A new needle-free device that delivers a local anesthetic to the skin promises to help make delivering drugs and drawing blood less painful for children. The system involves a sterile, prefilled, disposable device that dispenses lidocaine powder into the epidermis, the cells that make up the outer layer of the skin.
The head of South Africa’s Scorpions crime-fighting unit, Leonard McCarthy, was appointed on Monday to head the World Bank’s anti-corruption unit. World Bank president Robert Zoellick, in a statement, said South African President Thabo Mbeki had agreed to release McCarthy from service to take up the position on June 30.
Yahoo! is willing to negotiate further with Microsoft, top executive Jerry Yang said in an interview on Tuesday, as he defended his handling of the aborted takeover bid. "We were totally willing to do a transaction, and they walked away," Yahoo! CEO Yang told the <i>Financial Times</i>, adding that he is open to renewing negotiations with Microsoft.
Oil jumped more than to strike a record over a barrel on Monday on the weaker dollar and supply concerns from Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries members Nigeria and Iran. United States crude gained ,37 to trade at ,69 at 3.55pm GMT, after surging to ,21 earlier.
Yahoo! faced growing pressure on Sunday to find an alternative strategy to Microsoft’s ,5-billion takeover offer after the software maker walked away over a disagreement on price. Yahoo! shares could fall by more than 30% on Monday over the breakdown of talks.
Microsoft walked away from its bid to buy Yahoo! on Saturday after the internet company turned down its offer to raise the price by -billion to ,5-billion. Microsoft’s offer was for a share but Yahoo! would not lower its demand below , Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said.
African Development Bank pledged -billion more for food aid on Friday as soaring commodity prices raise fears of famine, and it urged grain-exporting countries not to restrict shipments. The bank said that its agriculture portfolio will grow to ,8-billion, and it was restructuring a portion of that to free up -million to be used more quickly.
The Pentagon is considering sending up to 7 000 more United States troops to Afghanistan next year to make up for a shortfall in contributions from Nato allies, the New York Times reported on Saturday. The paper said the push could drive US forces in Afghanistan to about 40 000.
United States employers cut 20 000 jobs in April in a relatively stable showing for the US labour market as the jobless rate fell a tenth of a percentage point to 5%, the Labour Department said Friday. Despite the negative figure on payrolls, the report was better than expected by private economists, who on average had called a loss of 75 000 jobs.
The United States on Thursday urged Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to "call off his dogs" who are allegedly attacking opposition supporters and to release the presidential election results. State Department deputy spokesperson Tom Casey questioned how credible the results of the March 29 election could be when they have yet to be released.
The ”DC Madam,” whose arrest for running a high-end prostitution ring sent sex-scandal tremors through the United States capital, hanged herself on Thursday in a shed at her mother’s house, police said. Deborah Jeane Palfrey was convicted last month on federal racketeering charges for running the prostitution ring for the rich, famous and powerful.
Microsoft can build a competitive online advertising business without Yahoo! but it "could just take more time", CEO Steve Ballmer told the <i>Wall Street Journal</i> in an interview published on Friday. The comment came as analysts and industry watchers awaited an imminent announcement on Microsoft’s next move in its unresolved quest to acquire Yahoo!
A giant inflatable pig that went missing from a Southern California music festival at the weekend has been found in tatters in a desert town. The pig, which has been a signature Pink Floyd stage prop since its appearance on the 1977 cover of Animals, broke away from its tethers on Sunday night at Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival.
Hillary Clinton appeared on Wednesday to be gaining on Barack Obama in two key primary states, after her Democratic foe tried to quell another damaging uproar sparked by his fiery former pastor. The White House rivals fought another day of fierce turf battles in mid-western Indiana and North Carolina, which hold Democratic primaries on Tuesday.
France’s United Nations ambassador called on Zimbabwe authorities on Tuesday to publish and accept the results of elections there as the Security Council met for its first session on the Zimbabwe crisis. Diplomats have said South Africa, which currently holds the Security Council presidency, was reluctant to have it take up the issue of Zimbabwe.
