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 The creator of hit political TV series Aaron Sorkin is to write a movie about the world's most popular social networking site, Facebook, he announced Thursday in a posting to the site.
Sorkin announced the project by setting up a pair of Facebook pages, one a group, and one a personal page that doesn't actually allow you to become his...
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 Principals of public schools were asked to consider giving math tests to kindergartners. This proposal has come after serious debates on the use if the standardized tests nationwide and the new tests could last up to 90 minutes and change assessments from little children to second-graders in the school system.Still, some parents and...
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 Joseph Edward Duncan III was given the death sentence on Wednesday. He had kidnapped and murdered a boy of only 9 years old from Idaho back in 2005. The federal jurors reached the death verdict after they had watched a video of the violent murder. The video was recorded while Duncan was torturing the little boy for more than three...
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 For more than a year, Lindsay Lohan has been strongly connected to Samantha Ronson. They don’t go anywhere one without the other. At first, Ronson, 30, seemed to be Lindsay Lohan’s best friend, the one who helped the “I Know How Killed Me” star to get over rehab. After the troubled parties and her 2007 DUI arrest, Lindsay Lohan seemed to...
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 Some Swedish researchers have stated that previous studies about the loss of mental abilities were wrong. The deterioration of our intelligence and our mind capacity starts earlier than we thought before. Some of our most important skills start to deteriorate nearly 15 years before we die.The tests made to discover this consisted of...
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 Three people died in a car crash last night in Los Angeles. Among the dead there were a pregnant woman and a little girl of only 12 years. Two other people were seriously injured as their car ran into a tree. Authorities believe that the car was participating in a possible drag race in northeast Los Angeles, in Eagle Rock community.The...
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 Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th Dalai Lama, head of the Tibetan government. He is believed to be the reincarnation of his predecessors. Tenzin Gyatso was proclaimed the rebirth of the 13th Dalai Lama two years after he was born. Since 1959, the Dalai Lama has ruled over the Central Tibetan Administration...
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Pakistani lawyers, backed by human rights activists and political workers, staged countrywide sit-ins Thursday to press the government to reinstate dozens of senior judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf.
The powerful legal community resumed protests three days after the 6-month-old ruling coalition collapsed on...
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An Airbus A-330 of the Spanish charter airline Iberworld on Thursday returned to Barcelona on discovering a "technical problem" nearly half an hour after take-off, airport sources said.
The plane was en route to Cancun in Mexico. The nature of the technical problem was not disclosed. The plane was due to leave again after it...
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The United States economy grew at 3.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2008, the government said Thursday in revised figures that further eased fears of a recession.
The gross domestic product (GDP) figure was revised upward from an earlier estimate of 1.9 per cent for the quarter.
The growth was more than triple the 0.9 per cent...
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A blast in a market in Kirkuk, northern Iraq on Thursday killed a civilian and injured seven, police officials said.
The detonation hit a popular market in the Domeez area in southern Kirkuk and caused damage to several shops in the area, a police official told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.
Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city...
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Visiting US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Asia and the Near East, David Hale, said Thursday his country will keep on supporting Lebanon's independence and sovereignty.
"The United States will continue supporting Lebanon as a sovereign and independent state, as well as its government. We also want to strengthen our...
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News of talks on a merger involving charter and budget airlines controlled by Thomas Cook, Lufthansa and TUI refuelled speculation Thursday of a major shake-out in the German travel sector, Europe's largest.
TUI Travel plc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Thomas Cook Group plc said they were in talks on a potential merger of Condor, a...
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The United States economy grew at 3.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2008, the government said Thursday in revised figures that showed strong international trade had helped stave off a feared recession.
The gross domestic product (GDP) figure was revised upward from an earlier estimate of 1.9 per cent for the quarter, the Bureau of...
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Three days before an emergency EU summit in Brussels, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Thursday said some European nations were considering imposing sanctions against Russia as a result of its actions in Georgia.
However, he later denied some press reports suggesting that he was in favour of sanctions against Moscow because...
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The majority of the people of Taiwan favor maintaining Taiwan's status quo with China and are satisfied with Taipei's policy seeking peace with Beijing, an opinion poll showed Thursday.
According to the poll of 1,094 people conducted by the government's Mainland Affairs Council, more than 80 per cent want to keep the status quo with...
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Thailand's exports hit a record high of about 17 billion US dollars in July, but the month still saw a trade deficit with imports hitting about 18 billion dollars, the Fiscal Policy Office said Thursday.
July was the fourth month with a deficit this year, the office's director general, Pannee Sathavarodom, told local...
