Review: “The Incredible Hulk” is fun, but not the summer’s best action flick.
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Items by lrenz
news
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‘Hulk’s’ Heavy on Action, Light on Humor
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
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R. Kelly Not Guilty in Child Porn Case
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Jury finds singer not guilty on all counts in his child pornography trial.
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Where Are They Now: ’80s New Wave Acts
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Eighties icon Cyndi Lauper takes the “GMA” Summer Concert stage today.
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Jolie, Aniston to Battle Again … in Box-Office
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Brad Pitt’s two loves will go head-to-head in theaters this October.
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Deschanel: Actress, Singer, Indie Idol
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
The eccentric actress speaks out on her recent films and her band, She & Him.
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Donna Summer: Still the Queen of Disco
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Ths superstar has claimed a number-one dance hit in each decade since 1970.
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Stars Behave Badly & Fans Just Don’t Care
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Audiences often cast a blind eye when celebrities get involved in scandal.
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Suppliers, Not Wino, Charged for Drug Video
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Two people caught on tape were charged with giving Amy Winehouse drugs.
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Talk Show Host: I Can’t Stop Talking
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Chelsea Handler will say anything about anyone, including herself.
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Katherine Heigl Says No Thanks, Emmy
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
‘Grey’s Anatomy‘ star skipping Emmy quest, blames show for subpar material.
news
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Katherine Heigl Says No Thanks, Emmy
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
‘Grey’s Anatomy‘ star skipping Emmy quest, blames show for subpar material.
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Talk Show Host: I Can’t Stop Talking
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Chelsea Handler will say anything about anyone, including herself.
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Suppliers, Not Wino, Charged for Drug Video
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Two people caught on tape were charged with giving Amy Winehouse drugs.
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Stars Behave Badly & Fans Just Don’t Care
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Audiences often cast a blind eye when celebrities get involved in scandal.
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Donna Summer: Still the Queen of Disco
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Ths superstar has claimed a number-one dance hit in each decade since 1970.
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Deschanel: Actress, Singer, Indie Idol
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
The eccentric actress speaks out on her recent films and her band, She & Him.
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Jolie, Aniston to Battle Again … in Box-Office
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Brad Pitt’s two loves will go head-to-head in theaters this October.
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Where Are They Now: ’80s New Wave Acts
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Eighties icon Cyndi Lauper takes the “GMA” Summer Concert stage today.
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R. Kelly Not Guilty in Child Porn Case
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Jury finds singer not guilty on all counts in his child pornography trial.
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‘Hulk’s’ Heavy on Action, Light on Humor
Posted: June 14th, 2008, 3:16pm GMT by lrenz
Review: “The Incredible Hulk” is fun, but not the summer’s best action flick.
news
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Robot turns to nature for inspiration
Posted: November 15th, 2007, 4:14pm GMT by lrenz
To build a better robot, scientists increasingly are looking to nature, making robots that move and interact socially with cockroaches, slither like a salamander and even learn and make decisions like humans.The new designs, reported on Thursday in the journal Science, suggest that robot science is finally catching up with science fiction.
One team of European researchers led by Jose Halloy of the University Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, created cockroach-sized robots that interacted with their living counterparts.
While they did not look like cockroaches, they were coated with chemicals to make them smell like cockroaches.
And they behaved like robots, so much so that they influenced their roach clan into making a bad choice of shelter, choosing a light shelter rather than a darker one.
“What is new here is that the robot is autonomous, it is not remote-controlled by humans, and it acts at the social level in a group living insects,” Halloy said in an e-mail.
By changing some parameters, the robotic cockroaches infiltrated the group and influenced its behavior.
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Nobel Spurs Gore
Posted: October 12th, 2007, 5:16pm GMT by lrenz
Former Vice President Al Gore’s new status as a Nobel Peace Prize winner is encouraging some of his political supporters in the United States to urge him to run for president next year. But as VOA National correspondent Jim Malone reports from Washington, most political experts doubt Gore will make a run for the White House in 2008.
Gore told a California news conference he is honored to share the Nobel award with the United Nations panel on climate change.
“I will accept this award on behalf of all of those who have been working so long and so hard to try to get the message out about this planetary emergency,” he said.
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Bin Laden tape urges U.S. To embrace Islam
Posted: September 9th, 2007, 4:47pm GMT by lrenz
Six years after orchestrating the deadliest terrorist attacks in U.S. history, Osama bin Laden resurfaced yesterday in a videotape in which he brags about altering the course of U.S. history and warns that the only way to end the war in Iraq is for Americans to convert to Islam.The 25-minute message marked the first time in three years that bin Laden has been seen, dispelling rumours of his death and heightening anxiety as Americans prepare to remember the more than 2,800 people murdered in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The video opens with bin Laden, speaking in Arabic, praising Allah and his law of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and the killer is killed.”
Bin Laden makes no direct threat against the United States and Bush administration officials said they have no evidence that al-Qaeda is planning an imminent attack.
Still, Michael Hayden, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said it’s clear al-Qaeda has regained strength.
“Al-Qaeda is focusing on targets that would produce mass casualties, dramatic destruction and significant economic aftershocks,” he said.
For now, on the eve of the 9-/11 anniversary, bin Laden’s video seems aimed at putting the United States on edge.
“There are two solutions to stopping [the Iraq war],” he says. “One is from our side, and it is to escalate the fighting and killing against you. This is our duty, and our brothers are carrying it out.
