Paul Wolfowitz resigned as World Bank president, ending turmoil over his leadership, but the next battle loomed for the United States over how and if it should continue to appoint the head of the institution. Wolfowitz’s resignation on Thursday, forced by his handling of a high-paying promotion for his partner, takes effect on June 30.
A federal appeals court has ruled Google does not infringe the copyrights of adult entertainment company Perfect 10 by displaying small versions of its images in search results. However, it said a lower court should reconsider whether Google helps violate copyrights by pointing people to sites that display unauthorised photos.
Post-war art broke the -million mark for a second straight night on Wednesday as Christie’s sold a record-smashing -million-worth of contemporary art, the second-highest total for any auction in history. This time it was Andy Warhol’s Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I), which soared to ,72-million.
The United Nations said on Wednesday an independent probe was being conducted into whether UN vehicles were used to smuggle diamonds from a mine in Zimbabwe. In January, the industry’s World Diamond Council said it received reports that diamonds in Zimbabwe were being smuggled into South Africa.
Yolanda King, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jnr’s eldest child who pursued her father’s dream of racial harmony through drama and motivational speaking, has died. She was 51. King died late on May 15 in Santa Monica, California, said Steve Klein, a spokesperson for the King Centre.
Amazon.com said on Wednesday it is launching an online music store this year featuring millions of songs without copying limitations. The online retail giant said it has signed a deal with British-based music publisher EMI Music to include its music catalogue as well as those from 12 000 other music labels.
A wildfire raged across the north-eastern American state of New Jersey on Wednesday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate in the latest in a series of such blazes to strike the United States this month. The fire was ignited when an F-16 jet fighter on a routine training mission dropped a flare on dry pinelands.
Sotheby’s auction house in New York has fetched a record amount of cash for contemporary art work with the sale of a painting by United States abstract artist Mark Rothko for ,8-million. The canvas by the Latvian-born painter, entitled Yellow, Pink, Lavender on Rose, had been valued at about -million.
Jerry Falwell, the outspoken evangelical Christian leader who became a strong but divisive right-wing force in United States politics, died on Tuesday aged 73, an official at his Liberty University said. Falwell was found unconscious late on Tuesday morning in his office at the university in his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia.
World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz implored the lender’s board on Tuesday to keep his job, promising changes in his management style in the wake of a damaging favouritism scandal. The board of executive directors is to continue deliberations on his fate on Wednesday.
United States astronomers on Tuesday presented the most solid proof yet of the existence of dark matter, a mysterious substance believed to make up more than a quarter of the universe. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope spotted a ring of dark matter in a galaxy cluster about five billion light years away from Earth.
JK Rowling has a request for those with inside information on her seventh and final Harry Potter book: please keep it to yourself. ”We’re a little under three months away, now, and the first distant rumblings of the weirdness that usually precedes a Harry Potter publication can be heard on the horizon,” Rowling wrote on her website.
Nola Ochs wanted to study history, but the 95-year-old Kansas woman made it herself when she graduated from university, becoming the world’s oldest recipient to date of a bachelor’s degree. Ochs lived the life of a farm housewife for years in Jetmore, Kansas, and began taking university correspondence courses at the age of 67.
World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz broke bank rules in arranging a hefty compensation package for his girlfriend, a situation that has caused a ”crisis in the leadership” at the institution, according to a report released by a special bank panel. Wolfowitz described the report’s findings on Monday as ”unfair and unwarranted”.
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are to join forces to direct and produce a series of three-films based on the beloved Belgian comic-strip hero Tintin, a report said on Monday. Entertainment journal Daily Variety reports in its Tuesday edition that the legendary filmmakers will direct at least one of the films each.
The United States and Iran will meet in Baghdad in the next few weeks to discuss Tehran taking a ”productive role” in Iraq’s security, the White House said on Sunday. US Ambassador to Iraq Chester Crocker will represent the United States, which has accused Iran of backing Shi’ite militia in Iraq and seeking an atomic bomb.
