Arthur Lee, the eccentric singer/guitarist with influential 1960s rock band Love, has died in a Memphis hospital after a battle with leukemia, his manager said on Friday. He was 61. ”His death comes as a shock to me because Arthur had the uncanny ability to bounce back from everything, and leukemia was no exception,” said Mark Linn.
New York City commuters sweated on their way to work on Wednesday as the temperature and humidity started climbing back up to heatwave levels after a night of little relief. New York’s LaGuardia airport still had 34 degrees Celsius at midnight and eased only to 30 degrees Celsius by 6am, the National Weather Service said.
A social networking website for Americans aged 50-plus went live on Monday — complete with an online obituary database that sends out alerts when someone you may know dies. The founder of internet job site Monster.com, Jeff Taylor, launched Eons.com, a similar site to the popular online teen hang-out MySpace for the 50-plus crowd.
He may be one of the most influential politicians in the world but even British Prime Minister Tony Blair succumbed to the larger-than-life charms of movie star turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Blair met the former body-builder this week to launch an agreement between California and Britain to reduce global warming.
The heat is on for United States Ryder Cup hopefuls with just three nerve-jangling tournaments remaining before the 12-man team is decided. After this month’s PGA Championship at Medinah in Illinois, the top 10 in the Cup standings will automatically qualify to take on Europe at the K Club in Ireland from September 22-24.
Second seed Maria Sharapova overcame a slow start against fellow Russian Vasilisa Bardina before reeling off 10 of the last 11 games to record a 6-4 6-1 second-round victory at the Acura Classic on Tuesday. Earlier, eighth seed Martina Hingis marched into the third round with a 6-2 6-3 win over American Meilen Tu.
Some of the testosterone found in Tour de France winner Floyd Landis’s ”A” sample is from an external source and not his body’s, The New York Times said on Tuesday quoting an unidentified International Cycling Union official. The carbon-isotope test on the first of Landis’s two urine samples contains synthetic testosterone, said the official.
ABC Television Network pulled a miniseries about the Holocaust it was developing with Mel Gibson’s production company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, quoting an unidentified representative for the network. Gibson was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving early on Friday and was reported to have launched into a tirade against Jews.
The state of Africa, says Charlayne Hunter-Gault in her most recent book, <i>New News Out of Africa</i>, is in many ways shaped by the public’s image of the continent — and the image of Africa is in the hands of the media. Besieged by clichéd headlines bearing news of the "four Ds" — death, destruction, disease and despair — Africa needs fresh, "new news" reporting.
Six veteran homicide detectives are leading a new police task force investigating the unsolved 1997 killing of rap star Notorious BIG. The new probe comes in the face of a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the rapper’s mother, Voletta Wallace, and other relatives, who claim rogue police officers were involved in the killing.
American Justin Gatlin, the world and Olympic 100m champion and co-holder of the 100m world record, revealed on Saturday that he had tested positive for ”testosterone or its precursors” in April. ”I have been informed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency that … I tested positive for ‘testosterone or its precursors’,” Gatlin said in a statement.
Time Warner, the global media leader, on Wednesday will take the wraps off plans for ailing internet unit AOL, which may include shedding subscriber-access fees seen as blocking advertising revenue. Since 2005 Time Warner has openly pursued a strategy of developing free-access programs on AOL — such as TV series, news and music — to compete with Yahoo! and Google.
A prison inmate pleaded guilty on Tuesday to sending letters to the FBI and Secret Service that included bomb and anthrax threats — as well as his full name and inmate number. Donald Ray Bilby (30) pleaded guilty in United States District Court in Trenton to one count of false information and hoaxes after he sent five letters demanding authorities deposit 000 in his county jail inmate account.
Key internet freedoms are under threat in a legal battle between online search leader Google and pornography publisher Perfect 10, a prominent internet rights foundation said on Wednesday. At issue is whether Google infringed on copyrights by creating links to Perfect 10 pictures copied from its website and posted elsewhere on the internet.
Get real, Mann. Director Michael Mann ushers Miami Vice into theatres on Friday promising a reality-based movie with the sort of raw grit and steamy sex that never would have played on the hit 1980s television show of the same name he helped create.
United States internet search engine Yahoo and software security giant Symantec Corporation launched a joint service on Tuesday to protect people online from hackers, viruses, spyware and spam. Norton internet security provided by Yahoo was billed by the companies as an all-in-one security service that blocked intruders, identity thieves and malicious software.
