Growing up in an untidy home can mess up a child’s mind, according to a new American study. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University studied data from about 8 000 three- and four-year-old twins to separate the influence of genes and environment on intelligence.
It’s a frustrated commuter’s escapist fantasy: literally lifting your car from a clogged highway and soaring through the skies, landing just in time to motor into your driveway. Engineers at Nasa, the Boeing Company and elsewhere say the basis for a flying car is there. At Nasa, the first goal is to transform small airplane travel.
There was no Madonna-Britney Spears kiss, no partially clad Howard Stern coming down from the rafters and certainly no wardrobe malfunctions. The MTV Awards show on Sunday featured typical frenetic energy and sexy style, and a few musical surprises, but it was mostly a kinder, gentler version of past shows.
The United Nations is trying to transform one of the most politically unstable countries in Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), into a multiparty democracy with elections scheduled for 2005. But to do so, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wants to more than double the number of UN peacekeepers in the DRC.
A machine that lets drinkers inhale shots of alcohol has gone on display in New York, even as one local lawmaker warned the device is ”a disaster waiting to happen”.
The Alcohol without Liquid vaporiser mixes the alcohol with pressurised oxygen. Makers say it gives drinkers the effect of alcohol without the drunkenness, or hangover.
A South African woman has pleaded not guilty to immigration charges in a case that has raised concerns about whether terrorists could enter the United States by way of Mexico. Farida Goolam Mahamed Ahmed (48) was arrested on July 19 after being stopped by the border patrol at McAllen-Miller International airport in Texas.
First the board room, now the board game. At his Fifth Avenue Tower on Wednesday, Donald Trump unveiled his newest business venture: a new board game, called Trump: The Game, with high-stakes dealmaking and dollar sums in the billions. Move over, Mr Monopoly.
It’s been a rough month for hotel heiress Paris Hilton. First, her Hollywood Hills home was burglarised and now her pet chihuahua, Tinkerbell, has disappeared. Hilton, star of the Fox television network’s reality show The Simple Life II: Road Trip, is offering a 000 reward for her dog, missing since last Wednesday.
Dressed in a tuxedo, Simba sat at the front of one of Manhattan’s newest dining establishments and nodded at people who greeted him. Then he yawned, began to roll on the floor and lick his paws. That’s acceptable behaviour at the Meow Mix Café, a new eatery designed especially for cats and their human owners.
Internet search-engine giant Google slashed billions of dollars from the target launch valuation of its stock on Wednesday in a major upset for the biggest technology flotation since the dot.com bubble burst four years ago. Google said it has reduced the price range of its flotation shares to between and .
The Cassini-Huygens space probe discovered two new moons around Saturn, which could be the smallest spotted to date around the ringed planet, Nasa officials said on Tuesday. The moons — measuring 3km and 4km in diameter — are located 194 000km and 211 000km respectively from Saturn.
Julia Child, the chef who brought the intricacies of French cuisine to American home cooks through her television series and books, has died in her sleep. She was 91. ”America has lost a true national treasure,” Nicholas Latimer, director of publicity for Alfred A Knopf Publishing, said in a statement on Friday.
Legal questions about an interview that Google’s founders gave to Playboy magazine are the latest in a string of developments that have clouded the search engine’s initial stock offering. The interview threatens to delay the offering because securities regulations restrict what executives can say while preparing to sell stock for the first time.
The price of oil in the United States on Wednesday fell slightly on Wednesday with contracts for September deliveries on the New York Mercantile Exchange falling 0,2% to ,61 per barrel. On Tuesday, oil prices reached a new record of ,04 per barrel.
Online search engine leader Google will surrender more than -million of its stock to Yahoo in a settlement that removes a legal threat hanging over its IPO at the expense of enriching a nettlesome rival. The agreement announced on Monday gives Yahoo an additional 2,7-million shares of Google stock in exchange for dropping a patent lawsuit involving a crucial piece of online advertising technology.
United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, in commentary published on Thursday in the Wall Street Journal, urged Sudan to ”take decisive steps to end the violence in Darfur”, insisting that there is ”no alternative to peace on all fronts” to end the crisis. Powell reviewed efforts made by the international community to stop the carnage.