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Germany's Commerzbank AG and insurer Allianz SE said Thursday their boards are to meet Sunday amid mounting speculation of a merger between two of the nation's leading banks.
While an Allianz spokesman declined to comment on what the insurer's board members will discuss, the meeting in Munich is widely expected to agree to selling off...
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Georgia are to play their World Cup qualifier against Ireland next week in the German city of Mainz, football's world organizing body FIFA said Thursday.
FIFA said it was decided to play the match on September 6 in a neutral venue in view of the current unrest in Georgia.
The Georgian Football Federation had hoped to play the match...
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Japanese electronics group Sharp forecast Thursday that annual world demand for LCD flat-panel televisions would burst through the 100-million barrier some time this year.
At a news conference on the eve of the IFA consumer-electronics fair in Berlin, Sharp also boasted its thinnest flat-panel yet, with the thinnest part of the device...
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US-based Citibank has advised Pakistan to secure help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avoid default on its foreign debt repayments in the face of an ongoing political crisis.
The report, "Pakistan: Could the Political Chaos Lead to Sovereign Default?" released in New York Wednesday, cited a rising chance of...
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A blast in a market in Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Thursday killed a civilian and injured seven persons, police said.
The detonation hit a popular market in the Domeez area in southern Kirkuk and caused damage to several shops in the area, a police official told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.
Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city...
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Demands for diplomatic action against Russia over its actions in Georgia, including its recognition of two breakaway regions, continued Thursday with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner saying European nations were considering imposing sanctions.
Kouchner, speaking three days before an emergency European Union summit in Brussels,...
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US-led coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 100 suspected Taliban militants in four days of fighting and airstrikes in the southern province of Helmand, the coalition said Thursday.
The fighting occurred from Monday through Thursday when Afghan and coalition forces were attacked by insurgents "multiple times,"...
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Surprise package Hoffenheim will be aiming to keep their place at the top of the Bundesliga when they visit Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
The newly-promoted village club are the only side with maximum points following two victories without conceding a goal, and Leverkusen coach Bruno Labbadia warns that the good start is no...
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A Hong Kong primary school teacher faced jail Thursday after being convicted of having sex with a 10-year-old girl from his class.
Chew Hing-cheung, 53, took the girl to "love hotels" where rooms are rented by the hour on three occasions and had sex with her, Hong Kong's High Court was told.
He was arrested in January on...
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Malaysia on Thursday blocked access to a popular news website that often carries anti-government articles, sparking criticism of cyberspace censorship.
The extremely popular Malaysia Today website is run by Raja Petra Kamarudin, who was charged with sedition in May for allegedly implying that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was...
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A Singapore tycoon, who pleaded guilty to two counts of illegally attempting to purchasing a kidney from an Indonesian is too sick to survive in prison, said his attorney Thursday.
Attorney Cavinder Bull said jailing Tang Wee Sung, executive director of the tony CT Tang Department store and owner of prime real estate, would be...
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SkyEurope's losses more than tripled in the latest quarter as record fuel prices wiped out rising passenger revenue, the low-cost airline said Thursday.
SkyEurope, which uses Bratislava, Slovakia, as its hub, lost a net 16.8 million euros (24.7 million dollars) in the three months ending June 30, compared to a 5.1-million-euro loss a...
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French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Thursday said European nations were considering imposing sanctions against Russia as a result of its actions in Georgia.
Addressing journalists three days before an emergency EU summit in Brussels, Kouchner said "sanctions were being considered, as well as other means" to address...
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A soldier from the US-led coalition troops was killed when attacked while on patrol in southern Afghanistan, a statement issued by the US military said on Thursday.
The statement, which was issued by the US military base at Bagram airfield, about 50 kilometres north of Kabul, did not disclose the nationality of the soldier, nor did it...
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The Kosovo government named on Thursday its first ten diplomats for postings to diplomatic missions in the West.
Diplomats, among whom are former journalists, professors, scientists, civil activists and presidential advisers, will represent Kosovo in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Austria,...
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Malaysia on Thursday blocked access to a popular news website that often carries anti-government articles, sparking criticism of cyberspace censorship.
The extremely popular Malaysia Today website is run by Raja Petra Kamarudin, who was charged with sedition in May for allegedly implying that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was...
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Malaysia said Thursday its team of peacekeepers was to remain on troubled Mindanao island in the southern Philippines for another three months to monitor peace negotiations between Manila and rebel Muslim separatists.
The announcement comes in the wake of a recent outbreak of fighting between Philippine government forces and the Moro...
