There was no warning, not even the roar of the approaching 737, before the two planes collided at 11 278m, according to a passenger aboard the smaller corporate jet whose seven occupants miraculously survived the fatal encounter. Joe Sharkey was on assignment in Brazil and relaxing aboard the Embraer Legacy 600 jet with his window shade closed when he felt the mid-air impact.
Several people were shot and killed by a hostage taker who opened fire at an Amish school in Pennsylvania on Monday, police said, in the third fatal shooting at a United States school in a week. ”There are a number dead. The exact number I am not sure at this point. There are also a number of wounded. And the shooter is not at large,” said Ralph Striebig of the state police.
Millionaires, eat your heart out. You have no longer made it. For the first time since it was set up in 1982, Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans contains not a single nine-figure fortune in it. It is the age of the dollar billionaire, and everyone makes the grade. Even number 400, Los Angeles magnate Sehat Sutardja, has -billion.
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/ 28 September 2006
About 2,6-billion people in the world, mainly in Africa and Asia, lack access to basic sanitation, increasing the risk of diarrhoea and other diseases fatal to children, said a United Nations report released on Thursday. Unicef, the UN children’s fund, concluded that UN goals could be met on clean water, especially in urban areas.
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/ 28 September 2006
United States officials are expected to seek the extradition of the indicted former chief executive of voicemail-software maker Comverse Technology during a hearing on Thursday in Namibia, the south-west African country where he was captured following a two-month international manhunt.
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/ 27 September 2006
Sony said on Tuesday it will launch an electronic book store on the internet and start selling a device that displays e-books purchased from the store on October 1, after missing an earlier unveiling due to technical reasons. The Sony Connect book store will carry about 10 000 books from the top six publishers, including News Corporation’s HarperCollins and CBS’s Simon & Schuster.
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/ 27 September 2006
MSN, Microsoft’s web portal, said on Tuesday it will make a big push to stream live concerts to its users after signing an exclusive global partnership with Control Room, the company behind the web broadcast of last year’s Live 8 event. The move to offer live performances online is the latest move by Microsoft to drive consumer and advertiser growth with a range of new entertainment and media features.
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/ 21 September 2006
Billionaire Virgin Group chairperson Richard Branson on Thursday committed an estimated -billion over the next 10 years, or all of the profits from his airline and rail businesses, to combating global warming. ”We are very pleased … to be making a commitment to invest 100% of all future proceeds … from our transportation interests … into tackling global warming,” Branson said.
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/ 21 September 2006
After railing against United States global dominance at the United Nations this week, hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared with some of his most prominent American critics to debate issues including his views on the Holocaust and Iran’s nuclear programme.
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/ 20 September 2006
Fifteen African leaders open a crucial summit meeting on Darfur in New York on Wednesday at which Sudan is expected to consent to extending the mandate of a cash-strapped African Union force in the strife-wracked Sudanese region. The meeting brings together heads of state of the AU’s Peace and Security Council.
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/ 20 September 2006
United States President George Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed over Iran’s nuclear ambitions in addresses to the United Nations on Tuesday, but Washington agreed to allow more time for talks with Tehran. Bush accused Iran’s rulers of squandering their nation’s wealth to fund terrorists and nuclear arms research.
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/ 18 September 2006
If anything gives the world’s second-richest man sleepless nights at his home in Omaha, Nebraska, it is the certainty that a nuclear holocaust will wipe out the planet. Warren Buffett is convinced the world will end in catastrophe — the only variable in the equation is when the big bang will happen.
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/ 13 September 2006
Wearing just a small white towel and a smile, Bob prowls the dark halls of the East Side Club, looking into dozens of its closet-sized rooms and hoping eye contact with another man will lead to sex. ”It’s better than going to a bar and taking your chances,” said Bob, a 46-year-old garden supplies salesman from New Jersey who declined to give his last name.
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/ 12 September 2006
Two of Lance Armstrong’s teammates in the 1999 Tour de France admitted taking the banned performance-enhancing substance EPO in preparing for that race, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. In a story posted on its website, the newspaper said Frankie Andreu and another rider, who did not want his name disclosed, both admitted wrongdoing in interviews with the Times.
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/ 11 September 2006
A United Airlines flight was diverted to Dallas on Monday out of ”an abundance of caution” on the September 11 anniversary after two unclaimed objects were found aboard the plane, United States security officials said. Transportation Security Administration spokesperson Yolanda Clark said United Flight 351 from Atlanta to San Francisco was diverted for security reasons.
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/ 11 September 2006
Roger Federer freely admits that he even shocks himself at times. Speaking after winning the US Open and three Grand Slam events in the same year for the second time in three years, the Swiss star says he never expected to achieve so much. ”I always knew I was talented, I had potential and everything,” he said.
