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BBC News - Home Sun, 20 May 2012 01:08:02 GMT |
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Obama: EU 'must focus on growth' Speaking after the G8 summit, US President Obama says leaders agree that economies must focus on jobs and growth to boost recovery.
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China activist Chen lands in US Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrives in New York, after his escape to the US embassy in Beijing last month sparked a diplomatic crisis.
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Chelsea 1-1 Bayern Munich (aet, 4-3 pens) Chelsea achieve a dramatic Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich following a penalty shoot-out at the home of the German side.
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Benghazi votes in local elections Residents in the Libyan city of Benghazi vote in local council elections, the first polls held in the city since the 1960s.
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Serbian voters to elect president Voters in Serbia have a choice between a reformist and a nationalist as they elect a president, months after winning EU candidate status.
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French rally car crash kills two A rally car ploughs into spectators in the Var region of southern France, killing a marshal and one other person, and injuring 17.
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School bomb kills girl in Italy A bomb outside a school in the southern Italian city of Brindisi kills a teenage girl and injures five other people as children gather for classes.
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Dominican vote likely to be close Two veteran politicians contest elections in the Dominican Republic after a presidential campaign dominated by concerns over rising food and fuel costs.
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Powerful car bomb hits Syria city At least nine people are killed and dozens injured after a powerful car bomb explodes in eastern Syria, officials say.
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China tunnel explosion 'kills 20' An explosion in a road tunnel being constructed in central China's Hunan province kills at least 20 people, state media say.
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Deadly blast at Afghan checkpoint A suicide bomber kills at least 10 people, a number of them children, at a checkpoint in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, officials say.
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Thousands greet Olympic torch The Olympic flame sets off on its 70-day tour of the UK in the build-up to the London 2012 games.
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VIDEO: Deadly bomb blast at Italy school A bomb has exploded in front of a school in the southern Italian city of Brindisi killing at least one girl and injuring six others.
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VIDEO: Flypast for Diamond Jubilee Thousands of members of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force take part in an event to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, including a flypast of 78 current and historic aircraft.
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VIDEO: First theatre opens in SA's Soweto South Africa is to opens its first theatre in a township - Soweto - once home to former President Nelson Mandela.
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VIDEO: One-minute World News Watch the latest news summary from BBC World News. International news updated 24 hours a day.
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VIDEO: Deadly car bomb blast in Syria At least nine people have been killed and dozens injured after a car bomb exploded in eastern Syria, according to reports.
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VIDEO: Sri Lanka parade marks anniversary Sri Lanka marks the three-year anniversary of the end of its 26-year civil war with a large military parade in the capital, Colombo.
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VIDEO: Floating island of waste in Maldives Although the Maldives are known as an unspoilt tourist paradise, the islands struggle with managing their waste, as the BBC discovered on a visit to an 'apocalyptic' floating island waste dump.
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G8 backs Greek euro membership The leaders of the G8 group of major economies say they want Greece to remain in the eurozone, and commit to promoting growth.
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Facebook shares see modest debut Facebook shares end a volatile first day of trading at $38.23, barely above the company's initial pricing, having initially jumped more than 10%.
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Met Police to extract phone data Mobile phone data of suspects in police custody is to be extracted and retained, regardless of whether charges are brought, the BBC has learned.
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Silicon trick for next-gen memory Researchers reveal details of a promising way to make a fundamentally different kind of computer memory chip.
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Baritone Fischer-Dieskau dies The respected German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, famed for his performances of Schubert's song cycle Winter Journey, dies at the age of 86.
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Obama leads Donna Summer tributes President Barack Obama joins a host of music industry luminaries in paying tribute to Donna Summer following the disco star's death at the age of 63.
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Aborted lift-off for spaceship The US firm SpaceX aborts the lift-off of its Falcon rocket and Dragon ship to the International Space Station.
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Japan urges cuts in power usage Japan urges businesses and households to cut electricity use by up to 15% to avoid possible blackouts.