“The second solution is from your side. I invite you to embrace Islam.”
The al-Qaeda leader last appeared in a videotape just before the 2004 presidential election and his appearance has changed dramatically. His beard, once long and flecked with grey, has been trimmed and dyed to create a more youthful look.
The new video contains references to events that occurred as recently as July.
White House officials dismissed the videotape as terrorist propaganda. “I just think people have got to be clear that we’re being manipulated every time that they issue a statement, because they’re trying to use the media as a way to terrorize us,” said Frances Townsend, President George W. Bush’s homeland security advisor.
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Anger over fires may tilt Greek election
Posted: August 28th, 2007, 3:47pm GMT by lrenz
Antonopoulou, 76, cries as she leans on a wall in the gutted remains of her home in the village of Platanos, next to Ancient Olympia in southwestern Greece on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007. Antonopoulou lost 15 of her 20 goat and her house in a massive blaze that swept through the area, forcing the evacuations of villages and obliterating forests and olive groves. At least 64 people have died in an unprecedented inferno that has afflicted vast tracts of southern Greece since Friday.
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Texas museum to show Lucy fossil amid criticism
Posted: August 28th, 2007, 3:36pm GMT by lrenz
Reuters - Lucy, the world’s most famous human
ancestor, will go on public display for the first time in the
United States this week amid criticism that her 3.2 million
year old bones are too fragile to withstand an 11-city tour. -
Publicist: Bo Diddley had heart attack
Posted: August 28th, 2007, 3:35pm GMT by lrenz
Bo Diddley, 78, listens as he is honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at The Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts at a ceremony on Feb. 16, 2007, in Jackson, Miss. The 78-year-old singer-guitarist was hospitalized in stable condition after suffering a heart attack, his publicist said Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007.
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Economy, credit worries drive Wall St down sharply
Posted: August 28th, 2007, 3:23pm GMT by lrenz
Signage at the New York Stock Exchange, July 9, 2007. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters) percent on Tuesday after Merrill Lynch warned that ailing
credit markets will hurt bank profits, while reports showing
eroding consumer confidence and falling home prices added to
concerns about the economy.
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Biologists bring puffins back to Maine
Posted: August 26th, 2007, 6:26pm GMT by lrenz
A common tern chick screams for food Monday July 9, 2007, on Eastern Egg Rock, Maine. The tiny island is the nesting grounds to about 6,000 seabirds.
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Explosion derails Russian train
Posted: August 13th, 2007, 6:31pm GMT by lrenz
An explosion derailed a Russian train travelling between Moscow and St Petersburg on Monday, injuring dozens of passengers, officials said.
Russian Railways said in a statement the blast was caused by “outside action”, suggesting it may not have been a technical fault. No other details were given.
Interfax news agency quoted law enforcement sources as saying a crater measuring about 1.5 metres (5 ft) in diameter was found underneath one of the carriages.
“The train driver said he heard a loud bang,” Alexander Pirkov, an adviser to Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin, told the Vesti-24 television news channel.
The derailment occurred in the Novgorod region, about 500 km (310 miles) north of Moscow, near the village of Malaya Vishera. The line between Moscow and Russia’s second city of St Petersburg is among the country’s busiest.
Russia has a history of violent attacks on civilian targets, many carried out by groups linked to a separatist insurgency in the southern Chechnya region. But no major attacks have been launched outside Chechnya and neighbouring regions for at least a year after many insurgents were either killed or arrested.
A Reuters Television producer at the scene said police had cordoned off the crash site and that she could see several ambulances. A Reuters photographer who was able to get inside the cordon said he could see at least three derailed carriages.
Officials said 12 carriages and the train had been derailed.
Viktor Beltsov, a spokesman for Russia’s Emergencies Ministry, said 27 people were admitted to hospital to have injuries treated. “Three are in a serious condition,” he said.
Russian news agencies reported a total of 60 people were hurt but that most did not require hospital treatment.
Russian news agencies reported the line had been closed, but that alternative routes would be put into operation to keep trains running.
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Elton John launches Diana concert
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 5:45pm GMT by lrenz
Sir Elton John brings a memorial concert for Diana, Princess of Wales at Wembley Stadium to a euphoric close.
Up to 63,000 fans joined hosts Princes William and Harry at the gig, intended to celebrate Diana’s life, on what would have been her 46th birthday.
news
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Elton John launches Diana concert
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 5:45pm GMT by lrenz
Sir Elton John brings a memorial concert for Diana, Princess of Wales at Wembley Stadium to a euphoric close.
Up to 63,000 fans joined hosts Princes William and Harry at the gig, intended to celebrate Diana’s life, on what would have been her 46th birthday.
news
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Johnson hails smoking ban
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 5:18pm GMT by lrenz
Health Secretary Alan Johnson hails England’s smoking ban as a major step forward for public health.
He said the ban on smoking in enclosed public places, which came into force on Sunday, would improve the health of hundreds of thousands of people.
But there have been isolated signs of opposition to the smoking clampdown.
The landlord of the Dog Inn in Hereford and the boss of a lapdancing club in London have vowed to challenge the ban.
Pubs, clubs and restaurants - and all enclosed public places - are now smoke-free zones, a change which Mr Johnson said was popular with 80% of the population.
