Elvis Presley fans from around the world gathered outside his Memphis home on Wednesday to mark the 30th anniversary of his death in an event meant both to honour the singer’s legacy and cash in on it. Tens of thousands of fans were expected to file past Presley’s grave site at his Graceland estate.
What edits on Wikipedia have been made by people in congressional offices, the CIA and the Church of Scientology? A new online tool called WikiScanner reveals answers to such questions. Many of the edits are predictably self-interested, but others hint at procrastinating office workers.
Fresh off their latest tour that included shows at the Oppikoppi music festival and elsewhere in South Africa, 1980s folk-punk favourites the Violent Femmes are headed for a surprise gig in a United States court after bassist Brian Ritchie sued lead vocalist Gordon Gano on Wednesday.
A leading United States newspaper called on Congress on Tuesday to pursue its investigation of departing White House adviser Karl Rove, whom it accused of pursuing a ruthless brand of politics as ”blood sport.” Rove announced on Monday that he was resigning his White House post by the end of the month.
Nasa engineers on Monday pored over new imagery of the space shuttle Endeavour‘s underbelly to decide if its damaged heat shield needed repair, as astronauts prepared for the mission’s second spacewalk. The three-dimensional images of a gouge in the shield were taken on Sunday by a camera, and measured by a laser.
United States astronauts prepared early on Saturday for the first spacewalk of the shuttle Endeavour mission following discovery of damage in the spacecraft’s protective shield. The two spacewalkers, mission specialists Rick Mastracchio and Dave Williams, were to spend the night at a special airlock to prevent decompression sickness.
Potential jurors in a Los Angeles court were forced to do a double-take on Thursday when their court-room duties were enlivened by a jolt of star power in the shape of Brad Pitt. The Hollywood heart-throb reported for jury duty in Los Angeles, his publicist confirmed, before eventually being discharged after the case he was due to hear ended in a plea-deal.
Researchers studying bird flu viruses said on Thursday they may have come up with a way to vaccinate people before a feared influenza pandemic. Experts have long said there is no way to vaccinate people against a new strain of influenza until that strain evolves. That could mean months or even years of disease and death before a vaccination campaign began.
New York commuters beat a wary path to work on Thursday, the day after a freak storm plunged the city into chaos, felling trees, flooding roads and jamming the city’s vast underground train network. Streets were blocked by fallen trees, wrecked cars and rubble from damaged homes.
Six new species, including a bat and two frogs, have been discovered in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in an eastern area off limits to scientists for decades because of violence. The Wildlife Conservation Society said researchers conducted a survey of a forested region just west of Lake Tanganyika.
A United States web firm is preparing to launch an ambitious internet search
engine that it hopes will eventually track down the names of the world’s six billion people. Spock.com says it has already indexed 100-million people and is adding a million names per day on the invitation-only, beta version of its website
A coal mine collapsed in central Utah after a 4.0-magnitude earthquake, trapping six miners, Fox News reported on Monday. The United States Geological Survey reported a 4.0 earthquake occurred on Monday morning at 2.48am local time, 156km from Salt Lake City, Utah. A magnitude 4 quake is capable of causing moderate damage.
A United States soldier convicted by a military court in the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family was sentenced to 110 years in prison on Saturday. Private Jesse Spielman (22) was found guilty of four counts of murder, rape, conspiracy to commit rape and housebreaking with the intent to commit rape.
David Beckham’s chances of making his much-anticipated Major League Soccer debut for Los Angeles at Toronto on Sunday are ”slim”, Galaxy coach Frank Yallop said. The 32-year-old former Real Madrid and Manchester United star lacks training time with his new teammates because of a left ankle injury
Nasa on Saturday is to launch space probe Phoenix on a nine-month journey to Mars’ arctic region, where it will dig through ice for clues to past or present microbial life on the red planet. The Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled for blast-off from Cape Canaveral on August 4, with a first attempt at 9.36am GMT.