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US baby boomers in Hep C warning US baby boomers are advised to get tested for the liver-destroying virus hepatitis C, in a move health officials say could save 120,000 lives.
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Dieting 'safe for pregnant women' Dieting in pregnancy is safe and does not carry risks for the baby, a review of research has suggested.
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Blackpool 1-2 West Ham Ricardo Vaz Te strikes a late winner as West Ham defeat Blackpool in an absorbing Championship play-off final.
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England closing in on Lord's win England are closing in on victory at Lord's after dominating the third day, which ended with West Indies 120-4 and trailing by 35.
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World's oldest football up close The Smith Museum in Stirling is unlocking the display case and letting fans hold the oldest football in the world.
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Iran 'to sue Google' over Gulf Google is facing legal action for not labelling the body of water separating Iran and neighbouring Arab Gulf states on its map service.
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Malawi 'to overturn ban on gays' President Joyce Banda says she wants Malawi to overturn its ban on homosexual acts - the first African country to do so since 1994.
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Sri Lanka marks war anniversary Sri Lanka marks three years since the end of its civil war with a military parade, as the government is reportedly set to free Sarath Fonseka from prison - the man who led the army during the war
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India charges prompt Italy row Indian police charge two Italian marines with the murder of two Indian fishermen, prompting Italy to recall its ambassador.
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Fourth Mexican officer detained A fourth senior Mexican officer is detained as part of an investigation into links between the army and drug trafficking cartels.
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Protesters angered by Gulf union Thousands of Bahrainis protest outside the capital against a plan to create a union of Gulf Arab countries, with similar demonstrations in Tehran and Dubai.
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Maryland allows same-sex divorce The highest court in Maryland allows gay couples to divorce, even though same-sex marriage is not yet allowed in that US state.
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PM: 'Good progress' on eurozone UK PM David Cameron says "progress" is being made in the G8 summit before world leaders says they want debt-stricken Greece to remain in the eurozone.
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Call to challenge booze pricing The EU is urged to contest Scotland's plans for a minimum price per unit of alcohol.
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Torch takes in South Devon coast The Olympic flame is being carried from Plymouth to Exeter on the second day of the torch relay ahead of the London 2012 Games.
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Armed forces in Jubilee parade Thousands of members of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force have taken part in a parade and flypast for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
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Week in pictures: 12-18 May 2012 News photos from around the world
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Day in pictures: 18 May 2012 24 hours of news photos: 18 May
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In pictures: Monarchs at Windsor The world's monarchs gather at Windsor Castle
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Hackney's 'beauty and ugliness' A photographer's view of Hackney
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In pictures: Royals in North West Queen's visit to Cheshire and Merseyside
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In pictures: Olympic flame tours Greece Olympic flame tours Greece
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Your pictures: Sailing Readers' photos on the theme sailing
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Day in pictures: 17 May 2012 24 hours of news photos: 17 May 2012
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The Chinese who actually like cheese The Chinese who actually like cheese... stir-fried of course!
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A Point of View: The European Dream Has Become A Nightmare The European dream has become a nightmare, laments Will Self
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Beirut divisions over Syria emerge in graffiti Divisions over Syria spray painted across Beirut
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VIDEO: Dominican Republic's child politicians challenge corruption Child politicians in Dominican Republic challenge corruption
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Somali expat 'thanked' for being rich Expat millionaire 'thanked' by poor Somalis for being rich
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In pictures: Armed forces parade UK armed forces parade and flypast mark Queen's jubilee
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Chelsea's old guard set for last stand Chelsea's old guard set for last stand
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Smoke alarms unsettle New York Amish Do smoke alarms violate Amish religious freedom?
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Am I Sacha Baron Cohen's next target? As himself, Sacha Baron Cohen clever, but unduly nervous
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Slashdot |
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On Hand for the SpaceX Launch That Almost Was (Video)

