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BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:24:39 GMT |
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Biden steps up pressure on Israel The US vice-president renews criticism of Israel over an East Jerusalem building project and urges bold steps to peace.
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Iran attacks US over Afghanistan Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says it is the US, not Tehran, that is playing a "double game" in Afghanistan.
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Collider to shut down for a year The Large Hadron Collider must be shut down for a year starting in late 2011 to address design flaws, the BBC has learned.
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'Last Bali bomber' killed in Indonesia Indonesia's president confirms security forces have killed the last main main suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings, Dulmatin.
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Berezovsky wins poison libel case Businessman Boris Berezovsky wins his libel case over claims he was behind the murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.
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Kidnapped boy's father back in UK The father of a British boy kidnapped in Pakistan has returned home against police wishes, the BBC learns.
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China denies World Cup sweatshop A Shanghai company denies it used sweatshop labour to produce World Cup mascots, as Fifa suspends its manufacturing contract.
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ANC demands Winnie Mandela answers South Africa's ruling ANC asks Winnie Mandela to clarify comments attributed to her that starkly criticised her ex-husband, Nelson.
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Lost Boys actor Haim dies aged 38 Lost Boys actor Corey Haim dies at the age of 38, the Los Angeles coroner's office confirms.
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Baby elephant shocks Sydney zoo with 'miracle' survival An elephant in a Sydney zoo shocks vets by giving birth to a live baby elephant who appears to have survived labour in a coma in the womb.
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Oscar bosses defend Farrah Fawcett snub Actress Farrah Fawcett was not in the Oscars memorial segment because she was more known as a TV star, the Academy says.
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Beckham plots Old Trafford upset David Beckham believes his AC Milan side can overturn a 3-2 deficit and send his former club Manchester United crashing out of the Champions League.
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Pakistan to ban Yousuf & Younus Pakistan cricketers Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan are banned indefinitely from representing their country.
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Can US broker Middle East peace? Joe Biden is in the region to encourage talks between the Palestinians and Israel. What can be achieved?
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BBC World News
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Fighting the tide Church authority at risk as scandals spread in Europe
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Dotcom Crash 10 years on from when the Nasdaq bubble burst
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Jumbo job It's a big task, but how do you recycle a plane?
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Phantom returns The critics' verdicts on Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies
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Day in pictures Eye-catching images from around the world
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Biswas on India Women's quotas - historic moment for largest democracy
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China's exports see big increase China's exports surged 46% in February, figures show, raising hopes of a strong recovery in global trade.
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Insurers 'face $7bn Chile bill' The earthquake in Chile may cost the global insurance industry as much as $7bn (£4.7bn), Swiss Re estimates.
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Airlines offer to give up slots British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia offer to give up take off and landing slots in London and New York, say EU watchdogs.
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Internet up for Nobel Peace Prize The internet is among a record 237 individuals and organisations nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
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Mobile phone allows boss to snoop Mobile technology that could allow prying bosses to monitor every movement of their staff is developed in Japan.
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Facebook calls for 'iconic games' Facebook calls on game designers to make an iconic title, such as Mario or Halo, specifically for the social network.
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Anna Nicole opera to be staged London's Royal Opera House is to host the world premiere of an opera about the life of ex- Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith.
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Letterman blackmail is admitted A US TV producer pleads guilty to attempting to blackmail US chat show host David Letterman over his affairs.
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Ring may be giant 'impact crater' Deforestation has revealed what could be a giant impact crater in Central Africa, according to Italian scientists.
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Ancient eggshell yields its DNA The eggshells of long-dead and extinct species are a particularly good source to find preserved DNA, researchers say.
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'No proof' IVF aided by acupuncture There is no evidence acupuncture or Chinese herbal medicine boost the chance of IVF success, fertility experts warn.
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Spanish hostage in Africa freed A Spanish woman aid worker kidnapped in West Africa last year has been freed, the Spanish government says.
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Egypt's top cleric dies aged 81 Egypt's top Muslim cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, has died suddenly in Saudi Arabia at the age of 81.
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US activist Granny D dies at 100 Granny D, who walked across the US at the age of 89 in support of election campaign finance reform, dies.
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US 'hid terror suspect treatment' A former UK spy chief says she did not know US intelligence services were mistreating terror suspects until after she retired.
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Burma law bans Suu Kyi from poll A new election law formally bars pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in elections planned in Burma.
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Cathay Pacific returns to profit Cathay Pacific reports a return to full-year profit as cost cutting and bets on the price of fuel pay off.
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EU leader 'pities' UKIP's Farage EU president Herman Van Rompuy says he pities Nigel Farage, the British Eurosceptic MEP who called him a "damp rag".
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Ashton sets out diplomatic vision The EU's foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, tells MEPs how she will shape Europe's new diplomatic service, as officials vie for influence.
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Israel sued over dead US activist A court case brought by the family of Rachel Corrie, a US protester killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in 2003, opens in Israel.
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US apology for Gaddafi comments The US State Department apologises for comments by a spokesman on a call by Libya for holy war against Switzerland.
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Aid workers shot dead in Pakistan Gunmen attack the office of a Western aid agency, killing six people and wounding others, the agency and police say.
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China to build Sri Lanka airport China is to lend Sri Lanka just under $200m to build a second international airport in the south of the island.
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Apology for women raped by father Two women raped by their father over 25 years - bearing nine of his children - are given a public apology by the authorities.
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Economic storm not over, says PM Gordon Brown warns of economic storms ahead but vows not to "let you down" as the date of the Budget is announced.
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UK global clout 'waning' - Hague The Conservatives pledge to reverse what they say is the UK's "shrinking" influence in the world if they win power.
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Body found in missing mother hunt Police searching for a Dundee mother who went missing two weeks ago say they have found a body.
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Labour 'trusted more on education' A BBC Newsnight poll suggests that the Conservatives are failing to win over voters unsatisfied with Labour's record on education.
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Keep 'distance' from US - Clegg Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg says the UK must not automatically follow the US on key foreign policy issues.
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Slashdot |
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Farewell To the South Pole Dome Julie188 writes "After more than three decades of service to researchers and staff stationed at the bottom of the world, the dome at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was deconstructed this austral summer. Designed and constructed by the Seabees — the construction battalions of the US Navy — in the early 1970s, the dome's geodesic design provided a unique solution to the challenges posed to engineers trying to build structures at the South Pole. The dome is being returned to southern California where it will be held in storage. It could possibly be trotted out as an exhibit in a new US Navy Seabees museum."