Jimmy Connors spent three consecutive years as the World number one, so he has a good idea of what it is going to take for fellow American Andy Roddick to return to that lofty perch. Hall of Famer Connors and Roddick announced on Monday a link-up between the two former World number ones that is designed to end Roddick’s struggles.
The remains of actor James Doohan, who played the starship Enterprise‘s chief engineer ”Scotty” on Star Trek, will be blasted into space in October, the company organising the flight said on Monday. On the programme, when Captain James Kirk ventured off the spaceship Enterprise and faced peril, he would demand Scotty ”beam” him back up to the safety of the ship.
President George Bush will meet with a leader of the Sudan Liberation Army, the main rebel group in the African nation’s troubled western region of Darfur, the White House announced on Monday. The focus of the discussion on Tuesday between Bush and Minni Minnawi ”will be on how to broaden support for the Darfur Peace Agreement”, the announcement said.
A growing number of Americans are setting up mini-refineries in their homes to produce biodiesel, a fuel made from waste cooking oil which is cleaner and cheaper than the petrol sold in gas stations. The sky-high price of crude oil is scaring everyone.
Pakistan is building a reactor that could produce enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons in what would be a major expansion of its nuclear programme and an intensified arms race in South Asia. Satellite photos show what appears to be the construction site for a larger nuclear reactor adjacent to Pakistan’s only plutonium production reactor, according to an analysis by nuclear experts.
You don’t have to be an astronaut anymore to experience walking in space. All you need is -million and the willingness to risk your life. A private Virginia firm that already has sent three super-rich men to the International Space Station for -million each announced on Friday it would offer an even rarer adventure: A stroll outside the space station for an extra -million.
Microsoft on Friday confirmed rumours it planned to launch an "iPod killer," saying its challenge to Apple Computer’s dominant MP3 player would hit the market this year. Microsoft’s new "music and entertainment project" was called "Zune," the software giant’s general manager of marketing, Chris Stephenson, revealed in a statement.
A mysterious electrical problem in New York City blamed for subway delays, flight cancellations and power failures on the hottest days of the year persisted for a fifth day on Friday, leaving 2 500 customers without power. The blackouts started on Monday evening in a handful of neighbourhoods in Queens.
Mike Huckabee, the rock-playing Governor of Arkansas, will pardon Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards for his 1975 reckless driving charge in the American state, the governor’s spokesperson said on Thursday. "The governor is in the process right now to give a pardon to him," said Alice Stewart.
Google’s second-quarter profit seems likely to erase any lingering doubts about which internet company rules the web. While rivals eBay and Yahoo! merely matched analysts’ earnings expectations, Google on Thursday soared well beyond Wall Street’s financial hurdle — just like the online search engine leader has done in all but one quarter since it went public nearly two years ago.
Thousands of delegates from around the world gather in Toronto, Canada, next month for the Sixteenth International Aids Conference. "We have the knowledge to defeat HIV now, we know what is effective, and that is recognising that the epidemic is caused by human rights abuses, which fuel the epidemic," said Joseph Amon, director of the HIV/Aids programme at Human Rights Watch.
A singer who wore a police uniform to front the Village People disco-era band pleaded no contest to cocaine possession charges on Wednesday, according to prosecutors. Victor Willis, who led his costumed band mates in dance-club hits such as Macho Man and YMCA, faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison as a result of the plea bargain.
United States authorities are raising the stakes against internet gambling with their biggest prosecution effort to date, but backers of online wagering are not yet ready to fold. An indictment unsealed on Monday charges the operators, British-incorporated BetOnSports, with illegally taking bets from US residents and failing to pay US taxes on $3,3-billion in wagers from the United States.
The United States is likely to send troops to Lebanon to protect American citizens who are being evacuated there, United States President George Bush said in a letter to Congress on Wednesday. While there are already a small number of US troops in the region to aid in evacuation efforts, the deployment of additional troops is anticipated, Bush wrote in the letter to lawmakers.
Knowledge of available treatment options and the significance of drug resistance has declined in patients infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, according to results of a survey presented on Tuesday. ”In the early days of HIV, patients often understood the science of HIV as much as most clinicians,” said Dr Howard Grossman.
United States entertainment giant the Walt Disney announced on Tuesday it is cutting 650 jobs and will reduce the number of movies made each year as part of a major restructuring plan. Walt Disney Studios chairperson Dick Cook said in a statement that the studio will produce and distribute approximately 10 Disney live-action and animated films a year.