 This morning's nixed launch of SpaceX's Dragon capsule to the ISS with the company's Falcon booster was an exciting thing to be on hand for, despite the (literally) last-second halt. Shuttle launches used to cause miles of traffic backups extending well outside the gates of NASA's Cape Canaveral launch facilities; for all the buzz around the first private launch to the ISS, today's launch attempt was much more sparsely attended. In a small set of bleachers set up near the massive countdown clock, there were a few dozen enthusiasts and reporters aiming their cameras and binoculars at the launch site on the horizon. They counted down in time with the clock, and — just like NASA's own announcer — reached all the way to "liftoff." There was a brief flash as the engines ignited, but it died as fast as it appeared. It took only a few seconds for the crowd to realize that it was all over for today's shot. While the company's representatives remain upbeat, pointing out that the software worked as intended to stop a launch before anomalies turn into catastrophes, most of those on hand to see what they'd hoped to be a historic launch were a bit glum as they walked back to the parking lot and the press area — especially the ones who can't stay until the next try. I'm sticking around the area until the next scheduled launch window; hopefully next time the fates (and engines) will align.Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Twitter Confirms Support For Do Not Track

 oyenamit writes "In a significant boost to online privacy, Twitter has announced that they will officially support the Do Not Track feature in browsers. While this is a good news for privacy advocates and users in general, it leaves Twitter to use only the information that is handed over to them by the users for advertising purposes."Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Software Patents Good For Open Source?

 schliz writes "The Australian software patent system could be used by open source developers to ensure their inventions remain available to the community, a conference organized by intellectual property authority IP Australia heard this week According to Australian inventor Ric Richardson, whose company came out on top of a multi-million dollar settlement with Microsoft in March, a world without software patents would be 'open slather for anybody who can just go faster than the next person.' Software developer Ben Sturmfels, whose 2010 anti-software-patent petition won the support of open source community members such as Jonathan Oxer, Andrew Tridgell, and software freedom activist Richard Stallman, disagreed."Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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MS Will Remove OEM 'Crapware' For $99

 walterbyrd writes about a program from Microsoft to clean up bloated base installs, for a price. From the article: "Microsoft even offers up numbers to show how detrimental this OEM-installed crapware is to your system. Microsoft claims that Signature systems start up 39 percent faster, go into sleep mode 23 percent faster, and resume from sleep a whopping 51 percent faster compared to their crapware-ladened counterparts. (A 'Signature' system is one without crapware). But now, Microsoft will offer customers the opportunity to give their Windows 7 PC the Signature treatment by bringing it to a Microsoft Store and paying $99, according to the Wall Street Journal."Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Northrop Grumman Sues US Postal Service Over Automated Snail-mail Sort Contract

 McGruber writes "The Federal Times is reporting that Northrup Grumman has filed suit against the US Postal Service, accusing the USPS of violating the terms of the 2007 fixed-price ($875 million) contract to produce 100 massive automatic sorting systems, each capable of handling millions of magazines, catalogs and other pieces of flat mail. The Postal Service embarked on the project just as mail volume was beginning to nosedive, cutting into anticipated efficiency gains. The sorting machines' performance has been uneven, according to a series of reports by the Postal Service's inspector general."Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Kinect In the Operating Room

 colinneagle writes with an excerpt from Network World: "Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London began trials of a Kinect-driven camera last week that would sense body position, and by waving his or her hands, the surgeon can sift through medical images, such as CT scans or real-time X-rays, while in the middle of an operation. During surgery, a surgeon will stop and consult medical images anywhere from once an hour to every few minutes. So the surgeon doesn't have to leave the table, the doctor will work with assistants, but sometimes, if you want things done to your satisfaction, you have to do it yourself. Dr. Tom Carrell, a consultant vascular surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas', described an operation on a patient's aorta earlier this month to New Scientist. 'Up until now, I'd been calling out across the room to one of our technical assistants, asking them to manipulate the image, rotate one way, rotate the other, pan up, pan down, zoom in, zoom out.' With the Kinect, he says, 'I had very intuitive control.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Sidestepping Tactical Nuclear Weapons Limits With Strategic Bombs

