No image available
/ 3 November 2006
Google will make more advertising revenue in the United Kingdom this year than Channel 4, the publicly-owned broadcaster’s chief executive said on Wednesday. Andy Duncan said some broadcasters had been slow to recognise the challenge posed by the internet and multichannel TV, which cut into the audience and ad revenues of terrestrial broadcasters.
No image available
/ 3 November 2006
As ballots are counted from Sunday’s historic vote in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rhetoric from candidates and false poll results circulating via e-mail and SMS have prompted warnings from electoral officials. Authorities fear a repeat of first-round election violence related to news of results.
No image available
/ 3 November 2006
We went looking for elves in Iceland. Belief in the unseen runs so high here that the Public Roads Administration sometimes delays or reroutes road construction to avoid what locals believe are elf habitations or cursed spots. Search ”elves” and ”Iceland” on Google and you get 846 000 hits, nearly triple Iceland’s population.
No image available
/ 3 November 2006
Five Colombian women who have survived kidnapping, bombs and landmines have come to Britain to tell cocaine users that they are helping to fuel violence and death in Colombia. The aim is to prick the conscience of the west by highlighting the side-effects of the cocaine trade.
No image available
/ 3 November 2006
China will announce a package of measures covering aid, investment, trade and social development for Africa, state media reported on Friday, as Beijing opened a ministerial summit hosting about 48 leaders from the continent. ”We take great pride in China’s strong and warm friendship with Africa,” Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi said at the opening of the conference.
No image available
/ 3 November 2006
In a move that had Hollywood insiders scratching their heads in bemusement, it was announced on Thursday that the actor Tom Cruise is to take over the dormant United Artists film studio. United Artists was started in 1919 by four of the biggest figures in film: Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and DW Griffith.
No image available
/ 3 November 2006
More than 300 prisoners sentenced to life behind bars and who had served 15 years could be considered for parole, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday. This emerged at a high-level meeting between correctional services authorities, parole officials and some judges.
No image available
/ 3 November 2006
The United States is now seen as a threat to world peace by its closest neighbours and allies, according to an international survey of public opinion published on Friday that reveals just how far the country’s reputation has fallen among former supporters since the invasion of Iraq.
No image available
/ 3 November 2006
Italy’s centre-left government was facing an outcry on Thursday over law and order after figures emerged linking a wave of gangland murders to a mass pardon rushed through Parliament soon after it took office. In an effort to defuse the crisis the Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, visited Naples, where 12 killings in 10 days — several carried out on crowded streets — prompted calls to send in the army.
No image available
/ 3 November 2006
Global investment house Lehman Brothers said on Friday morning that while they remained concerned about the long-term outlook for South Africa and its markets, things were okay for now. Commenting on the views expressed on oil by central bank governor Tito Mboweni they added that they would argue that the recovery of the rand since the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting was at least as positive.