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Sydney - Anglo-Australian mining company BHP Billiton Ltd said Tuesday the global financial crisis had caused it to abandon a 20-billion-US-dollar takeover bid for rival Rio Tinto Ltd.
"While we have not changed our view of the basic industrial logic of the combination, or of the longer term prospects for natural resource demand...
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San Francisco - The US Justice Department is preparing an anti-trust case aimed at challenging an advertising pact between Google and Yahoo, according to reports Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal and other US media.
Google and Yahoo announced the deal in June, but said they would delay implementation until October to allow regulators...
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South Korea's STX Group said on Monday it was more than doubling its stake in Europe's largest ship maker Aker Yards to 88.4 per cent, gaining full management control of the Norwegian firm, the company announced on Monday.
STX announced it had acquired an additional 48 per cent for 660 billion won (632 million dollars), more than...
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Turnover and profits increased in second-quarter 2008, shipbuilding group Aker Yards said Friday attributing the development to increased activity at its yards.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) totalled 72 million kroner (13.8 million dollars). In the corresponding business period of 2007 the...
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Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen AG said
Thursday it had received the green light from anti-trust authorities
for its 2.8-billion euros (4.4-billion dollars) bid to take majority
control of giant Swedish truck manufacturer Scania AB.
Approval for the German-based VW's move to acquire the majority stake
in Scania was required...
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 Getty, photographic agency, has closed a deal with Flickr, Yahoo’s photograph-sharing website, that will enable the former to access the latter’s pictures for pursuing its commercial purposes.Flickr members will be given the chance to choose whether or not they want their work to be commercially used; Getty would have to pay for each...
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 On Tuesday, Intel and DreamWorks Animation SKG announced their collaboration which is expected to boost the latter’s 3-D authoring tools. As 3-D animated feature films are becoming more and more popular, those involved in their making are always looking for new ways to improve the graphics quality and the production process.Through the...
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 The result of Microsoft’s collaboration with Circuit City will consist in a consumer software subscription service that will bring together the former’s Windows Live OneCare, Messenger, Office and Photo Gallery. Windows Live OneCare grants users over-the-web access to a set of PC security and optimization tools; Microsoft Office 2007...
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 According to The New York Times, Google is working alongside Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, in order to produce a new animated series that would be distributed online through the former’s advertising system (AdSense).AdSense is to be used for syndicating the program (Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy) to numerous...
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 No official statement has been released yet regarding the possible acquisition of search engine maker Powerset by Microsoft. VentureBeat was the first to come forward with the information four days ago; it was said the deal may be worth as much as $100 million.Powerset is a highly practical and implicitly, very useful search engine that...
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 On Thursday, Microsoft officials announced the company’s
plan to acquire a Portugal-based, mobile service-oriented company called
MobiComp, for a yet-to-be-disclosed sum.
MobiComp’s offer includes a series of consumer and carrier services,
such as MobileKeeper (used for mobile back-up, news reception and also social
networking)...
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 On June 24, Charter Communications walked away from the deal
it had planned with NebuAd, an online advertising company. According to the
agreement, the later would have monitored the former’s users’ online behavior.
Charter Communications has about 2.6 million high-speed
Internet subscribers from 29 states.
Even though Charter...
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 There comes a time in every parent’s life when they must let their children go. For Bill Gates, that moment is one week away. He announced his official Microsoft retirement for the 1st of July, saying he will direct his undivided attention towards the $37 billion charity Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates will leave his current...
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 On Monday, Klausner Technology Inc. announced that, since both Apple and AT&T agreed to go through with the licesing of its patents on the "visual voicemail" technology, the iPhone lawsuit has been taken care of.In December, Klausner Technology filed charges against the two companies, as it considered that their offering...
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 Several marketing executives have expressed their concern that the new agreement between Google and Yahoo could lead to an increase in advertising rates, and at the same time, to a diminishment of their control over the locations in which their ads are shown. The 48-month paid advertiser deal was announced on Thursday. Through it, Yahoo...