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UK police confident in bombers hunt
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 4:48pm GMT by lrenz
The links between three attempted car bombings in Glasgow and London are becoming “ever clearer”, the UK’s top counter-terrorism officer has said.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said he was “absolutely confident” of uncovering details of the attackers’ methods and network.
A Jeep containing gas cylinders was driven into Glasgow Airport a day after two car bombs were found in London.
Five people are being held, but police are thought to be hunting a suspect.
BBC correspondent Daniel Sandford said that might explain why the country remained on its highest state of security alert - critical.
This means an attack is expected “imminently”.
Scotland Yard said two people were arrested on the M6 in Cheshire overnight - a 26-year-old man and 27-year-old woman.
The man has been identified by the BBC as Dr Mohammed Asha, from Iran.
Another 26-year-old man was arrested in Liverpool. All have been taken to Paddington Green police station in London for questioning.
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Castro blasts CIA on spy papers
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 3:41pm GMT by lrenz
Cuba’s Fidel Castro says CIA admissions of illicit Cold War tactics disguise the fact the US is still using them.
Last week the CIA published documents called the “Family Jewels”, revealing spy plots and assassination attempts.
The documents included plans to use Mafia help to kill Fidel Castro.
Mr Castro, still recovering after surgery last year, said in the official media the US was trying to pretend the tactics belonged to another era.
“Everything described in the documents is still being done, only in a more brutal manner around the entire planet, including an increasing number of illegal actions in the very United States,” President Castro wrote.
In an editorial called the Killing Machine, he wrote: “Sunday is a good day to read what appears to be science fiction.”
One of the key revelations of the documents was that the CIA tried to persuade mobster Johnny Roselli in 1960 to plot the assassination of the Cuban leader.
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Obama leads in campaign funding
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 3:12pm GMT by lrenz
Democrat Barack Obama eclipses Hillary Clinton in the battle to raise funds for the US presidential elections.
The Illinois senator raised $32.5m (£16.2m) for his presidential campaign in the period from April to June, a record for a Democratic candidate.
Mr Obama has now raised a total of $55.7m in funding.
But Ms Clinton, who is estimated to have raised around $27m in the same quarter, still leads in opinion polls.
Former Senator John Edwards, is expected to announce a second quarter figure of just over $9m.
Mr Obama said he received at least 154,000 contributions in the last accounting period, bringing the total number of donors to 258,000 in the first half of the year.
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Summit focuses on African unity
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 2:47pm GMT by lrenz
The African Union summit opens in Ghana, focusing this year on the idea of a pan-African government.
Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is championing the idea, but many African leaders do not support his initiative.
Some leaders fear the issue will push the crises in Zimbabwe, Somalia and Darfur off the agenda.
Ghana’s President John Kufuor said in his opening speech that the question of unifying Africa was not in doubt, but the key issue was how to attain it.
“I am confident that at the end of our deliberations, we should be able to arrive at a common understanding on the sort of continental government we want for ourselves, and a roadmap with timelines on its realisation,” he said.
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Israel releases Palestinian funds
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 1:34pm GMT by lrenz
Israel begins releasing tens of millions of dollars in frozen tax funds to the Palestinian Authority's President Abbas.
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US envoy goes missing in Cyprus
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 12:56pm GMT by lrenz
The US embassy in Cyprus appeals for information on a senior diplomat who has been missing for three days.
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Cricket: England ease to win
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 12:49pm GMT by lrenz
England dismiss West Indies for 146 to secure a 79-run victory in the opening one-day international at Lord's.
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Argentine first lady bids to rule
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 12:43pm GMT by lrenz
Argentine First Lady Cristina Kirchner is to run for president in October instead of her husband, Nestor.
news
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US-South Korea trade pact signed
Posted: July 1st, 2007, 6:22am GMT by lrenz
The US and South Korea sign a free trade agreement, the biggest such deal the US has sealed in 15 years.
news
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Cruise film set for Germany shoot
Posted: June 30th, 2007, 12:04pm GMT by lrenz
The makers of Tom Cruise's latest film get go-ahead to shoot in Germany, despite a ban from military sites.
news
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Guess the celebrity winemaker
Posted: June 25th, 2007, 4:11pm GMT by lrenz
Most people know him as Tony the Wine Distributor. He has been bottling wines for nine years, but recently decided to put his daughter’s name on the label - with her blessing. There are five varieties: Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir,…
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A moment of silence, please
Posted: June 25th, 2007, 4:04pm GMT by lrenz
Internet ratio stations such as Pandora and Live 365 and those on Yahoo! and Rhapsody will go silent tomorrow to protest rising royalty rates that go into effect July 15, reports Mike Snider. The increases will put many Webcasters out…
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Tom Cruise not welcome at German bases
Posted: June 25th, 2007, 3:48pm GMT by lrenz
Germany is saying no to Tom Cruise. The Defense Ministry said today it will not allow Cruise’s movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler to film at German military sites because Cruise is a Scientologist. The German government does…
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Belzer to do fiction based on himself
Posted: June 25th, 2007, 3:42pm GMT by lrenz
He’s usually described as acerbic. So it’s a good bet the voice in his new novel will be, too. Comic/actor/author Richard Belzer has just signed a two-book deal with Simon Schuster to write a mystery series featuring the author as…
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Rosie isn’t the next Bob Barker
Posted: June 25th, 2007, 3:33pm GMT by lrenz
Isn’t it kind of amazing that after all that talk about wanting to be the next Price is Right host, now Rosie O’Donnell is out of the running? I don’t need the money, she says on her blog. And although…
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Joey Fatone takes on Wayne Brady
Posted: June 25th, 2007, 3:25pm GMT by lrenz
This just in: NBC has named former ‘N Syncer Joey Fatone as the host of The Singing Bee, a new game show that’s being rushed on the air next month to beat Fox’s similar Don’t Forget the Lyrics — by…
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Guy Ritchie’s next movie starts shooting
Posted: June 25th, 2007, 3:13pm GMT by lrenz
Gerard Butler, star of 300, will next play a mobster. Shooting began last week in London on RocknRolla, the new movie from Madonna’s husband, Guy Ritchie. Also in the cast: Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Idris Elba and Ludacris….