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/ 11 September 2006
United States President George Bush laid a wreath at Ground Zero on Sunday as he began two days of commemorations marking the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Bush and his wife Laura silently placed a floral wreath upon reflective pools of water that mark the former locations of the twin towers.
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/ 10 September 2006
Maria Sharapova showed grit, firepower and the ability to come up big when it counted most to whip Justine Henin-Hardenne and capture the US Open in straight sets on Saturday. The 19-year-old Russian defeated world number two Henin-Hardenne 6-4 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium by displaying the tenacity normally seen by her more seasoned rival.
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/ 8 September 2006
Two-time defending champion Roger Federer continued his mastery over Americans at the US Open, beating fifth seed James Blake on Thursday to reach the semifinals. The 25-year-old Swiss superstar overpowered Blake 7-6 (9-7), 6-0, 6-7 (9/11), 6-4 to extend his wining streak against United States opponents to 27 matches.
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/ 7 September 2006
World number two Rafael Nadal crashed out of the United States Open on Wednesday losing to unseeded Mikhail Youzhny, who has made a habit of ousting Spanish top seeds at the ,5-million event. The Russian defeated the two-time French Open champion and Wimbledon finalist Nadal 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 in a quarterfinal match.
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/ 7 September 2006
Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin-Hardenne stayed on course on Wednesday for their third Grand Slam final of the year when both scored straight sets wins in the quarterfinals of the United States Open. Top seed Mauresmo of France, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles, cruised past Dinara Safina of Russia 6-2, 6-3 in a lop-sided encounter.
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/ 7 September 2006
The second sample for sprinter Marion Jones’ doping test was negative, clearing the five-time Olympic champion of the latest allegations that she used performance-enhancing drugs, her attorneys said on Wednesday night. ”I am absolutely ecstatic,” Jones said in a statement released by her lawyers.
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/ 6 September 2006
Steady rain on Tuesday left former champions Roger Federer and Lindsay Davenport high and dry as their matches were postponed due to bad weather at the US Open. The Swiss top seed and defending champion found his fourth-round contest against Frenchman Marc Gicquel postponed, while 1998 winner Davenport was unable to take to the court against Justine Henin-Hardenne, the second seed.
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/ 5 September 2006
Amelie Mauresmo showed grit, fearlessness and poise to stage a dramatic final-set recovery and defeat long-time nemesis Serena Williams in fourth-round action at the US Open on Monday. World number one Mauresmo knocked out the unseeded two-times former champion Williams 6-4 0-6 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal match against Russian Dinara Safina.
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/ 4 September 2006
Andre Agassi’s glittering career came to a tearful conclusion when he lost in four sets to German qualifier Benjamin Becker in the US Open third round on Sunday. Becker, the world number 112 who is playing just his second grand slam event, sent the 36-year-old Agassi into retirement with a 7-5 6-7 6-4 7-5 victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
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/ 4 September 2006
Top-seeded Roger Federer was not on the main stage at the US Open on Sunday but the world number one enjoyed the cosier surroundings and a quick trip into the fourth round. Playing a rare night match at Louis Armstrong Stadium, twice defending champion Federer rolled into the round of 16 with a crushing 6-3 6-3 6-0 victory over unseeded Vince Spadea.
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/ 3 September 2006
Andre Agassi received another anti-inflammatory injection on Saturday and got an extra day to rest before playing in the third round of the United States Open, his match postponed because of intermittent rain. Matches involving Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova also were pushed back to Sunday.
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/ 2 September 2006
When a wooden politician delivers the best line of the MTV Music Video Awards, you know the thrill is gone. So was the decadence, outrageousness and spontaneity that used to make the awards such a guilty pleasure. James Blunt and Gnarls Barkley each took home two awards on Thursday night.
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/ 2 September 2006
Top-seeded Roger Federer beat Tim Henman 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 on Friday to reach the third round of the United States Open, punctuating his victory with a moving, behind-the-back volley between his legs. Federer took the court 11 hours after Andre Agassi’s palpitating victory over Marcos Baghdatis on the same court.
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/ 1 September 2006
Intel, the world’s leading computer chip maker which employs 99 000 people worldwide, could soon slash up to 20 000 jobs, a report said on Friday. The layoffs could come as early as next week, when Intel has scheduled an internal announcement, The Wall Street Journal said quoting analysts and former employees of the company.
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/ 1 September 2006
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday voted to create a United Nations peacekeeping force in Sudan’s Darfur region to avert a new humanitarian disaster, but the Khartoum government rejected the resolution as ”illegal.” The vote to send the force to Darfur once Sudan has agreed to its deployment passed with 12 votes in favour.
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/ 1 September 2006
American veteran Andre Agassi kept his US Open campaign alive and staved off retirement with a stunning 6-4 6-4 3-6 5-7 7-5 victory over a stubborn Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus to reach the third round on Thursday. Agassi extended his run by closing out an extraordinary fifth set against a cramping Baghdatis with a service break to finish the three-hour 48-minute contest.