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/ 23 October 2007
They say if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. But these days, it seems you haven’t really made it unless you have that most prized of status symbols — your very own page on Wikipedia. ”It’s something of an honour,” said journalist Howard Altman of being added to the world’s largest online encyclopedia.
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/ 23 October 2007
Thousands more people were ordered to evacuate their homes on Tuesday, bringing the number of people chased away by the wind-whipped flames that have engulfed southern California to at least 270Â 000. The dozen wildfires have burned more than 700 homes and set 99Â 537ha ablaze.
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/ 23 October 2007
A wave of fast-moving wildfires engulfed a massive swath of southern California on Monday, destroying hundreds of homes as more than 250 000 people were told to evacuate. At least 13 fires, whipped by dry, gale-force Santa Ana winds blowing unchecked over the lower half of the state, torching 81 000 hectares.
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/ 23 October 2007
A Kansas woman was found guilty on Monday of killing a pregnant woman, cutting the baby from her womb and kidnapping the newborn in a gruesome ruse to pass the child off as her own. A jury convicted Lisa Montgomery (39) of Melvern, Kansas, on a charge of kidnapping resulting in death, finding she strangled Bobbie Jo Stinnett, the baby’s mother.
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/ 23 October 2007
The United States is considering air strikes against Kurdish PKK rebels operating in northern Iraq in an attempt to head off a Turkish incursion, the Chicago Tribune reported on Tuesday. US President George Bush told Turkish President Abdullah Gul that US officials were seriously looking into options beyond diplomacy.
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/ 22 October 2007
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Rodrigo Rato, warned on Monday there are risks of an "abrupt fall" in the dollar, linked to a loss of confidence in dollar assets. "There are risks that an abrupt fall in the dollar could either be triggered by, or itself trigger, a loss of confidence in dollar assets," Rato told the IMF board of governors.
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/ 22 October 2007
Forty years after two cowboys filmed an unidentified creature ambling through a California forest, hunters of "Bigfoot" say the grainy footage remains the cornerstone of their belief in the legendary ape-like beast’s existence. It has never been successfully duplicated, and it is that fact that Bigfoot devotees say is crucial.
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/ 21 October 2007
A month after the United States Supreme Court agreed to wade into the lethal injection debate, executions are effectively on hold across the nation as courts and politicians sit tight. On September 25, the country’s highest court agreed to examine whether lethal injections are ”cruel and unusual” punishment.
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/ 19 October 2007
Oil prices have surpassed a barrel for the first time as the falling dollar drew new foreign investors and speculators to dollar-denominated energy futures. Light, sweet crude for November delivery hit ,02 in electronic trading late on Thursday evening before returning to about ,60.
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/ 19 October 2007
FBI agents have seized nearly -million in cash from a Las Vegas warehouse owned by illusionist David Copperfield, local media reports said on Thursday. The agents also took a computer hard drive and a memory chip from a digital camera system during Wednesday’s late-night operation.
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/ 18 October 2007
Standing around to chat on a busy Manhattan street can certainly create an inconvenience for other pedestrians. But is it illegal? A man arrested after a conversation with friends in bustling Times Square in New York City has asked the state’s highest court to dismiss the case.
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/ 18 October 2007
News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch said his recently-launched Fox Business Network cable channel is off to a good start and joked that its rival, top United States business news cable network CNBC, was ”half-dead.” Fox Business launched in 30-million homes on Monday featuring a programme lineup that seeks to make business news palatable to the average viewer.
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/ 18 October 2007
President George Bush gave the Dalai Lama one of the highest United States honours on Wednesday and called on China to open talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader whom Beijing reviles as a separatist. The Dalai Lama, accepting the Congressional Gold Medal from Bush and leaders of Congress, told a packed audience in the US Capitol that he had ”no hidden agenda”.
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/ 18 October 2007
A malaria vaccine currently under development can be safely given to young infants and appears to offer strong protection against the disease, according to the results of a study conducted in Mozambique. The finding clears the way for final-stage testing of GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine, known as Mosquirix.
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/ 18 October 2007
Spending on computer technology will top a trillion dollars this year as the industry grows increasingly vital to national economies worldwide. An analysis of 82 countries and regions found that information technology (IT) businesses are major generators of jobs, companies and tax revenues.