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Nicole Kidman undergoing ‘Brain Training’
Posted: June 25th, 2007, 2:58pm GMT by lrenz
Stars are usually seen in commercials for new perfumes or jeans. Maybe watches. Now, Nicole Kidman is the new face of Nintendo. She’ll be seen in ads launching this week — both in print and on TV — throughout Europe…
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Jimmy Kimmel to be back at work tomorrow
Posted: June 25th, 2007, 2:47pm GMT by lrenz
A wisecracking, chipper-sounding Jimmy Kimmel was back at his desk today doing fine following surgery to have his appendix removed. They removed it. They threw it in the ocean and I’m back. He said he got the operation late Wednesday,…
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Female film journalists name their top movies
Posted: June 25th, 2007, 2:26pm GMT by lrenz
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists, an organization of women who write professionally about film — including our own Susan Wloszczyna — was not happy about the American Film Institute’s 100 Years, 100 Films list for not including women directors….
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‘Lights,’ ‘Comforts’ lost in TV shuffle
Posted: June 24th, 2007, 10:29pm GMT by lrenz
NBC has yanked Sunday repeat episodes of Friday Night Lights. Repeats of Law Order will air in its place (9 p.m. ET/PT). And CBS has broken the clay-animation mold for Creature Comforts, replacing it tonight with a repeat of The…
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White House Budget Director Resigns
Posted: June 19th, 2007, 12:26pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: usa
White House budget director Rob Portman is resigning and will be replaced by former Iowa Rep. Jim Nussle, Bush Administration officials said Tuesday.
Nussle ran for governor of Iowa last year and was defeated. He has been serving in Iowa as an adviser in former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination. The changes were to be announced Tuesday by President Bush.
Portman, who was a six-term congressman from Cincinnati, left his career on Capitol Hill to join the Bush Administration two years ago as trade representative and was named budget director a little more than a year ago to replace Josh Bolten when he became White House chief of staff.
Portman said he was leaving the Administration for personal reasons. His family has remained in Cincinnati and he has been commuting home on weekends for 14 years. “I need to be home more. I’ve got three kids ages 12 to 17. It’s just been very hard to spend as much time with them and Jane as I need to at this time of my life,” he said.
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Astronauts set out for final space walk
Posted: June 17th, 2007, 6:52pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: space
Two space shuttle Atlantis astronauts have floated outside the International Space Station for a fourth and final space walk before the shuttle departs on Tuesday (US time).
Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson left the station’s airlock about 12:40pm (US time) to finish work on a rotary joint so a pair of electricity-producing wing panels can track the sun for power.
The wings were installed last week during the first space walk of Atlantis’s 13-day flight.
During the installation, the space station’s primary computer network crashed, raising concerns the still-under-construction, $US100 billion outpost would have to be temporarily abandoned.
The German-built computers were provided to Russia in exchange for equipment to dock Europe’s cargo ship, called the Automated Transfer Vehicle, at the station early next year.
Russian flight controllers and cosmonauts aboard the station figured out a way to bypass suspect protection circuits and successfully revived the network. The computers control steering rockets that are needed to periodically readjust the station’s position in space.
NASA wants to make sure the thrusters will kick in to dampen any motion caused when the 100-ton shuttle detaches, and plans a test of the system later today.
The shuttle has enough supplies to stay at the ISS until Wednesday if any problems arise.
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Immigration bill drew fire from both sides
Posted: June 10th, 2007, 6:32pm GMT by lrenz
The collapse of immigration legislation in the Senate this week is a monument to President Bush’s enfeebled clout on Capitol Hill, the searing power of hostility toward illegal immigrants, and the difficulty of crafting a compromise on an emotional issue that touches so many diverse economic and political interests.
The fragile bipartisan deal on immigration was sidelined — at least for now and possibly for the rest of Bush’s presidency — under fire from critics on the left and right, in labor and business, and in both political parties who believe the trouble-ridden status quo is better than the bill’s untested new system.
