A deal between Starbucks and Ethiopia that ends their trademark dispute and offers more benefits to Ethiopian coffee farmers has been hailed as a potential model for other poor nations seeking to better use the modern trading system, especially the often-controversial intellectual property rights provisions.
A mechanical monster grabs the F-14 fighter jet and chews through one wing and then another, ripping off the Tomcat’s appendages before moving on to its guts. Finally, all that is left is a pile of shredded rubble. The Pentagon is paying a contractor to destroy old F-14s rather than sell the spares at the risk of their falling into the wrong hands.
In many respects, Michael Moore’s new documentary movie, Sicko, is like a trial for those who oversee healthcare in the United States. The industry — doctors, drug makers, hospitals and insurers — is charged with greed and putting personal interests above those of patients. But one aspect missing from the film is the defence.
It is a funeral fit for a superhero. In the drizzling rain at Arlington National Cemetery, thousands of grieving patriots solemnly watch as the pallbearers — Iron Man, the Black Panther, Ben Grimm and Ms Marvel — carry a casket draped with an American flag. Yes, Captain America is dead and buried.
The Hollywood tradition of product placement will soar to a new level when the Steven Spielberg-produced action film Transformers is unleashed on United States cinema-goers this week. The new movie version of Transformers has become one of the most-talked-about films in years.
Don Harvey’s long-haul truck had almost three million kilometres on it when its engine died this week. Now he and his wife are millionaires who bought the winning ticket for a ,8-million lottery jackpot. Harvey and his wife, Joyce, said they will pay off bills, help family members and think about buying a new home with their winnings.
The internet’s key oversight agency is on track to start testing addresses entirely in foreign characters by November, but rules for determining which ones to permit likely will take another year or two to develop. Individuals and companies outside the United States long have clamoured for non-English scripts.
Losing email can cost you both lost time and opportunity. That’s because most of us have valuable information stored in our email programs — addresses, contact information and appointments, and some of it can be difficult or impossible to replace. Backing up your email, therefore, is essential.
One day after backing a proposal for autonomy in the disputed Western Sahara region, the United Nations appeared to be backtracking on Friday, saying it would reissue a report without mentioning the idea. The UN secretary general issued a report on Thursday saying that autonomy for Western Sahara should be tested.
Thousands of United States gadget fans flocked to stores on Friday to be the first buyers of Apple’s iPhone, a music-playing and web-browsing device expected to shake up the mobile industry. Crowds lined up at some of Apple’s outlets cheered as their doors opened at 6pm local time.
Hundreds of gadget fans, or their paid stand-ins, lined up on Friday to be among the first buyers of Apple’s iPhone, a music- and video-playing phone that seeks to reshape the mobile industry. Just after dawn, nearly 200 people were waiting outside Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in New York City for the device.
The release of Apple’s much-ballyhooed iPhone on Friday is expected to give a boost to the emerging market for multipurpose cellphones and possibly even help rival ”smartphone” devices. The global market for smartphones will this year reach 10% of the one billion cellphones sold worldwide according to analyst firms Canalys and IDC.
Don’t think of the Minisode Network as a brand-new website. Think of it as a long-overdue public service. Who among us hasn’t felt the double-edged sword of our media age: so much video from TV, DVDs, the internet and even cellphones … but too little time to watch it all? The Minisode Network has a solution.
Facing stirrings of Republican revolt over Iraq and domestic policy disappointment, United States President George Bush can at least point to the Supreme Court for an enduring legacy. The US’s ultimate constitutional arbiter has tilted rightwards under Bush — a shift that could endure for decades.
United States President George Bush suffered a major defeat on his plan to overhaul US immigration laws on Thursday when the Senate refused to close debate and advance the legislation. The Bill would have given a path to US citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
A United States court on Monday ruled against a man seeking $54-million from the Korean immigrant owners of a dry cleaners who, he said, lost his pants despite a promise of "satisfaction guaranteed". Roy Pearson alleged that Custom Cleaners lost his trousers and misled him with a sign promising satisfaction.