Barack Obama’s fiery former minister thrust his way back into the United States presidential campaign on Monday, again placing the divisive issue of race at the heart of the Democratic White House tussle. An unapologetic Reverend Jeremiah Wright hit back at weeks of criticism over his incendiary comments.
Senate lawmakers in Florida have voted to ban the fake bull testicles that dangle from the trailer hitches of many trucks and cars throughout the state. Republican Senator Cary Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis, Florida, called the adornments offensive and proposed the ban.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency unveiled details of the voluntary pilot programme it hopes will improve the accuracy of doping tests. The programme will profile the body chemistry of 12 participating athletes using a series of blood and urine tests, and those measurements will be used as a baseline for subsequent tests.
Democrat Barack Obama said on Friday he would fine-tune his United States presidential campaign and remind voters of his humble roots after a defeat in Pennsylvania fuelled in part by his failure to win over working-class voters. Obama leads the Democratic race but is in a gruelling battle with Hillary Clinton for the right to face Republican John McCain in November’s presidential election.
Google believes regulators would not bar a potential business deal with Yahoo! because it would be ”non-exclusive” and falls short of an outright merger, a person familiar with Google’s thinking said on Friday. Yahoo! is exploring alternatives to Microsoft’s ,7-billion takeover offer, which the web pioneer has rejected for being too low.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched a new campaign on World Malaria Day on Friday, calling on the world to ensure that all of Africa has access to basic malaria control measures by the end of 2010. Ban said the African countries hardest hit by malaria have fallen behind in the fight against the disease.
A grizzly bear featured in the recent Will Ferrell film Semi-Pro and touted as one of the ”best trained” in show business has killed its handler, but officials said on Wednesday they were puzzled by what provoked the attack. The 317kg bear bit Stephan Miller in the neck on Tuesday at a facility where wild animals are trained for film and TV productions.
Yahoo! is working to rewire the dozens of services across its site so that users can manage all information about themselves in a single place and share it with friends across the web. ”We are not building another social network,” said chief technology officer Ari Balogh.
The United States on Thursday released photographs of what it said was a Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help, in an effort to pressure Pyongyang to fully disclose its nuclear activities. Israel destroyed the reactor in a September 6 air strike that was initially shrouded in secrecy.
A single phone call prompted United States pop star Madonna to begin charity work in Malawi, and it was while making a documentary on the African country’s one million orphans that she found a baby she decided to adopt. I Am Because We Are premiered at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday.
It’s nothing to LOL about: despite best efforts to keep school writing assignments formal, two-thirds of teens in the United States admit in a survey that emoticons and other informal styles have crept in. The survey results may give parents, teachers and others a big 🙁 — a frown to the rest of us — though the study’s authors see hope.
The top United States government communications official said on Tuesday his agency has all the authority it needs to prevent internet service providers from discriminating against web surfers and that new legislation is unnecessary — this at a time when the issue of ”network neutrality” has heated up.
The United States government said this week it wants airlines and cruise liners to take biometric data from foreigners leaving the country under new plans aimed at fighting terrorism and illegal immigration. The US-Visit programme is open to consultation for the next two months.
United States authorities arrested an American engineer on Tuesday on suspicion of giving secrets on nuclear weapons to Israel during the 1980s, the Justice Department said. Ben-Ami Kadish was suspected of reporting to the same Israeli government handler as Jonathan Jay Pollard, who is serving a life term on a charge of spying for Israel.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton warned Tehran on Tuesday that if she were president, the United States could ”totally obliterate” Iran in retaliation for a nuclear strike against Israel. Clinton said she wanted to make clear to Tehran what she was prepared to do as president in hopes that this warning would deter any Iranian attack.
A time-lapse video of a man trapped in an elevator for 41 hours has become something of an internet sensation after surveillance camera footage emerged of the event, which occurred nearly a decade ago. Video of his ordeal was posted online to accompany an article in the April 21 edition of the New Yorker.
Sharon Sarmiento knew it was time to unplug when she realised she was blogging in her dreams and hearing imaginary instant messages. She is part of a new grassroots movement in which tech geeks, internet addicts, Blackberry thumbers and compulsive IMers are wresting back control of their lives by daring to switch off — if only for a day.