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LALA.com Bets Big on Free Music Streaming
Posted: June 5th, 2007, 6:19pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: music
CD-swapping service Lala.com is making a bold move this morning, opening up a revamped version of its web site built around free music streaming and a new service that lets you upload tunes to its site and access them from anywhere. If you think that sounds a lot like the old version of MP3.com, you’re on the right track. Download a plug-in and the service will scan your hard drive for music. If the tunes it finds are already on LaLa’s servers, you’ll be able to play them from anywhere right away. If not, the plug-in will upload those tracks in the background, and eventually you’ll have access to them online as well. What’s more, a nifty bit of iPod integration will let you fill up your music player directly from the web. It’s still early for the service, but I’ve tried it out and confirmed that it actually does let you stream songs it’s found in your libraries. And if LaLa has an agreement with the record label (Warner was one of the first to sign up), you can even stream songs that aren’t in your library. Things are a little slow on the new site so far, though, so I hope they get that worked out
news
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LALA.com Bets Big on Free Music Streaming
Posted: June 5th, 2007, 6:19pm GMT by lrenz
CD-swapping service Lala.com is making a bold move this morning, opening up a revamped version of its web site built around free music streaming and a new service that lets you upload tunes to its site and access them from anywhere. If you think that sounds a lot like the old version of MP3.com, you’re on the right track. Download a plug-in and the service will scan your hard drive for music. If the tunes it finds are already on LaLa’s servers, you’ll be able to play them from anywhere right away. If not, the plug-in will upload those tracks in the background, and eventually you’ll have access to them online as well. What’s more, a nifty bit of iPod integration will let you fill up your music player directly from the web. It’s still early for the service, but I’ve tried it out and confirmed that it actually does let you stream songs it’s found in your libraries. And if LaLa has an agreement with the record label (Warner was one of the first to sign up), you can even stream songs that aren’t in your library. Things are a little slow on the new site so far, though, so I hope they get that worked out
news
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From Intel and A.M.D., Rival Boasts of Technology
Posted: May 10th, 2007, 4:56am GMT by lrenz
Tags: intel amd
The fierce rivalry between the chip makers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices is ratcheting up as both companies claim superiority in technology used for notebook computers.
On Wednesday, Intel introduced an upgrade to its popular Centrino chip set for notebook computers that it says is far more energy-efficient, uses a faster processor and features much improved graphics. The new chip set, which Intel called Santa Rosa while it was under development, also supports a new version of Wi-Fi that executives say can be five times as fast as the current version and can communicate over twice the distance. Last week, A.M.D. held its own news conference here to show new features of its Turion notebook processor and a branding campaign with the theme Better by Design.
news
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From Intel and A.M.D., Rival Boasts of Technology
Posted: May 10th, 2007, 4:56am GMT by lrenz
Tags: intel amd
The fierce rivalry between the chip makers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices is ratcheting up as both companies claim superiority in technology used for notebook computers.
On Wednesday, Intel introduced an upgrade to its popular Centrino chip set for notebook computers that it says is far more energy-efficient, uses a faster processor and features much improved graphics. The new chip set, which Intel called Santa Rosa while it was under development, also supports a new version of Wi-Fi that executives say can be five times as fast as the current version and can communicate over twice the distance. Last week, A.M.D. held its own news conference here to show new features of its Turion notebook processor and a branding campaign with the theme Better by Design.
news
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Boris Yeltsin dies
Posted: April 23rd, 2007, 3:27pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin died today in the Central Clinical Hospital as a result of a deteriorating cardio-vascular problem.
Boris Yeltsin, who clambered on to a tank to bury the Soviet Union, then led Russia falteringly through its first years of independence, died on Monday aged 76.
World leaders showered Yeltsin with tributes for bringing freedom and democracy to Russia after decades of totalitarian rule, and pushing through market reforms that though brutal have helped to turn Russia into a vibrant economy.
But he was resented by millions of Russians who lost their savings to his economic “shock therapy”, lost sons in his war against Chechen rebels and watched him — at times apparently drunk — blunder through international summits.
President Vladimir Putin, whom Yeltsin anointed as his heir before stepping down, ailing and out of touch, in the last hours of 1999, declared Wednesday a day of national mourning.
“A man has passed away thanks to whom a whole new epoch was born,” said Putin. “A new democratic Russia was born, a free state open to the world. A state in which power truly belongs to the people.”
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, whom Yeltsin effectively ousted, offered a qualified tribute.
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Tragedy at Virginia Tech
Posted: April 17th, 2007, 6:00pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: tragedy
Representing America’s anguish, President Bush told Virginia Tech students and teachers at a somber convocation Tuesday that the nation was praying for them and “there’s a power in these prayers.”"It’s impossible to make sense of such violence and suffering,” Bush said at a memorial service on the campus where 33 people, including the suspected gunman, died in shootings the day before.
“Those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate,” the president said. “They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now they’re gone — and they leave behind grieving families, and grieving classmates, and a grieving nation.”
Before flying to the tragedy-stricken university in southwestern Virginia, Bush ordered flags flown at half staff and issued a written proclamation in honor of those killed and wounded.
Speaking to a solemn crowd at a basketball arena, packed with students and others, many wearing orange short-sleeved Virginia Tech T-shirts, the president quoted a recent graduate blogging about the killings to encourage those who grieve to reach out for help.
“To all of you who are OK, I’m happy for that,” Bush said, quoting the Internet posting. “For those of you who are in pain or who have lost someone close to you, I’m sure you can call on any one of us and have help anytime you need it.”
The memorial service was subdued, but ended with a spontaneous school chant of “Let’s Go Hokies!” the university mascot. The president met with a wounded student and 50 relatives of the victims, hugging them and telling them to take comfort from one another.
Bush and his wife, Laura, also stopped briefly in the middle of campus where students have set up a memorial of candles and flowers. The president and first lady added their signatures to a display of the letters VT — a symbol of Virginia Tech.