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/ 17 October 2007
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday slashed its 2008 global economic forecast, warning that turbulence stemming from a crisis in the United States housing sector could crimp growth worldwide. The world economy is expected to expand 4,8% next year after a 5,2% pace projected for 2007, the IMF said.
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/ 17 October 2007
Like a gourmet chef who rarely eats out, Google feeds advertising services to hordes of other businesses while skimping on its own marketing. The recipe has been extremely fruitful. While the internet search leader has sold more than -billion in advertising since 2001, Google has become a household name without buying expensive ad campaigns.
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/ 17 October 2007
Embattled internet portal Yahoo! reported a slight drop in quarterly net profits on Tuesday as increased spending offset increased revenue. Yahoo! earned ,3-million, or 11 cents per share, compared with ,5-million, or 11 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
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/ 17 October 2007
Madonna’s landmark deal with concert promoter Live Nation marks the latest move by the music industry to find new ways to profit from artists as CD sales slip and the internet changes the way music is delivered. The deal, officially announced on Tuesday, gives the company an all-encompassing stake in her music.
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/ 17 October 2007
The United States local food movement has gone mainstream, with a boost from environmentalists who reckon that eating what grows nearby cuts down on global warming. But do food miles — the distance edibles travel from farm to plate — give an accurate gauge of environmental impact?
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/ 17 October 2007
President George Bush hosted the Dalai Lama on Tuesday despite China’s warning that US plans to honour the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader could damage relations between Beijing and Washington. Beijing has bitterly denounced plans for the Dalai Lama to receive the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday.
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/ 16 October 2007
Google has introduced a long-promised video filtering system for its YouTube website. The system is designed to help owners of copyrighted videos crack down on pirated versions distributed over the video-sharing site. The tracking and identification system was developed in response to complaints by large media companies.
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/ 15 October 2007
Oil prices surged above a barrel on Monday for the first time after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) said crude production by non-Opec countries is falling even as global demand for oil is rising. Prices were also supported by concerns Turkish forces will pursue Kurdish rebels into Iraq.
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/ 15 October 2007
Victims who filed suit for $400-billion against United States businesses allegedly complicit with the former South African apartheid regime have found new hope following a federal court ruling in the US. "The appeal court decision is a major victory," said Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer for the victims on the heels of Friday’s decision by a Manhattan federal court.
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/ 14 October 2007
The new heads at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) face the tough task of restoring credibility to the powerful financial bodies that hold an annual summit this month, analysts say. Negotiations are under way to reform the distribution of votes among the IMF’s 185 members.
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/ 13 October 2007
A United States appellate court on Friday allowed claims brought by victims of apartheid against dozens of major companies to go forward, saying a lower court erred in ruling it did not have jurisdiction over the matter. The plaintiffs include South Africa’s non-profit Khulumani Support Group.
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/ 13 October 2007
The United States fears that attacks in Darfur and an impasse in implementation of a peace agreement in southern Sudan threaten peace efforts throughout the embattled North African country. The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement accused the central government on Thursday of failing to abide by the peace agreement.
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/ 12 October 2007
The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Democrat Al Gore and the United Nations climate panel on Friday intensified pressure on the former United States vice-president to launch a late bid for the presidency, but advisers said he is showing no signs of interest in the 2008 race.
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/ 11 October 2007
An injured survivor and relatives of three Iraqis killed in Baghdad on September 16 when employees of private security company Blackwater USA opened fire on civilians sued the firm in a United States court on Thursday. The Centre for Constitutional Rights said it filed the suit charging that Blackwater and its affiliates violated US law in committing ”extrajudicial killings and war crimes”.
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/ 11 October 2007
Sample addresses in nearly a dozen languages will be added to the internet’s central directories as early as this week, paving the way for web surfers around the world to get online without knowing any English. At this point, the 11 domain names are meant primarily for software developers and website designers to test the new system.
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/ 11 October 2007
The ultra-high-speed Internet2 network just got 10 times faster, partly in anticipation of rising demand for capacity when the world’s largest particle collider opens near Geneva next year. Until recently, the Internet2 had a theoretical limit of 10 gigabits per second (Gbps).
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/ 11 October 2007
He sleeps on a bench, but he is king of chess during the day at Washington’s Dupont Circle, where he dazzles beginners and masters alike with his winning moves on the park’s stone chessboards. Tom Murphy (49) makes what little money he has from teaching his prodigious knowledge of the game to passersby for a few dollars.