Michael Phelps grabbed the spotlight at the United States swimming nationals on Wednesday, scooping a pair of titles while narrowly missing out on a world record in the 200m backstroke in Indianapolis. Phelps, who set himself an ambitious 10-event programme, got the meet off to a quiet start on Tuesday failing to qualify for the final of the 200m breaststroke.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Wednesday that he would send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists, an attempt to show strength when his chief rival has described his foreign policy skills as naive. Obama warned Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country.
News Corp said on Wednesday it would buy Dow Jones for ,6-billion after gaining enough support from the family that controls the Wall Street Journal‘s publisher. The deal helps Rupert Murdoch achieve his decades-long dream of running the financial daily.
The United Nations Security Council authorised on Tuesday up to 26 000 troops and police for Darfur and approved the use of force to protect civilians in Sudan’s arid western region. Expected to cost more than -billion in the first year, the combined ”hybrid” UN-African Union operation aims to quell violence in Darfur.
The United Nations Security Council reached broad agreement on a draft resolution to authorise up to 26Â 000 troops and police for Sudan’s Darfur region, with a vote anticipated this week. Britain and France distributed a fourth revised text late on Monday to be sent to governments of the 15 council members.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said on Friday he is putting the building blocks in place for a community-developed web search service that would compete with search engines such as Google or Yahoo! The new Wikia search service will combine computer-driven algorithms and human-assisted editing.
Visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday that he and United States President George Bush will ”step up” pressure to end violence in Sudan’s Darfur province, as the two leaders wrapped up talks. ”I’ve agreed with the president that we step up our pressure to end the violence that has displaced two million people,” Brown told a press conference.
Gift ideas are needed year-round. And gifts for geeks can be particularly tough to find — especially for the giver who might not be up to date on the latest gadgets. Here’s some help. The gift ideas below — some of them wild and wacky — should be sure-fire hits to just about any tech fan for whom you need to find a quick gift.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was expected to walk a fine line in talks on Monday with President George Bush, keeping some distance on issues like Iraq while preserving the ”special relationship” with the United States. The Camp David meeting is the first between the new British prime minister and Bush since Brown succeeded Tony Blair last month.
Oil prices closed at more than a barrel, near an all-time high, on Friday on technical buying and news of faster-than-expected economic growth. ”We’ve got a highly charged market here, and it doesn’t take much of a headline to spark a 5% price move,” said an analyst.
David Beckham will not play on Saturday for LA Galaxy in a Superliga match in Los Angeles against Chivas of Mexico because of his injured left ankle, the Major League Soccer club announced on Friday. The English superstar only made his Galaxy debut last Saturday in the 78th minute as a substitute because of the nagging injury.
After five years of soaring shares and an economic upswing lasting nearly as long, fear is now spreading its way through Wall Street. Investors are worried that the debacle on the American real-estate and construction market will have serious effects on more than just the mortgage market.
The United States space agency, Nasa, faced tough questions on Friday over a report that astronauts had shown up for duty drunk and also that workers found a sabotaged computer destined for an imminent mission. The troubled Nasa planned to hold a news conference later on Friday to address the alarming report.
Publishers vying for the rights to rocker Keith Richards’ autobiography have pushed up the Rolling Stones co-founder’s advance to ,3-million, according to a report. The bidding has narrowed down to two publishing houses, HarperCollins, a unit of News Corporation, and Little Brown, a division of Hachette Filipacchi.
A planned Republican fund-raiser in New Hampshire aims to promote gun ownership in the United States by letting supporters fire powerful military-style weapons. The Manchester Republican Committee is inviting party members and their families to a ”Machine Gun Shoot” where, for , supporters can spend a day trying out automatic weapons.
Washington is seeking closer ties with Libya now that the Bulgarian medics case is resolved and the first tangible sign is a likely visit this year by top diplomat Condoleezza Rice. There are also other expected plans to boost cultural and educational exchanges between the two countries while increasing business links.
He is a two-year-old cat and looks innocent enough. But at the nursing home where he lives in the United States state of Rhode Island, Oscar has developed a reputation as an angel of death. Since being adopted, he has revealed a rather morbid tendency to pick which patient is going to die next.