In times of tragedy, Americans often turn to the president to be the nation’s consoler. One of the most memorable images of Bush is of him standing atop a pile of rubble in New York, bullhorn in hand, as he rallied the nation after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
In 1995, President Clinton went to Oklahoma City after the bombing of the federal building there, and his on-the-scene empathy was later viewed as the key factor in reviving his presidency and helping him win re-election.
Bush urged those angered by the killings not to be overcome by evil.
“People who have never met you are praying for you,” Bush said. “They’re praying for your friends who have fallen and who are injured. There’s a power in these prayers, a real power. In times like this, we can find comfort in the grace and guidance of a loving God.”
Before the service, Bush received a briefing on the shootings and their investigation from Virginia Tech President Charles Steger.
On a day of raw emotion, Bush spoke to students who he said had just lived through the worst day of their lives.
“On this terrible day of mourning, it’s hard to imagine a time will come when life at Virginia Tech will return to normal, but such a day will come,” Bush said. “And when it does, you will always remember the friends and teachers who were lost yesterday.”
The tragedy fueled debate over gun control. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino deflected any questions about Bush’s view of needed changes to gun control policy, saying the time for that discussion is not now.
“We understand that there’s going to be and there has been an ongoing national discussion, conversation and debate about gun control policy. Of course we are going to be participants in that conversation,” she said. “Today, however, is a day that is time to focus on the families, the school, the community.”
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Anti-Kremlin Demonstrators in St. Petersburg
Posted: April 15th, 2007, 11:53am GMT by lrenz
Tags: russia kremlin
Riot police beat anti-Kremlin demonstrators in St. Petersburg Sunday in a second day of clashes in Russia as the authorities crushed the attempt of hundreds of demonstrators to stage a march to government buildings at the end of an officially-approved rally on the edge of the city center.Dozens of people were arrested before and during the rally, but most were hauled away as demonstrators asserted their right to march in the face of massed police lines that blocked their route as the rally ended. Riot police waded into the crowd and beat demonstrators, and some radicals tossed bottles and stones at police lines.
In St. Petersburg, police arrested one of the organizers of Sunday’s march as she left her home to attend the rally. Olga Kurnosova, the head of Kasparov’s organization in St. Petersburg, said she was detained before she could even get to the demonstration. Police said she was arrested for a traffic violation, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Some demonstrators were arrested for vocally denouncing President Vladimir Putin and his rule.
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Death of a President
Posted: March 15th, 2007, 11:56am GMT by lrenz
Tags: bush usa
DEATH OF A PRESIDENT follows the investigation of the fictional assassination of President George W. Bush in October 2007. Combining real archival footage with a credible but fictional story, “Death of a President” presents a fascinating and thought-provoking political thriller.
Winner of the International Critics’ Prize at the Toronto Film Festival,” “DEATH OF A PRESIDENT” is conceived as a fictional TV documentary broadcast in 2008, reflecting on another monstrously despicable and cataclysmic event: the assassination of President George W. Bush on October 19th, 2007. The “documentary” combines archival footage and carefully composed interviews, presented in a respectful and dignified manner. Exciting and questioning, it refashions the event into a riveting story.
The film opens with the ferocious energy of a Tarantino or Oliver Stone movie, as frenetically edited archival footage thrusts us into a raging crowd of protesters, waiting for President Bush’s procession. The President is portrayed as a sympathetic and likable man–beloved by those close to him and charming to his followers. As the President gives a patriotic speech inside a hotel, the demonstrators’ fury increases to the breaking point. The tension mounts until the horrible instant where the President is assassinated.
www.deathofapresident.com
news
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Death of a President
Posted: March 15th, 2007, 11:56am GMT by lrenz
DEATH OF A PRESIDENT follows the investigation of the fictional assassination of President George W. Bush in October 2007. Combining real archival footage with a credible but fictional story, “Death of a President” presents a fascinating and thought-provoking political thriller.
Winner of the International Critics’ Prize at the Toronto Film Festival,” “DEATH OF A PRESIDENT” is conceived as a fictional TV documentary broadcast in 2008, reflecting on another monstrously despicable and cataclysmic event: the assassination of President George W. Bush on October 19th, 2007. The “documentary” combines archival footage and carefully composed interviews, presented in a respectful and dignified manner. Exciting and questioning, it refashions the event into a riveting story.
The film opens with the ferocious energy of a Tarantino or Oliver Stone movie, as frenetically edited archival footage thrusts us into a raging crowd of protesters, waiting for President Bush’s procession. The President is portrayed as a sympathetic and likable man–beloved by those close to him and charming to his followers. As the President gives a patriotic speech inside a hotel, the demonstrators’ fury increases to the breaking point. The tension mounts until the horrible instant where the President is assassinated.
www.deathofapresident.com
news
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Britney attempts suicide
Posted: March 4th, 2007, 5:37pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: britney
Britney Spears has reportedly flipped her lid in rehab, trying to hang herself with a bedsheet after screaming “I am the antichrist” to frightened staff.
She made the demonic cry after scrawling the devil’s number “666″ across her head, according to London’s News Of the World, which broke the “exclusive” story.
Spears’s manic behaviour has relatives fearing for her safety, and her unpredictable behaviour has clinic staff struggling to cope.
Within days of her suicidal behaviour she was begging estranged husband Kevin Federline for a reconciliation and a baby.
Spears’s former boyfriend Justin Timberlake tried to see the troubled singer last week but was asked not to by her mum Lynne.
news
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Britney attempts suicide
Posted: March 4th, 2007, 5:37pm GMT by lrenz
Britney Spears has reportedly flipped her lid in rehab, trying to hang herself with a bedsheet after screaming “I am the antichrist” to frightened staff.