Chevron temporarily shut down some operations in Nigeria’s offshore waters on Friday as the second-largest United States oil company scrambled to protect its workers and equipment from rampant violence that threatens to drive up fuel prices.
Bernard Gordon, a screenwriter blacklisted during Hollywood’s anti-communist crusade in the 1950s, has died. He was 88. Gordon died on May 11 at his Hollywood Hills home after a long battle with cancer, according to his daughter, Ellen Gordon. ”He was highly principled, scrupulously honest,” his daughter said. ”He could argue anybody under the table.”
A majority of countries on the World Bank board believe Paul Wolfowitz should resign as president of the World Bank, bank board sources from rich and developing nations said on Friday. ”It is now very clear that a majority of members think Mr Wolfowitz must resign,” said one board source from a developing country.
Billions of dollars’ worth of Iraq’s declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for, possibly having been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling, the New York Times said on Saturday. The discrepancy was valued between -million and -million daily, using a per barrel average, the report said.
Zimbabwe, widely criticised for mismanaging its economy, was elected on Friday as head of the Commission on Sustainable Development, the main United Nations inter-governmental body on the environment. Despite objections from Western nations, the 53-nation commission voted Zimbabwe’s Minister of Environment and Tourism, Francis Nheme, as chairperson to replace oil-producer Qatar.
United States President George Bush was readying his veto pen again after US lawmakers voted to fund the Iraq combat in phases of just a few months, the latest twist in the political feud over control of the unpopular war. The legislation now moves to the more closely divided Senate.
New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission unanimously approved a plan on Thursday to install touch-screen monitors in all 13 000 city cabs over the objections of some drivers who consider the technology too expensive and intrusive. The monitors are already in 200 cabs as an experiment.
Alcoa, the world’s largest aluminum company, said on Monday it would make a hostile bid for Canada’s Alcan, estimated at -billion, after talks between the rivals failed to lead to a deal. If successful, the bid of ,25 per share in cash and stock would create the the world’s largest producer of the metal.
Yahoo! on Thursday launched a web-based version of its free instant messaging service for internet users who want to stay connected while away from their home computers. The service lets people use the online search titan’s service from any internet-linked computer without needing to download or install software.
The last time Apple chief executive Steve Jobs took on major recording companies, he refused to budge on his 99-cent price for a song on iTunes. As a new round of talks ramp up this month, however, Jobs has opened the door to higher prices — as long as music companies let Apple sell their songs without technology designed to stop unauthorised copying.
Yahoo! will close its online auction service for North America next month, signalling the internet powerhouse’s intention to focus on more profitable endeavours as it tries to snap out of a financial malaise. The Sunnyvale-based company’s auctions in the United States and Canada will end on June 16.
Microsoft has signed deals with Volvo and whisky maker Chivas Brothers to support two new web-only video series from Reveille, the production company behind TV shows The Office and Ugly Betty. The two new shows will arrive on Microsoft’s MSN website in the next six months.
Senior United States Democrats on Wednesday urged President George Bush to help end the ”historic crisis” over Paul Wolfowitz’s leadership of the World Bank as the bank’s board delayed a decision over his fate until next week. The 24-nation board said it had agreed to delay until Friday the deadline for Wolfowitz to respond to a bank panel report.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II had the last laugh over United States President George Bush on Tuesday a day after the gaffe-prone Bush nearly put her age at well over 200 years. The queen hosted a return banquet for Bush and his wife Laura at the British embassy and, as she rose to give her toast, a mischievous grin came over her face.
More than 100 United States lawmakers sent China’s President Hu Jintao a letter on Wednesday warning of ”disaster” for the 2008 Olympic Games if Beijing fails to do more to stop carnage in Chinese ally Sudan’s Darfur region. The United Nations says around 200Â 000 people have died and more than two million have been made homeless since conflict flared in Darfur in 2003.
Ministers meeting on solutions to cuts in carbon emissions do not trust each other to come up with concrete measures by Friday. ”Many industrialised countries believe that the developing countries are unwilling and that they are doing too little,” said former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.