The upcoming violent video game Manhunt II faces an uncertain future after being banned by at least two countries and facing a ratings controversy in the United States. But the game’s publisher, Take-Two Interactive Software, said it is determined to bring the title to market.
Google says in a court filing that it is pressing for an extension to the United States Justice Department’s oversight of Microsoft’s business practices, most of which is set to expire in November. Over the past year, Google has complained to state and federal regulators about Microsoft’s ”Instant Search” program.
Apple’s founder and saviour Steve Jobs has revolutionised culture, up-ended the music world and set his sites unabashedly on the ”smart phone” industry. With the United States launch of iPhones on June 29, Jobs aims to transform the ”smart phone” industry in ways that iPods did to music and Macintosh computers did to lifestyles.
The World Bank on Monday unanimously approved Robert Zoellick as its president after a controversial two-year term by Paul Wolfowitz, who agreed to resign over a promotion scandal involving his companion. Zoellick, former United States deputy secretary of state and trade representative, was the only nominee for the job.
Hotel heiress Paris Hilton, who commanded as much attention behind bars as on the Hollywood party scene, regained her freedom on Tuesday after serving three weeks in jail for violating probation in a drunken-driving case. The incarceration of the 26-year-old multimillionaire ignited a worldwide media frenzy and debate about celebrity justice.
Firefighters were on Monday battling to contain a forest fire near California’s Lake Tahoe that destroyed as many as 220 homes and forced the evacuation of 1 000 people, officials said. The blaze, which officials said was probably caused by humans, erupted on Sunday near the southern tip of Lake Tahoe, 304km north-east of San Francisco.
Britain’s Ricky Hatton knocked out Jose Luis Castillo of Mexico in the fourth round to retain his IBO light welterweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday. The end came two minutes 16 seconds into the round when a Hatton left hook to the ribcage caused Castillo to grimace in agony, turn away, and fall to one knee, where he remained while referee Joe Cortez counted to ten.
Veteran United States actor Morgan Freeman is to play former South African president Nelson Mandela in a drama based around the leader’s appearance at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, it was reported on Friday. Freeman said he was honoured to be given the opportunity of playing Mandela, Daily Variety reported.
United States space shuttle Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Friday after a fiery descent through the Earth’s atmosphere that capped a two-week mission to the International Space Station. The shuttle touched down at Edwards at 19.49pm GMT, shimmering in the heat and sending up a plume of brownish-gray dust.
Teenagers have online cliques at MySpace; students star in Facebook; LinkedIn is an internet networking stage for professionals; and dogs and their human counterparts run with the pack at Dogster — a flourishing social-networking website for canines, referred to as "animal companions" instead of "pets".
Just about everyone expected McLaren Mercedes to be better this year with a new, faster car and reigning Formula One champion Fernando Alonso moving from Renault into its number one entry. Alonso was able to fend off seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari for his second championship last year.
Personal identity has taken on a new meaning in the digital age, where basic facts like your name, address or age are far less important to some people than the collected records of what you were looking at online. United States marketers will nearly double their spending on such advertising to -billion next year from -million in 2007.
Morocco and Western Sahara’s independence movement kept negotiations alive on the future of the resource-rich territory, agreeing on Tuesday to meet again in August. But statements by the two sides suggested neither had made concessions on the key question of whether Western Sahara would become independent.
Faced with concerns by European online privacy advocates, Google is promising to obscure information about people’s internet searches after only 18 months. Google’s global privacy counsel revealed late on Monday the Mountain View, California, firm’s policy change in a letter to the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party in Belgium.
A senator is proposing a modest step to improve the efficiency of food aid donations from the United States, but the plan falls short of the Bush administration’s vision for reform. The US would spend -million over four years on pilot projects to vet aid donations that use crops purchased in developing countries.
Astronauts on the International Space Station and visiting space shuttle Atlantis said goodbye on Monday as they closed the hatch between their two ships in preparation for the shuttle’s departure on Tuesday. The space travellers spoke warm words of friendship and shook hands before the seven Atlantis crewmembers floated into their spacecraft.