Microsoft is resuming its pursuit of search-engine operator Yahoo! that could help it better compete with web search leader Google, published reports said on Friday. The New York Post reported on Friday that Microsoft has asked Yahoo! to enter formal negotiations for an acquisition that could be worth -billion.
The famous Dodge Charger from the 1980s television show <i>The Dukes of Hazzard</i> has sold via an internet auction for an astonishing $9,9-million, according to a page on eBay. The 1969 car was sold by actor John Schneider, who played Bo Duke in the long-running show.
Floyd Mayweather Jr registered a split points decision victory over Oscar De La Hoya to win the World Boxing Council super welterweight title on Saturday. In a fight expected to be one of the highest-grossing in boxing history, Mayweather won the verdict from two of the three judges at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino to improve his career record to 38-0 with 24 knockouts.
A tornado wiped out most of a small farming town in southwestern Kansas, killing nine people and injuring at least 63, emergency officials said on Saturday. The funnel cloud hit Greensburg on Friday evening, smashing buildings, overturning vehicles and knocking out communications towers.
A judge sentenced a shocked and tearful Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail on Friday, ruling that the hotel heiress violated her probation for a previous traffic offence by knowingly driving without a valid licence. Hilton wept and her mother, Kathy, yelled at the prosecutor, ”You’re pathetic,” as the packed courtroom cleared.
At least 20 people died and dozens more were missing after a sailboat crowded with Haitian migrants capsized on Friday as it was being towed by a Turks and Caicos police boat, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) reported. Rescue crews were searching for about 58 Haitians who were unaccounted for, the USCG said.
Actor Robin Williams said on Thursday that he had not drunk alcohol for 10 months since announcing publicly that he was entering treatment for alcohol abuse. In August his spokesperson said he had ”found himself drinking again” after two decades of sobriety.
The wildlife poacher has a new ally — the internet — say activists who plan to tame this illegal trade in live animals and the remains of their slaughter, such as ivory, skins and tusks. ”Illegal trade has increased exponentially because of the ease of selling by internet,” said Lynne Levine, a spokesperson for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
After three months of verbal sparring, Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Oscar de la Hoya are just about ready to shut up and fight. Mayweather, boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighter and De la Hoya, its most popular champion, said little to spark controversy or antagonise each other on Wednesday at the media gathering before their fight.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday he is alarmed at the increasing number of journalists being targeted because of their work. ”Most alarmingly, in seeking to shed light on the plight of others, journalists themselves become targets,” he said.
A surprise witness surfaced in the Phil Spector murder trial on Wednesday, telling the court that he saw a lawyer for the music producer pick up a piece of evidence at the crime scene that was never turned over to prosecutors. Spector is charged with shooting Lana Clarkson (40) to death in the foyer of his mock castle in the foothills outside Los Angeles on February 3 2003.
United States President George Bush and the Democrats are set to take a fresh stab at crafting a measure to fund the Iraq war on Wednesday, one day after Bush vetoed a bill setting an Iraq withdrawal timeline. While the two sides were to meet at the White House hoping to hammer out new legislation to fund US troops, there was little sign of compromise on a pull-out.
News Corporation launched a -billion bid on Tuesday for Dow Jones in a bold move to add the prestigious Wall Street Journal business daily to Rupert Murdoch’s vast media empire. The move for the storied publishing firm sparked a rally in other newspaper stocks and offered hints of a further shake-up in an industry in turmoil.
In a hip swirl of pink cosmopolitan cocktails and mashed-up dance music, Silicon Valley insiders on Friday paid homage to the geeks and the glamorous reshaping culture with technology. An invitation-only crowd of about 700 people swarmed under a tented patio walled with the visages winners of this year’s Wired Magazine Rave Awards.
The United States Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a case brought by two detainees at the US prison in Guantánamo Bay, who were contesting the legality of the base’s military courts. The court did not give any reason for refusing to hear the case, but said three of the nine judges had been in favour of proceeding with the hearing.