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More than 250 trainee soldiers came down Thursday with food poisoning in eastern Sri Lanka after eating bread and fish, a medical officer in the area said.
Some of the trainees fainted and suffered from vomiting at their camp in Henanigala, 290 kilometres east of Colombo, Dr WCK Weeramana said.
At least 125 of the trainee soldiers...
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German champions Bayern Munich are set to sign Italy defender Massimo Oddo from AC Milan, the club reported Thursday.
Right-back Oddo will join Bayern on loan for one year from Milan subject to a medical examination, Bayern said on its website.
Oddo, 32, joins fellow Italian Luca Toni at the German side.
The deal comes a day...
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European Union consumers will as from Saturday find it cheaper to make or receive calls on their mobile phone while travelling to another EU country.
According to the EU's Roaming Regulation, the current price cap of 0.49 euros (0.72 dollars) per minute (excluding VAT) for making a call while abroad will fall to 0.46 euros on August...
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The Lebanese army command confirmed Thursday that officer Samer Hana was killed when his helicoper came under fire from unknown militants and crashed on landing in southern Lebanon.
"Officer Samer Hana was killed when his helicopter was fired at, from militants in the area of Iqlim al Tuffah," said a Lebanese army...
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Jiangling Motors Group Company plans to build a car factory in Poland, the daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Thursday. It will be the first Chinese car plant in Europe.
Representatives from the Chinese company are slated to meet with Polish officials in September, the paper cited Peter Bijvelds, a European official for the company, as...
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Two Chinese paramilitary police were killed in a clash with Uighurs in the restive Central Asian region of Xinjiang, leading to the arrest of at least 20 people, Uighur activists said Thursday.
Two officers were seriously injured and several others were hurt in the clash that occurred Wednesday in Xinjiang's Jiashi city, about 100...
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Georgia's foreign minister called on the UN Security Council on Thursday to take action against Russia, alleging it had breached international security by its action in her country.
At a special meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, Foreign Minister Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili said the...
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New World Resources NV (NWR), the owner of the Czech Republic's largest coal mining company, said Thursday its net profit was up more than four times year-on-year in the second quarter of 2008 on the back of skyrocketing coal prices.
NWR more than quadrupled its second-quarter net profit from 16.2 million euros in 2007 to 71.3 million...
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SV Hamburg are expected to announce the signing of a second Brazilian within two days with the expected transfer of playmaker Thiago Neves to the Bundesliga club, local media reports said Thursday.
It would take Hamburg's spending on new players to close to 27 million euros (40 million dollars) after the club Wednesday sealed the...
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At least five soldiers and 36 rebels were killed in fighting in northern Sri Lanka as troops further expanded their area of control, military officials said Thursday.
The fighting was reported from Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu districts, over 300 kilometres north of the capital.
In one of the incidents in Thunukkai,...
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Ahead of Manchester United's European Super Cup clash with Zenit St Petersburg Friday, midfielder Darren Fletcher has warned that Russian sides could soon be challenging English dominance in the Champions League.
The annual fixture between the Champions League winners and the UEFA Cup champions is generally disregarded by English...
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Hong Kong stocks slumped nearly 2.3 per cent Thursday as pessimism gripped the market amid concerns over the earnings outlook of some big companies.
The Hang Seng Index lost 492.43 points to end the day at 20,972.29 points, down 2.29 per cent on Wednesday's close. Turnover was a relatively light 66.7 billion Hong Kong dollars.
The...
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Ever Banega is to be loaned out by Valencia to Atletico Madrid for one season, according to sports daily Marca on Thursday.
Atletico will pay all of the salary of the Argentine midfielder - who helped his country to win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics - and will have an option to buy him at the end of the season.
Atletico...
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Several thousand Christian educational institutions will shut down to protest violence against the community in the eastern state of Orissa where several churches have been burnt and 11 people were killed in revenge for the murder of a Hindu leader, it was announced Thursday.
The Indian church network - including the Catholic Bishops'...
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German unemployment fell by a bigger-than-forecast 40,000 to 3.2 million in August, the nation's labour agency said Thursday.
Analysts had expected seasonally-adjusted unemployment would drop by more a more modest 10,000 this month.
Commenting on the data, labour agency chief Frank-Juergen Weise said the positive tendency in the...
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An earthquake that measured 5.13 on the Richter scale hit Iraq's southern provinces of Basra and Maysan during the early hours of Thursday, causing no damage or casualties, according to news reports.
The epicenter of the earthquake was in the northeast of Amarah city in Maysan province. It occurred at 01.15 am (0415 GMT), the Voices...
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