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LHC Will Be Shut Down In 2011 Because of "Mistake" astroengine follows up to a story about the LHC shutting down that seems to have hit all the news replicators today. "It's to be expected when pushing the frontiers of physics, but the LHC's epic 'will it or won't it' saga continues. Due to an unforeseen construction mistake, the LHC will cease experiments for a year (starting around late-2011) so repairs and upgrades can be carried out. For now, accelerated particles will have a maximum energy of 7TeV (half the power of the LHC's design maximum), which is ample for at least 18 months of experiments before shutdown."


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EU Parliament Rejects ACTA In a 663 To 13 Vote An anonymous reader writes "'The European Parliament defied the EU executive today (10 March), casting a vote against an agreement between the EU, the US and other major powers on combating online piracy and threatening to take legal action at the European Court of Justice.'"


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Study Shows TV Makes Kids Fat, Computers Don't Xemu writes "Computer's don't make children fat, but watching TV for the same length of time does. This is shown by a recent Swedish study of all school children in Lund's county conducted by RN Pernilla Garmy. The results were clear: The child's obesity was directly affected by placing a TV in the child's room, but placing a computer in the room had no effect at all. One theory is that it's common to have a snack in front of the TV, while a computer requires a more active user, for example when chatting or playing games."


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Ex-Sun Chief Dishes Dirt On Gates, Jobs alphadogg writes "Former CEO of Sun Microsystems Jonathan Schwartz has taken to his personal blog, provocatively titled "What I couldn't say...," to dish some industry dirt and tell his side of the story about the demise of Sun. He has already hinted at plans to write a book, and a new post suggests a tell-all tome could indeed be in the offing. "I feel for Google — Steve Jobs threatened to sue me, too," Schwartz writes, apparently referring to Apple's patent lawsuit against HTC, which makes Google's Nexus One smartphone. As for Bill Gates, Schwartz says he was threatening regarding Sun's efforts in the office software space."