She made the demonic cry after scrawling the devil’s number “666″ across her head, according to London’s News Of the World, which broke the “exclusive” story.
Spears’s manic behaviour has relatives fearing for her safety, and her unpredictable behaviour has clinic staff struggling to cope.
Within days of her suicidal behaviour she was begging estranged husband Kevin Federline for a reconciliation and a baby.
Spears’s former boyfriend Justin Timberlake tried to see the troubled singer last week but was asked not to by her mum Lynne.
news
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Europe Gets Clear View Of Eclipse
Posted: March 4th, 2007, 5:35pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: eclipse
People around the world Sunday described seeing the first total lunar eclipse in more than three years.
The eclipse was visible Saturday evening from Europe, Africa, South America and the Eastern United States and Canada, the BBC reported.
At its height, the eclipsed moon looked coppery-red.
Robin Scagell of the Society for Popular Astronomy said the lunar show was “one of the best lunar eclipses from Britain for years.”
“It was fascinating to watch the moon’s graceful movement through the shadow of the Earth and check its coppery glow,” told the BBC.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth and moon are lined up in space and the Earth blocks the sun’s light from hitting the moon.
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Gore’s Oscars
Posted: February 26th, 2007, 5:06pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: oscar
The double Oscar win for “An Inconvenient Truth,” former Vice President Al Gore’s expanded slide-show on global warming, could spur grassroots support for the fight against climate change, environmental advocates said on Monday.That’s because a movie, especially one that many Americans have seen on home video, takes the issue beyond the realm of distant policymakers and puts it on a more personal footing, according to Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club.
“The funny thing about the Oscars is, they’re very intimate - people watch them in their living rooms,” Pope said in a telephone interview. “Global warming has seemed abstract, distant, something ‘for people who know more than I do.’
“I think what (the Oscar victory) really does is it puts this issue into people’s living rooms,” he said. “While the climatology is really complicated, they’re going to see that the solutions are pretty common-sense, and people will talk about them and get excited.”
“An Inconvenient Truth” won two Academy Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles: one for best documentary and another for best song. In a related boost for the environmental movement, Gore appeared with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who announced that this year’s televised ceremony had gone “green.”
Working with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the telecast’s producers arranged for hybrid vehicles for presenters and staff, comprehensive recycling for the event, and the purchase of renewable energy credits to offset greenhouse gas emissions.
news
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Gore’s Oscars
Posted: February 26th, 2007, 5:06pm GMT by lrenz
The double Oscar win for “An Inconvenient Truth,” former Vice President Al Gore’s expanded slide-show on global warming, could spur grassroots support for the fight against climate change, environmental advocates said on Monday.That’s because a movie, especially one that many Americans have seen on home video, takes the issue beyond the realm of distant policymakers and puts it on a more personal footing, according to Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club.
“The funny thing about the Oscars is, they’re very intimate - people watch them in their living rooms,” Pope said in a telephone interview. “Global warming has seemed abstract, distant, something ‘for people who know more than I do.’
“I think what (the Oscar victory) really does is it puts this issue into people’s living rooms,” he said. “While the climatology is really complicated, they’re going to see that the solutions are pretty common-sense, and people will talk about them and get excited.”
“An Inconvenient Truth” won two Academy Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles: one for best documentary and another for best song. In a related boost for the environmental movement, Gore appeared with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who announced that this year’s televised ceremony had gone “green.”
Working with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the telecast’s producers arranged for hybrid vehicles for presenters and staff, comprehensive recycling for the event, and the purchase of renewable energy credits to offset greenhouse gas emissions.
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Britney’s rehab children
Posted: February 26th, 2007, 5:04pm GMT by lrenz
Britney Spears was visited in rehab by her two sons on Saturday evening (24.02.07).
The ‘Toxic’ singer’s estranged husband Kevin Federline took their two sons, 17-month-old Sean Preston and five-month-old Jaden James, to see their mother at Malibu’s Promises rehab centre.
A source told People magazine: “The kids are his number one priority and they always have been.
“He’s so stressed out right now. He only wants the best for Britney and the kids.”
It was Kevin’s second visit to Promises - he first visited Britney on Friday (23.02.07) without the children.
Britney, 25, checked into rehab for the third time in six days last week after having an apparent nervous breakdown.
The ‘Oops… I Did It Again‘ star stunned the world by shaving off her hair in a Los Angeles salon on Friday 16 February, after the hairdresser refused to shear her.
Britney entered Promises last Wednesday night (21.02.07), having checked out earlier that morning and attacking photographers with an umbrella outside Federline’s home.
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Windows Vista comes
Posted: January 22nd, 2007, 12:47pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: vista windows
Here comes a new Windows operating system from Microsoft.
It’s launch long delayed Microsoft plans an enormous marketing campaign to promote the software as a way to get more out of computers.
But detractors are rolling their eyes and saying the new Windows is nothing more than a weak imitator of other operating systems. And technology analysts wonder whether Microsoft’s dominance is nearing an end, since programs coming over the Internet are emerging as a more powerful force in computing than software tied to individual desktops.
”Each time Microsoft puts out a piece of software, they’re competing with their own previous software,” said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with the independent Directions on Microsoft research firm. “Now there’s not that much extra stuff in the plumbing that they can do. There’s not going to be the big obvious leap.”