Bruce Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks and a score of other top musical acts have joined forces for a series of nationwide shows to help oust President George Bush from the White House. The week-long set of concert dates, beginning on October 1, targets key battleground states that are expected to go to the wire on election day, November 2.
Responding to an ”erosion” of public trust in drug trial data, Eli Lilly promised to post online the research results — good and bad — for every drug it sells. Lilly said it will provide clinical data on the safety and effectiveness of each of its government-approved drugs on the internet by the end of the year.
Halliburton will pay ,5-million to settle a United States Securities and Exchange Commission probe that it failed to disclose a change in its accounting procedures in 1998 when the oil services conglomerate was run by vice-president Dick Cheney. Cheney was Halliburton’s CEO from 1995 to 2000. He resigned to be President George Bush’s running mate.
Lockheed Martin said on Tuesday it won a contract worth up to seven billion dollars over 20 years to develop the next-generation spy plane for the United States army. The defence and aerospace giant said the contract awarded on Tuesday is for -million to design and develop the aerial common sensor, an airborne intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and target-identification system.
Nasa launched a messenger to Mercury on Tuesday, the first spacecraft in 30 years to head to the sun’s closest planet. The probe, named Messenger, rocketed away in the pre-dawn moonlight on what will be a eight billion kilometre, six-and-a-half-year journey to Mercury. Messenger will view Mercury from all sides.
United States Treasury Secretary John Snow, trying to bolster confidence on Wall Street and Main Street amid a new warning about possible terrorist strikes, said on Monday in a statement that the country’s financial system continues to operate normally, a testimony to its ”resiliency and strength”.
What do Shrek, Spider-Man, Michael Moore and Harry Potter have in common? They have all produced -million movie hits this summer. Moore’s condemnation of United States President George Bush’s actions regarding the September 11 attacks in the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 has earned ,35-million since opening in late June.
A national commission probing the September 11 attacks on Thursday found ”failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management” by the United States government and recommended a sweeping overhaul of intelligence services. The report is sure to fuel the politically charged debate raging over responsibility for the attacks.
Academy Award-winning composer Jerry Goldsmith, who created the memorable music for scores of classic movies and television shows ranging from the Star Trek and Planet of the Apes series to The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Waltons and Dr Kildare, has died. He was 75.
He’s been branded a corporate bully and hailed as technological visionary, but Microsoft’s plans for a record pay-out to shareholders has thrown the spotlight on to Bill Gates, the ultra-generous philanthropist. Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a plan to deliver an estimated -billion to its shareholders over the next four years.
Armies of firefighters were on Friday battling fast-spreading wildfires across the western United States, including one menacing more than 1 000 homes in Nevada’s state capital, officials said. The towering flames in the Carson City blaze, the worst in history of the city of 50 000 people, have already charred 14 homes.
A suspected car thief in the United States has filed a -million claim with the city of Los Angeles after allegedly being assaulted during his arrest. Stanley Miller claims that the beating caused severe injuries and left him with brain damage. City police dispute Miller’s claims, saying that his injuries were minor scrapes and bruises.
The United States Congress hopes that ,6-million will create enough incentive for drug companies to create enough vaccines and antidotes to protect Americans from chemical and biological attacks. The program, called Project BioShield, was passed on Wednesday and President George Bush’s endorsement is guaranteed.
A controversial constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage is very likely to be defeated in the United States Senate on Wednesday, forcing Republicans to circle their wagons and hope the political fall-out will not affect the upcoming presidential election. Republicans were hoping for a boost among conservative voters.
Attorneys representing one million smokers in a class-action lawsuit are urging justices to force tobacco giant Philip Morris USA to pay the ,1-billion judgement in the case. The lawsuit pertains to the cigarette-maker misleading smokers into believing that light cigarettes are less harmful than regular ones.
Microsoft will release a major update to the Windows XP computer operating system in August that focuses on boosting protection against malicious intrusions. The company had previously said the free update, called Service Pack 2, would be available sometime this summer but did not offer a specific date.