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Professors Banning Laptops In the Lecture Hall Pickens writes "The Washington Post reports that professors have banned laptops from their classrooms at George Washington University, American University, the College of William and Mary, and the University of Virginia, among many others, compelling students to take notes the way their parents did: on paper. A generation ago, academia embraced the laptop as the most welcome classroom innovation since the ballpoint pen, but during the past decade it has evolved into a powerful distraction as wireless Internet connections tempt students away from note-typing to e-mail, blogs, YouTube videos, sports scores, even online gaming. Even when used as glorified typewriters, laptops can turn students into witless stenographers, typing a lecture verbatim without listening or understanding. 'The breaking point for me was when I asked a student to comment on an issue, and he said, "Wait a minute, I want to open my computer,"' says David Goldfrank, a Georgetown history professor. 'And I told him, "I don't want to know what's in your computer. I want to know what's in your head."' Some students don't agree with the ban. A student wrote in the University of Denver's newspaper: 'The fact that some students misuse technology is no reason to ban it. After all, how many professors ban pens and notebooks after noticing students doodling in the margins?'"


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Rock Band 3 Officially Announced For Holiday 2010 An anonymous reader writes "Philippe Dauman, Viacom CEO and President, announced today that Harmonix is currently working on the next Rock Band game, Rock Band 3, due for release Holiday 2010. 'The company is pursuing the game in spite of an industry-weakening decline in the once-booming genre of peripheral-equipped music games. Although the franchise has generated over $1 billion to date, the category in general saw sales contract by as much as half throughout 2009. MTV Games parent Viacom also saw Rock Band declines drag on its balance sheet in its last fiscal quarter, and expressed a need to refocus away from pricey peripherals in favor of software. It also said that due to royalties it would need to be more "selective" about track listings, and that it needs more support from the music industry in that department.'"


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Linux Takes Over E-Voting In Australian State daria42 writes "The Electoral Commission in the Australian state of Victoria has made plans to expand its use of electronic voting kiosks based on Linux in the next state election in November of this year. But it appears to be a little confused: the documentation states it will be using the '2.6 kernel/Gentoo release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.' Huh?"


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Puzzle In xkcd Book Finally Cracked An anonymous reader writes "After a little over five months of pondering, xkcd fans have cracked a puzzle hidden inside Randall Munroe's recent book xkcd: volume 0. Here is the start of the thread on the xkcd forums; and here is the post revealing the final message (a latitude and longitude plus a date and time)."


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The Value of BASIC As a First Programming Language Mirk writes "Computer-science legend Edsger W. Dijkstra famously wrote: 'It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.' The Reinvigorated Programmer argues that the world is full of excellent programmers who cut their teeth on BASIC, and suggests it could even be because they started out with BASIC."


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US Considers Some Free Wireless Broadband Service gollum123 writes "US regulators may dedicate spectrum to free wireless Internet service for some Americans to increase affordable broadband service nationwide, the Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday. The FCC provided few details about how it would carry out such a plan and who would qualify, but will make a recommendation under the National Broadband Plan set for release next week. The agency will determine details later. One way of making broadband more affordable is to 'consider use of spectrum for a free or a very low-cost wireless broadband service,' the FCC said in a statement." Nobody has more than a couple of paragraphs on this story. None of the press coverage mentions the obvious likelihood that any such free network would be heavily filtered, censored, and monitored.


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US Gamers Spend $3.8 Billion On MMOs Yearly eldavojohn writes "A new report from Games Industry indicates that MMO gamers in the United States paid $3.8 billion to play last year, with an analysis of five European countries bringing the total close to $4.5 billion USD. In America, the report estimated that payments for boxed content and client downloads amounted to a measly $400 million, while the subscriptions came to $2.38 billion. Hopefully that will fund some developer budgets for bigger and better MMOs yet to come. The study also found that roughly a quarter of the US population plays some form of MMO. Surely MMOs are shaping up to be a juicy industry, and a market that can satisfy people of all walks of life."


