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/ 23 May 2008

Mosley sex scandal casts shadow over Monaco GP

As the sun rose and shone, at last, on the traditional Friday rest day at the Monaco Grand Prix, the lurid shadow cast by the Max Mosley sex scandal continued to eclipse even the best efforts of the drivers. It barely mattered that 23-year-old Lewis Hamilton had performed brilliantly to set the fastest time for McLaren-Mercedes in Thursday’s opening practice sessions.

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/ 18 May 2008

Pressure mounts on Burma to open up to aid

Aid was trickling in on Sunday to an estimated 2,5-million people left destitute by Cyclone Nargis in Burma’s Irrawaddy delta as more foreign envoys tried to get the junta to admit large-scale international relief. The junta’s official toll from the disaster stands at 77 738 dead and 55 917 missing.

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/ 13 May 2008

UK agency says Microsoft hurts student interests

A British government agency has told the European Commission that Microsoft Office works poorly with rival software used in British schools. Programs must meet the same standards to work together but the British agency said Microsoft offers only its own ”open standard” rather than effective support for Open Document Format.

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/ 12 May 2008

US flies cyclone aid to Burma

The first United States military aid flight landed in Burma on Monday, but relief supplies continued to just dribble into the reclusive state nine days after a cyclone. A C-130 military transport plane left Thailand’s Vietnam war-era U-Tapao airbase carrying 12 700kg of water, mosquito nets and blankets.

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/ 12 May 2008

Gaza ‘a disaster for everybody’

Gaza’s population has been reduced to a ”subhuman existence” where basic humanitarian needs are going unmet in the face of rapidly deteriorating conditions, according to a senior United Nations official. An Israeli economic blockade on the Gaza Strip has produced shortages of fuel and basic supplies and has closed most private businesses and pushed up poverty rates.

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/ 11 May 2008

‘Unimaginable tragedy’ if Burma delays aid

Desperate survivors of Cyclone Nargis poured out of Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta on Sunday in search of food, water and medicine as aid groups said thousands more people will die if emergency supplies do not get through soon. Buddhist temples and high schools in towns on the outskirts of Nargis’s trail of destruction are now makeshift refugee centres.

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/ 10 May 2008

Microsoft appeals against record EU antitrust fine

Microsoft on Friday lodged an appeal at a European court against the record €899-million fine imposed on it by the EU Commission for defying a landmark anti-trust ruling. "Microsoft today filed with the Court of First Instance an application to annul the Commission decision of February 27," a spokesperson for the US software giant said in Brussels.

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/ 27 April 2008

EU puts Galileo test satellite into orbit

The European Union launched the second and final test satellite for its ,3-billion rival to the United States Global Positioning System on Sunday, brushing off industry doubts over its viability. The Galileo project, Europe’s biggest single space programme, has been plagued by delays and squabbling over funding.

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/ 25 April 2008

China to meet Dalai Lama aides amid Tibet tension

China is to hold talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism whom it blames for a wave of unrest, state media reported on Friday, as the Olympic flame arrived in Japan. The move comes after concerted pressure from the West on China to talk to the Dalai Lama and marks the first serious step to defuse tensions.

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/ 19 April 2008

Donors urge Uganda rebels to commit to peace

Donors funding a multimillion-dollar peace process in Uganda have urged the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to show commitment to ending a two-decade conflict after its leader failed to sign a deal last week. Hopes of ending one of Africa’s longest conflicts were dashed when LRA leader Joseph Kony failed to appear at a signing ceremony.

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/ 15 April 2008

Berlusconi sweeps back to power in Italy election

Silvio Berlusconi has won his third Italian election with a bigger-than-expected swing to the centre right, but the media magnate said it would not be easy to solve deep economic problems. Votes were still being counted on Tuesday, but with Berlusconi’s victory clear on Monday evening, centre-left leader Walter Veltroni called to concede defeat.

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/ 31 March 2008

Zimbabwe election results trickle out

Zimbabwe’s opposition was level with President Robert Mugabe’s party and two of his ministers lost their seats on Monday as election results trickled out, but counting delays fuelled suspicions of rigging. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said unofficial tallies showed Morgan Tsvangirai had 60% of the presidential vote.

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/ 14 March 2008

Google has DoubleClick in the bag

Google expanded its power in online advertising on Tuesday when it completed its takeover of DoubleClick, a move that increases the pressure on rival Microsoft to win its hostile bid for Yahoo!. The merger came after European regulators signed off on the deal, and strengthened Google’s domination of the lucrative online ad business.

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/ 5 March 2008

Gazprom: Ukraine preparing to divert gas

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom accused the Ukraine on Wednesday of planning to siphon off gas that Russia transits through Ukrainian territory to the European Union, as a payment dispute escalated. Ukraine is the main transit route for Russian supplies to the European Union and a previous such dispute in 2006 led to knock-on disruption in EU countries.

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/ 27 February 2008

EU hits Microsoft with record €899m antitrust fine

The European Commission fined Microsoft a record €899-million on Wednesday for failing to comply with a 2004 antitrust ruling against the United States software giant. The fine comes on top of the €497-million that Microsoft already had to pay after Europe’s top antitrust watchdog found the company guilty in 2004 of abusing its dominant market power.