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/ 13 March 2007

YouTube slapped with billion-dollar lawsuit

United States entertainment giant Viacom on Tuesday launched a billion-dollar lawsuit against Google and its affiliate YouTube, accusing the video-sharing website of "massive" copyright infringement. The suit seeks more than $1-billion in damages, as well as an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from further infringements.

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/ 12 March 2007

US urges Mugabe to release Tsvangirai

The United States called on Sunday for the immediate release of Zimbabwean opposition leaders detained after riot police thwarted a planned mass protest against President Robert Mugabe’s government. The US embassy reported that one person was killed, ”a number” were injured and 100 people were arrested, including Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

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/ 9 March 2007

Mistakes in FBI use of power to get records

The FBI improperly obtained credit reports and other information on individuals through errors in using its power to investigate terrorism or espionage suspects, the Washington Post reported. The findings prompted an ”incensed” Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to order the FBI to place new safeguards over its use of so-called national-security letters

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/ 9 March 2007

Royalty ruling could hurt internet radio

Internet music broadcasters worry that a new ruling could put many of them out of business by drastically increasing the royalty payments they have to make to record labels and artists. The new rates, which are retroactive to last year, were decided last Friday by the United States Copyright Royalty Board.

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/ 9 March 2007

Microsoft in first anti-trust licensing deal

Microsoft announced on Thursday its first software licensing deal under a programme mandated by a 2004 European Commission anti-trust ruling. The contract with California-based Quest Software came a week after commission officials accused Microsoft of setting prices too high for technology offered in the Work Group Server Protocol Program.

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/ 9 March 2007

Gears of War wins gaming ‘Oscar’

Gears of War designed for the Xbox 360 console was on Wednesday crowned best game at a video-game industry version of the Academy Awards, complete with red carpet and adoring fans. Winners were unveiled Oscars-style at the Seventh Annual Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony in San Francisco.

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/ 9 March 2007

Nine Malians die in New York fire

An extended family of Malian immigrants, trapped in their burning New York City home, screamed for help in the night, and one woman tossed children from a second-floor window to try to save them before jumping out herself, witnesses said. Nine people, including eight children, died in the city’s deadliest fire in 17 years.

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/ 8 March 2007

World fails to treat rape as crime, say UN agencies

Rape is weapon of war and the world fails to treat it as a crime, two United Nations agencies said on Wednesday as the Security Council called for justice for women and girls who are victims of violence. To mark International Women’s Day on Thursday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that violence against women and girls continued in every continent, country and culture.

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/ 7 March 2007

Two winners for record $370m US lottery prize

At least two people will share a -million (R2,7-billion) lottery jackpot in the United States, officials said on Wednesday after the record prize drew in millions of players across the country. ”Right now we know there are two winning tickets: one in the state of New Jersey, one in the state of Georgia,” an Ohio Lottery Commission spokesperson said.

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/ 6 March 2007

Darfur tops US list for abuse of human rights

The continuing genocide in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region was the world’s worst human rights abuse last year, the United States said on Tuesday in a global report that found freedoms were eroding in numerous other nations, including US allies Afghanistan and Iraq. The State Department also criticised Russia for a ”further erosion of government accountability”.

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/ 6 March 2007

Microsoft vs Google in copyright battle

Software giant Microsoft on Tuesday launched a stinging attack on Google, accusing its internet rival of riding roughshod over copyright in a rush to grab content for its own commercial benefit. The attack by top Microsoft lawyer Tom Rubin came as the two corporate titans step up their competition in both software and online content.

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/ 6 March 2007

Astronaut may have come across steamy e-mails

Nasa astronaut Lisa Nowak’s bizarre 1 450km road trip to confront a romantic rival may have been sparked when she uncovered steamy e-mails sent to her boyfriend by the other woman. Nowak had collected more than a dozen e-mails sent to her one-time boyfriend, space shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein, including one he received during his shuttle mission.

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/ 5 March 2007

The future of gaming

Video-game makers from around the world gathered in San Francisco on Monday to collaborate about the future of play. The 20th annual Game Developers Conference is the largest gathering of its kind and is dedicated to the ”art, science, and business of games”, according to its organisers at CMP Technology firm.

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/ 5 March 2007

YouTube builds content network

YouTube, the video social-networking website owned by Google, is building a vast network of content providers, a company spokesperson said. YouTube has concluded "more than 1 000 partnerships" with content providers both big and small, YouTube spokesperson David Song said late on Friday.

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/ 3 March 2007

Initiative launched to promote biofuels market

Brazil, the United States, China and the European Commission launched a joint initiative in New York on Friday to promote development of an international market for biofuels which are seen as a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Joined by India and South Africa, they announced at a press conference here the launch of a mechanism to create a world market to spur production

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/ 3 March 2007

Condom mishaps common among young men

Many young men could use a bit more instruction on proper condom use, according to lead author of a new study that found nearly one in three experienced recent condom breakage. ”We give condoms away all the time, and unfortunately that’s often all that we do,” said Dr RA Crosby of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

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/ 3 March 2007

Iran sanctions talks expected at UN

The 15-member United Nations Security Council expects to have a draft resolution next week on additional sanctions to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the council’s president said. South Africa’s UN ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, said major powers were trying to include all members in discussions.

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/ 2 March 2007

Teenager’s hiccups stop … after five weeks

A Florida teenager finally took a long breath, uninterrupted by the hiccups that had plagued her for five weeks. The hiccups stopped at about 5pm local time on Wednesday, the <i>St Petersburg Times</i> daily reported Thursday. "Jennifer Mee had a few more spasms, but then she stopped and took her first uninterrupted breaths since … January 23," the paper said.

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/ 2 March 2007

Wolfowitz pushes for new funds for World Bank

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz hopes the United States will be a leader, not a follower, when it comes to committing new funds for the world’s poorest countries in negotiations of the bank’s 40 biggest donors starting in Paris next week. Wolfowitz said he also hoped for new money from emerging lenders like rich oil-producing countries.

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/ 1 March 2007

Award-winning Arthur Schlesinger dies at 89

Arthur M Schlesinger Jr, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Kennedy insider who helped define mainstream liberalism during the Cold War and remained an eminent public thinker into the 21st century, has died, his son said. He was 89. Schlesinger suffered a heart attack while dining out with family members on February 28 in Manhattan.

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/ 1 March 2007

Fed economic view unfazed by stocks drop

Federal Reserve chairperson Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday this week’s sharp stock market drop had not changed the Fed’s view that the United States economy was sound, remarks that helped shaken markets regain confidence. His remarks came a day after the US stock market suffered its worst slide since 2001.

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/ 28 February 2007

UN drug watchdog ‘ignores HIV’

The United Nations drug control watchdog is hindering efforts to fight the global HIV/Aids pandemic and the agency should be reviewed. Stephen Lewis, a former UN special envoy for Aids in Africa, accused the International Narcotics Control Board of enforcing drug policies that ignore public health.