 Lasrick writes "Benjamin Loehrke describes the rather odd definitions of what is a 'tactical' nuclear weapon and what isn't. 'There is enough ambiguity surrounding the capabilities of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons to render the term "tactical" all but useless for arms control purposes. As the United States and Russia pursue new arms control treaties, they should drop the tactical distinction and limit the total number of all nuclear weapons — strategic, tactical, or other.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Ask Slashdot: Recommendations For a Laptop With a Keypad That Doesn't Suck

 PhunkySchtuff writes "I'm seeking the collective's recommendations on a laptop with a numeric keypad that doesn't suck. For practicality reasons, an external USB keypad is less convenient than a built-in one. A keypad is required for entry of lots of numbers, and using the alpha keys with the Fn key to turn them into a keypad is not acceptable. Looking at the larger manufacturers, it seems that none of their business grade laptops (e.g. Lenovo's T-Series or similar quality levels) have numeric keypads. Looking at their laptops that do have keypads, invariably they are cheap, plastic and flimsy. Looking at Lenovo's offering with a Keypad, whilst it's a 15" screen, the vertical resolution is just 768 pixels, and the build quality of it leaves a lot to be desired. I need to find something that is built to the quality of a 'real' ThinkPad, or even a MacBook Pro, but has a full-sized keyboard with a numeric keypad and there doesn't seem to be anything like that on the market at the moment. This is a mystery to me as to why it would be the case as I'd imagine it's business users who need to use a keypad more than the average user, yet it is the consumer grade laptops that have keypads."Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Amazon Patents Pitching As-Seen-On-TV Products

 theodp writes "Q. What do you get when you surround the image of Men in Black star Will Smith trying on sunglasses with a pitch for 'MIB Bill Smith Dark Shades'? A. U.S. Patent No. 8,180,688. 'Many people consume broadcast media such as television shows and movies for many hours a week,' Amazon explained to the USPTO in its patent application for a Computer-Readable Medium, System, and Method for Item Recommendations Based on Media Consumption. 'The consumed broadcast media may depict a variety of items during the course of the transmission, such as clothing, books, movies, accessories, electronics, and/or any other type of item.' So, does Amazon's spin on As Seen on TV advertising deserve a patent?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Apple Commits To 100% Renewable Energy Sources for NC Data Center

 judgecorp writes "Stung by continued criticism from Greenpeace and protests at Apple's headquarters over its use of electricity from non-renewable sources, Apple has promised that its data center in Maiden, North Carolina will use 100 percent renewable electricity,, 60 percent of it generated by Apple itself. The update is possible because it is building a second giant solar array, and because its data center only needs 20MW at full capacity, instead of the 100MW which Greenpeace had estimated."Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Aero Glass UI No More On Windows 8

 New submitter closer2it writes with news of interface changes in Windows 8. From the article: "Microsoft has revealed that it has made some big changes to its desktop UI for Windows 8, which includes moving away from Aero Glass — the UI first introduced with Vista. According to the company, this means visual changes that include 'flattening surfaces, removing reflections, and scaling back distracting gradients.' Despite all of these changes with the interface, the company doesn't appear to be worried about the issue of 'learnability.' Instead, Microsoft believes that with a little help it won't take long for users to adapt to the new operating system."Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Falcon 9 Launch Aborted At Last Minute

 ClockEndGooner writes "Sadly, SpaceX had to abort its launch of the Falcon 9 to the International Space Station this morning due to higher than expected pressure levels in one of its engine chambers. NASA and SpaceX have another launch window scheduled for early next week."
Probably better than an engine failing during launch; hopefully everything is worked out for Tuesday.Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Golden Age of Silicon Valley Is Over With Facebook IPO

