandal.


Two inmates housed in a smoke-free prison traded a hostage for cigarettes after a six-hour standoff.