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 Yahoo has announced it has closed a 48-month paid advertiser deal with Google. According to the agreement, Yahoo access to Google's AdSense will be allowed, thus enabling content advertising programs for the U.S. and Canada.The contract comes with the posibility of two three-year renewals, if agreed upon by both companies. The first year...
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 Yesterday, an AT&T attorney, during a talk with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said that early termination fees (ETFs) are really a great deal. Seamus C. Duffy also presented his audience with an explanation: thanks to the ETFs, customers are given the chance to lower their monthly payments and upfront the cost of...
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 It seems the delicate situation in which T-Mobile, Starbucks and AT&T have recently found themselves has been taken care of. The companies said an "understanding" has been reached regarding the lawsuit T-Mobile filed last week. Starbucks Corp. was to face the New York state court for breaching a contract concluded with...
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 On Wednesday, Google talked about its plans to close a deal with NASA that would enable it to lease 42.2 acres of unimproved land at the latter’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.The land will be used for constructing around 1.2 million square feet of office and research spaces. The lease stretches over 40 years and should...
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 United Airlines and US Airways have called- off the talks regarding a merger due to the fact that United is about to align itself with Continental Airlines, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the situation.However, it looks like the growing concerns about labor opposition and integration costs were...
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 The well- known multi billionaire Donald Trump has finally agreed to sell his Trump Marina, located in Atlantic City, New Jersey, after years in which it was wasting away in the city’s ultra competitive casino market, for the amount of 316 million dollars.Richard Fields will be the beneficiary of the transaction, as Trump decided to also...
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 TiVo Inc. has announced that it will start offering a service which will enable subscribers to download Walt Disney Co. movies from the TV to their broadband-connected DVR hard drives. TiVo already has a movie offer of more than 30,000 titles available through Amazon.com Inc.'s Unbox service, as well as through some other providers. The...
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The New York developer Harry Macklowe finally agreed to sell the General Motors Building and other three skyscrapers in Manhattan to Boston Properties Inc., The New York Times reported on Saturday.According to the newspaper, the deal was long awaited, as talks began around a year ago. Boston Properties chief Mortimer B. Zuckerman and a...
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 The Manitowoc Company, Inc. announced on Monday that it has revised its offer for taking over Enodis to around 2.4 billion dollars, including Enodis’ net debt, which was approximately 245 million dollars as of March 29, 2008.Glen E. Tellock, Manitowoc president and chief executive officer, said: "Following the current recommended...
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 Microsoft released a statement on Sunday, saying that it is further aiming to “improve and expand its online services and advertising business,” hinting at the possibility of raising another deal with Yahoo! Inc., after it had previously withdrew its proposal to acquire the owner of the popular Web search engine.Under the new deal,...
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 On Tuesday, the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) announced its intention to buy Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) for a whopping $13.9 billion. If things go according to plan, this would be the company’s biggest deal in the past six years (since 2002’s $19 billion deal with Compaq) and HP would become the second largest IT services...
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 The New Zealand government announced in Monday that it aims to buy back the nation’s rail services from Toll Holdings Ltd. for NZ 665 million dollars (520 million dollars), also allowing upgrades to go ahead.The agreement regarding the purchase came after the government and the Australian Toll were unable to agree on a deal for Toll’s...
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 Mars Inc., the maker of the popular M&Ms, announced on Monday that it has reached a deal to acquire the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company for the amount of 23 billion dollars, in a transaction that could possibly be the first in a row of other rival companies to merge in order to create bigger and more powerful collaborations.Warren E. Buffett...
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 The Aloha Airlines pilots, through the Air Line Pilots Associations, are seeking injunctive relief against Aloha, which ended its passenger service last month, but which still handles most of the state’s air cargo.The pilots have filed an injunction complaint in the US Bankruptcy Court on Friday, saying that the airline’s management did...