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The World's First Commercially Available Jetpack ElectricSteve writes "It's been a long time coming. While Arthur C. Clarke's geosync satellites have taken to space, and James Bond's futuristic mobile technology has become commonplace, still the dream of sustained personal flight has eluded us — until now. At $86,000, the Martin Aircraft jetpack costs about as much as a high-end car, achieves a 30-minute flight time, and is fueled by regular gasoline. A 10% deposit buys you a production slot for 12 months hence." Here's a video of some indoor test flights. This isn't Buck Rogers's jetpack — it's about 5 by 5 feet and weighs more than the average human. You won't be able to commute with it (the FAA has not certified this class of device) so it's recreational only for now.


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Google's Computing Power Refines Translation gollum123 sends an excerpt from the NY Times on how Google has taken a lead in language translation, in one of the company's few unqualified successes as it attempts to broaden is offerings beyond search. "...Google's quick rise to the top echelons of the translation business is a reminder of what can happen when Google unleashes its brute-force computing power on complex problems. The network of data centers that it built for Web searches may now be, when lashed together, the world's largest computer. Google is using that machine to push the limits on translation technology. Last month, for example, it said it was working to combine its translation tool with image analysis, allowing a person to, say, take a cellphone photo of a menu in German and get an instant English translation. ...in the mid-1990s, researchers began favoring a so-called statistical approach. They found that if they fed the computer thousands or millions of passages and their human-generated translations, it could learn to make accurate guesses about how to translate new texts. It turns out that this technique, which requires huge amounts of data and lots of computing horsepower, is right up Google's alley. ...Google's service is good enough to convey the essence of a news article, and it has become a quick source for translations for millions of people."


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Jeff Jaffe Named CEO of W3C blozza2070 notes the news that Jeff Jaffe has been appointed CEO of the World Wide Web Consortium. Until January Jaffe was CTO at Novell and, while his name hasn't come up very often in this community, he is one of the architects of the Novell-Microsoft patent deal. A reading of Jaffe's blog while at Novell tends to paint him as a software patent supporter, Microsoft apologist, and no fan of the FSF. This strongly worded page at Boycott Novell features copious links to support the above characterization.


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CNN.com |
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Chrysler sales for 2010 troubling, experts say 2010 has been a difficult year for Chrysler, experts say, with sales off 3 percent and half of those sales to fleet customers, a fact that could hurt the company later.

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Grads rally for fired teachers Graduates of a Rhode Island school vilified for low performance descended upon campus Tuesday to support the school's fired teachers. They also had a message for President Obama: Don't bash our school.

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IRS: $1.3 billion unclaimed for '06 Some people who didn't file a federal tax return for 2006 have more than 1 billion reasons to reconsider, but they need to do it fast, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

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Pa. woman faces terror charges A Pennsylvania woman has been indicted for conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and kill a person in a foreign country, the Justice Department said.

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Answers sought in bulldozer death American Rachel Corrie was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 as it razed homes in a Palestinian camp. On Wednesday, her parents seek answers in an Israeli court.

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U.S. hikers held in Iran call home Three U.S. hikers who were detained in Iran have spoken by phone with their relatives for the first time since authorities jailed them more than seven months ago, the hikers' families said Wednesday.

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Airlines seek exemption to delay rule A runway closure at John F. Kennedy International Airport has prompted JetBlue Airways and Delta Air Lines to ask for a temporary exemption at JFK to a rule designed to keep planeloads of passengers from getting stranded on the tarmac.

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Actor Corey Haim dies Actor Corey Haim, who appeared in a number of movies during the 1980s, died early Wednesday of a possible drug overdose after being taken to a hospital, Los Angeles police said.

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Tearful Marie Osmond back on stage With tears in her eyes and her voice shaking at times, Marie Osmond donned her bravest face Tuesday night as she took to the stage for the first time since the death of her son for a show that she dedicated to him.

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Rollins: 'Hurt Locker' Oscar timely This past weekend, Iraq had a real election and in spite of threats and bombings, millions of voters participated in record numbers. It is a giant step forward in Iraq's road to democracy and has the potential to be a beacon for others in this battle-scarred region.

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Support this Medal Of Honor Winner, Join his page, and protest the HOA!
Who's this? It's one of our members working to get into acting. If you'd like to see him in action - Click the Picture - You'll need broadband since the movie weighs in at 45 megs - On the flipside - I actually met this guy! Here's hoping when he becomes the next Columbo - he mentions our site when he's cracking web cases!
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