 Hugh Pickens writes "Steve Blank, a professor at Berkeley and Stanford and serial entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, says that the the Facebook IPO is the beginning of the end for Silicon Valley as we know it. "Silicon Valley historically would invest in science, and technology, and, you know, actual silicon," says Blank. "If you were a good venture capitalist you could make $100 million." But there's a new pattern emerging created by two big ideas that will lead to the demise of Silicon Valley as we know it. The first is putting computer devices, mobile and tablet especially, in the hands of billions of people and the second is that we are moving all the social needs that we used to do face-to-face onto the computer and this trend has just begun. "If you think Facebook is the end, ask MySpace. Art, entertainment, everything you can imagine in life is moving to computers. Companies like Facebook for the first time can get total markets approaching the entire population." That's great for Facebook but it means Silicon Valley is screwed as a place for investing in advanced science. "If I have a choice of investing in a blockbuster cancer drug that will pay me nothing for ten years, at best, whereas social media will go big in two years, what do you think I'm going to pick?" concludes Blank. "The headline for me here is that Facebook's success has the unintended consequence of leading to the demise of Silicon Valley as a place where investors take big risks on advanced science and tech that helps the world. The golden age of Silicon valley is over and we're dancing on its grave.""Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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UK Gov't Reneges On Open Source Promise For Cloudstore 2.0

 DerekduPreez writes "The UK government has finally unveiled the second iteration of its Cloudstore after a number of delays, and has reneged on its pledge to make version 2.0 open source. Cloudstore is an online catalogue that the public sector can use to procure cloud services provided by suppliers signed up to the G-Cloud framework. The first version of the Cloudstore was unveiled in February. Computerworld UK spoke to former G-Cloud director Chris Chant shortly after the first release, who was at the time also overseeing the second iteration. He stated during his interview that Cloudstore 2.0 would be go live in April and it would be built using open source code. However, following weeks of delays, the Cabinet Office has now confirmed that the second iteration also isn't open source."Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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Jaguar and Land Rover Angle For Production In China

 First time accepted submitter ourlovecanlastforeve writes "Those of you still hanging on to Jaguar and Land Rover as the last vestiges of the truly British automobile in the States may find yourselves grasping at straws as Chery announces a nearly two billion dollar joint effort with the auto brand to move production to Changsu in China." Anyone still hanging on to that idea might also be interested to learn that Jaguar and Land Rover are subsidiaries of India's Tata, maker of the low-priced Nano.Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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CNN.com |
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I'll Have Another wins Preakness in close finish Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another won the 137th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, keeping its hopes for the coveted Triple Crown alive.

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Three men accused of NATO terror plot Three people were plotting to attack the campaign headquarters, the Chicago mayor's home and police stations during the NATO summit, police said.

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Greek crisis dominates G8 summit Concerns about whether debt-laden Greece will be forced to pull out of the eurozone, and what that would mean for a weakened European economy is the first topic on Saturday's agenda at the Group of Eight summit hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama, a senior administration official said.

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Blind Chinese activist arrives in U.S. Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese human rights activist who ignited a diplomatic frenzy when he escaped house arrest last month, says he is at a Beijing airport about to board a flight for New York.

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Chelsea wins Champions League Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another won the 137th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, keeping its hopes for the coveted Triple Crown alive.

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Tropical Storm Alberto forms in Atlantic Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, formed Saturday off the coast of South Carolina.

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SpaceX rocket launch fizzles on pad SpaceX aborted the historic launch of its Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station at the last second because of a rocket engine glitch.

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Transgender woman eyes pageant win Jenna Talackova, the 23-year-old woman who forced Donald Trump and his Miss Universe Canada pageant to end its ban on transgender contestants, is set to take the stage Saturday night and she says she's in it to win.

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Flesh-eating bug victim loses hands Doctors' attempts to combat rare, aggressive bacteria that have infected a University of West Georgia graduate student have suffered a further setback: 24-year-old Aimee Copeland's remaining foot and both her hands were amputated, according to a blog on the school's website.

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4 missing in Mississippi boat collision Four persons are missing after two boats collided shortly after midnight Saturday on the Mississippi River, said fire department officials in Burlington, Iowa.

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