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 Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. announced on Wednesday that its export arm, Canpotex Limited has reached a deal regarding the price of potatoes that it would sell to the Chinese Sinofert Holdings Limited , setting it at 400 dollars per each tonne higher than a year before.In addition, the settlement regarded the amount of...
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 Manitowoc Company, Inc. said on Monday that it has agreed to acquire the British food equipment maker Enodis plc for the amount of 2.1 billion dollars that also includes Enodis’ net debt of 207 million dollars.Both companies’ Boards of Directors have approved the deal that offers Enodis 258 pence per share and which is expected to be...
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 MySpace announced on Thursday that it has closed a distribution deal with Shine Group; the latter is to distribute MySpace Web shows on TV and on DVD format outside of the U.S. and according to the agreement, the first would hold on to distribution rights in the U.S. MySpace is the world’s largest social network. In time it has become a...
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 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, the largest drug maker in Japan, announced on Thursday that it reached a definitive agreement over the acquisition of the US company Millennium for around 8.8 billion dollars.The offer of 25 dollars per share was unanimously approved by both companies’ Boards of Directors, as the bid represents a 53...
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 Microsoft released a statement on Wednesday, as a reaction to Yahoo’s announcement that it reached a deal with Google for advertising space, which would potentially turn into a bigger partnership.The move made by Yahoo is another step into trying to avoid a hostile takeover by Microsoft, which is using all methods into persuading Yahoo’s...
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 EMC Corporation announced on Tuesday that it reached a definitive agreement to take over Iomega Corporation, the data storage and protection company for consumers and small businesses, for 3.85 dollars per outstanding share, that is a cash tender offer of around 213 million dollars.Through the deal, EMC will have the opportunity to...
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 Motorola Inc. and Carl Icahn have announced that they reached an agreement regarding the nomination of William R. Hambrecht and Keith Meister for election to Motorola’s Board of Directors, which will take place during the 2008 Annual Meeting of shareholders and included in the company's 2008 proxy statement.Also, under the agreement,...
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 The Indianapolis-based ATA Airlines ceased its operations on Thursday morning and abruptly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as the cancellation of a very important charter agreement with the FedEx Corp. left it unable to survive in the "current conditions ... including the tremendous spike in the price of jet fuel in recent...
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 The talks between Air France - KLM Group and labor unions regarding the acquisition of the troubled Alitalia failed to lead to a deal, sending the Italian airline on the straight way to bankruptcy, while its chairman, Maurizio Prato, announced his resignation, the company’s officials reported."I acknowledge with regret the collapse...
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 Rival companies Google and Yahoo,
along with the popular social networking web site MySpace, joined forces and
formed the OpenSocial Foundation. The three companies announced the deal on
Tuesday, in a move that will add the needed support to the non-profit
organization born to support the OpenSocial project Google initiated last...
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 The Indian Tata Group confirmed on Monday that it started negotiations with Ford Motor Co. regarding the acquisition of two British icons, the Jaguar and Land Rover.We will further see how the British icons, that some say represent the true spirit of the United Kingdom, will look under an Indian name.The news has risen questions over the...
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 Caterpillar Inc. has announced that it had reached a final agreement to take over a Japanese venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., in its attempt to expand in Asia.Under the agreement, which includes a share redemption plan, Caterpillar will end up owning 67 percent of Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd., which will be named...
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 J.P. Morgan and Chase Co. announced that they upped the offer for Bear Stearns to 10 dollars per share, four times more than the amount they offered nine days ago, amid rumors that shareholders were planning to reject the previous bid due to the low value.British billionaire Joe Lewis, who has invested around 1.26 billion dollars in Bear...
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 The US Department of Justice has given the antitrust clearance over the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. in a deal that is worth 4.59 billion dollars.The Justice Department reached the thumb up decision on Monday, saying that the acquisition of XM Satellite by its rival, Sirius, would not hurt...