The flip of a switch could become all it takes to get a good night’s sleep, according to a study released on Monday. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found a way to stimulate the slow waves typical of deep sleep by sending a harmless magnetic signal through the skulls of sleeping volunteers.
World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz told an investigatory panel on Monday he is the victim of a ”smear campaign” aimed at forcing him to resign, as he gained renewed support from United States President George Bush. Wolfowitz told the World Bank panel he will not quit in the face of a ”bogus charge”.
An alligator nicknamed Reggie appeared in a Los Angeles lake after disappearing there one-and-a-half years ago. ”Reggie is older, Reggie is bigger, and he’s probably hungry, so I want to make sure that we keep the public safe,” city councillor Janice Hahn said.
The United States Supreme Court sided with Microsoft on Monday in a case that restricts the reach of US patents overseas. In a 7-1 decision, the court found that Microsoft is not liable in a patent dispute with AT&T. The decision could affect other lawsuits against Microsoft and save the company billions because of the global scope of its operations.
World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz will defend his handling of a promotion and pay increase for his girlfriend on Monday to a special panel, whose investigation will ultimately determine if he wins his fight to stay on as head of the development institution.
Negotiations between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ugandan government, which restarted on April 26 in the northern Sudanese town of Juba, have given new hope to a 10-month-old peace process designed to end of one of the longest-lasting and most brutal wars in Africa.
Delta Air Lines is set to emerge from 19 months of bankruptcy protection in another sign that one of the bleakest chapters for the United States airline industry may be coming to an end. The third-largest US carrier could exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy as early as Monday.
An Iraqi al-Qaeda member accused of assassination plots against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and other attacks was transferred by the CIA to the United States military prison at Guantánamo this week, the Pentagon said on Friday.
The ashes of Star Trek star James Doohan will be blasted into space on Saturday when a rocket carrying a symbolic portion of the late actor’s cremated remains is launched in New Mexico. Doohan, beloved for his role as the USS Enterprise‘s chief engineer Montgomery ”Scotty” Scott, died aged 85 in 2005.
World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz is uncloaking new measures at the institution apparently designed to appease his critics and regain the initiative after weeks of fast retreat in the face of accusations of nepotism and an international downpour of criticism for his management style.
In a big win for a little Wi-Fi startup called Fon, Time Warner Cable will let its home broadband customers turn their connections into public wireless hot spots, a practice shunned by most United States internet service providers (ISPs). Fon has forged similar agreements with ISPs across Europe.
David Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who chronicled the Washington press corps, the Vietnam War generation and baseball, was killed in a car crash, a coroner said. He was 73. His wife, Jean Halberstam, said she will remember him most for his "unending, bottomless generosity to young journalists".
The <i>Chicago Tribune</i> and the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> disclosed plans on Monday to reduce their staffs by as many as a combined 250 jobs, the latest cutbacks in a newspaper industry reeling from a fall-off in advertising and circulation. The actions come on top of earlier cutbacks by both papers.
furore surrounding World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz exposes the need for overdue reform of the six-decade-old development lender itself, according to experts. "It’s as much a crisis of governance as a crisis of leadership," said Dennis de Tray, who has worked at both the bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Embattled World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz pledged on Friday to abide by recommendations of the lender’s executive board investigating a pay scandal, but left his future course of action unclear. In a brief statement issued after a late-night announcement by directors, the embattled World Bank chief said he "welcomes the decision of the board …".
Republican United States presidential contender John McCain turned to popular music to illuminate the debate on the Middle East, singing at the suggestion that the United States bomb Iran. ”That old Beach Boys song, ‘Bomb Iran’?” McCain asked in response to a question about US policy on its diplomatic pariah at an electoral campaign meeting.
As Nestlé shareholders gathered on Thursday in Switzerland for their annual meeting, growing numbers of voices have been questioning the company’s claims on spring water around the world and its effects on local communities. Nestlé Waters North America has been found to damage the environment through its pumping operations.