While that may be true, analysts think Vista will gradually replace its most recent predecessor, Windows XP, during the next few years.
This is partly because Windows XP is good enough for many computer owners.
In contrast, Windows 3.1, which Windows 95 introduced to the tune of the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up,” was relatively primitive (remember DOS?). More graphical, more polished and easier to use, the 90 U.S. dollars Windows 95 introduced many people to PCs for the first time, just as the Web was about to take off.
Back in August 1995, people actually lined up outside computer stores to buy the new edition of Windows the moment it went on sale at midnight. Don’t expect that to happen for Vista.
A lot of the improvements in Vista, which will retail for 100 dollars to 400 dollars, depending on the version and whether the user is upgrading from Windows XP, are redesign touches, or invisible tweaks toward better stability and security.
In the meantime, Microsoft is working hard to generate excitement for Vista. That includes various “wow” related promotions and viral approaches like an elaborate online game in which the champion wins a trip into low earth orbit.
Asked whether Vista, lacking the pent-up anticipation Windows 95 enjoyed, represented a tough sell for Microsoft, Mike Sievert, who oversees Windows marketing had a diplomatic response. He suggested consumer excitement is simply harder to measure now.
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IBM shares fall despite 11 per cent profit jump
Posted: January 19th, 2007, 12:27pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: ibm
Shares of IBM Corp. fell nearly five per cent Friday even though the computer services giant generated healthy fourth-quarter profits as the company rode cost cuts and software acquisitions to boost its bottom line.IBM’s earnings report, released after the market closed Thursday, showed an 11 per cent gain in net profit, to US$3.54 billion, or $2.31 per share, on revenue of $26.3 billion.
Five cents per share of profit came from gains related to discontinued lines of business, so continuing operations earned $2.26 per share.
That was well above the $2.19 per share and $25.7 billion in revenue expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. But investors apparently wanted even more. Six cents of the earnings upside stemmed from beneficial changes in the company’s tax rates.
The quarterly figures all surpassed results from a year earlier, when profit was $3.19 billion, or $1.99 per share, and revenue was $24.4 billion. However, profit in that comparison quarter was dragged down about $200 million after taxes, or 12 cents per share, by a one-time accounting charge and costs IBM incurred in freezing its pension plan.
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OPEC Talks again about oil price talks
Posted: January 13th, 2007, 12:29pm GMT by lrenz
Tags: opec
For the second time in less than three months, OPEC is considering calling an emergency meeting to rescue plunging crude oil prices. It’s enough to give oil traders a sense of deja vu, harkening back to October when futures prices swirled amid a flurry of will-they or won’t-they headlines.
Prices swayed in a broad $1.45 range Friday on the OPEC talk, settling $1.11 higher, at $52.99 a barrel, heading into a holiday weekend which shuts New York Mercantile Exchange floor trade Monday.
But the first gain after four straight declines hasn’t eased market nerves. For OPEC, the feeling of a rerun scenario in the market dates back further - to the 1998 price crash that slashed oil prices in half, to $11 a barrel.
Back then, it took two years and several output cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to restore prices to levels before that crash, brought by an OPEC decision in Jakarta to raise output quotas by 10%, the start of the Asian economic crisis and an extremely warm winter caused by a strong El Nino weather phenomenon.
OPEC, which has already pledged to cut 1.2 million barrels a day from Nov. 1 to combat the 25% fall in prices between July and October, said it has learned the lesson from Jakarta, and will act aggressively to avoid a replay.
Nymex crude oil futures staged a stuttering 6% rally after OPEC agreed on the Nov. 1 output cut and ministers, in December, pledged to slash a further 500,000 barrels a day from Feb. 1.
But prices have moved relentlessly lower since the start of 2007, prior to Friday’s rebound. Nymex crude futures hit a 19-month low of $51.88 a barrel at Thursday’s settlement, a plunge of 15% from the year-end price Dec. 29 of $61.05.
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Oprah Winfrey said extortion target
Posted: January 7th, 2007, 3:19pm GMT by lrenz
TV talk host Oprah Winfrey was the target of an alleged extortion plot involving potentially damaging audio tapes, federal officials in Chicago say.Keifer Bonvillain of Atlanta was charged with illegally taping telephone conversations he had with a Winfrey employee he had met at a party in an effort to extort $1.5 million from the star, the Chicago Sun-Times said Saturday.
Bonvillain reportedly asked many questions about Winfrey and her business and then told a second person he had 12 hours of those conversations and demanded the money to destroy the tapes and his notes, the newspaper said.
Bonvillain is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing in Chicago on Monday.
The criminal complaint does not say Bonvillain ever had direct contact with Winfrey and she is mentioned in the complaint only as “a public figure and the owner of a Chicago-based company.”
But, the Sun-Times says she was identified by sources close to the investigation.
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Harlem plans James Brown farewell
Posted: December 28th, 2006, 5:46am GMT by lrenz
The body of the late soul star James Brown is to be taken through New York’s Harlem in a horse-drawn carriage before lying in state at the Apollo Theater.
A close friend of Brown, civil rights leader Al Sharpton, described the occasion as “a royal day in Harlem”.
His casket will then travel to his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, for a public funeral on Saturday.
The “Godfather of Soul“, who was 73, died of heart failure brought on by pneumonia in Atlanta on Monday.