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 The US food and drink giant PepsiCo and the Pepsi Bottling Group announced on Thursday that they have reached a definitive agreement in order to buy a 75.53 percent stake of the juice business of Lebedyansky, the biggest fruit juice producer in Russia and the sixth in the world, for the amount of 1.4 billion dollars.The joint statement...
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 The Alliance Data Systems Corporation, which is a leading provider of transaction- based loyalty and marketing services, announced on Monday that the Blackstone Group was in breach of contract over the acquisition of Alliance Data.Alliance said that Aladdin Solutions and Aladdin Merger Sub, which were created by Blackstone for purposes...
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 The International Paper Co. announced that it has signed a deal with Weyerhaeuser in order to acquire the company’s containerboard, packaging and recycling businesses in a 6 billion dollars cash deal.The world's largest forest-products maker agreed to buy nine containerboard mills, 72 packaging factories and other sites, which employ...
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 Soon after J.P. Morgan Chase and Co borrowed money from the New York Federal Reserve in order to lend the troubled investment bank Bear Stearns to keep it afloat, the analysts’ expectations have materialized, as they said the move would cost the bank’s independence.On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that J.P. Morgan Chase and...
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 It seems that
Microsoft doesn’t want to improve only its digital advertising business, as the
software maker has new ideas also for its virtualization business. Microsoft
announced recently two important acquisitions that are set to improve the
company’s existing development plans.
On Friday, Microsoft
announced that it decided...
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 The European Commission approved Google’s 3.1 billion dollars acquisition of online advertiser DoubleClick on Tuesday, which is expected to allow the web search leader to implement its advertising expansion plan that was on hold for almost an year.The deal was previously approved by the United States Federal Trade Commission in December...
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 Boeing officials, frustrated by the fact that a 40 billion dollars deal with the US Air Force has been given to a joint venture, including the European aircraft maker Airbus, announced that they will file a formal protest on Tuesday, in order to demand the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the decision by Air...
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Industrialized countries are continuing to emit more greenhouse gasses despite goals set by the Kyoto agreement to curb carbon pollution, a UN body said Monday.
The UN Climate Change Secretariat said planet-warming gases released by 40 industrial states that signed up the Kyoto framework increased an average 2.3 per cent between...
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Tiny Malta obtained a symbolic victory Thursday as European Union leaders acknowledged that the burden of asylum- seekers entering the bloc should be shared out among member states.
At a summit in Brussels, EU heads of state and government formally approved a European Pact on Immigration and Asylum.
The pact seeks to improve the...
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Sweden and Denmark on Monday joined the growing group of European countries that have raised state guarantees for bank deposits amid the ongoing financial turmoil.
In Finland, the cabinet committee on economic policy met Monday to discuss the events, saying Helsinki hoped the moves "will prove efficient in resolving the existing...
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French bank BNP Paribas will pay 14.5 billion euros (19.7 billion dollars) to take over the majority of the troubled insurance and banking giant Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg, BNP Paribas said on Monday.
The deal, which involves 9 billion euros' worth of shares and 5.5 billion euros in cash, includes the purchase of 75 per cent of...
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Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has opposed calling in ex-South African president Thabo Mbeki to salvage a power-sharing deal with prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Zanu-PF's chief negotiator Patrick Chinamasa rejected calls from the MDC for Mbeki to step in to end the...
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Serbia and the Italian carmaker Fiat on Monday signed a joint-venture deal expected to bring almost 1 billion euros (1.3 billion dollars) in investment and revive the moribund Serbian car industry.
"This is a big day for Serbia," President Boris Tadic said after the contract was signed.
Fiat would pour 700 million euros...
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Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday made a surprise visit to banks in the capital Harare that were the scene of long queues resulting from cash shortages.
Some of those queuing temporarily forgot about the miseries as they cheered the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader. Others said they had been in...
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Eighteen clinics were Monday being set aside in Hong Kong to treat children who may have been infected by tainted milk imported from China.
Seven special assessment centres will also open from Tuesday morning to do detailed examination on suspected cases with priority given to high-risk infants, Health Secretary York Chow...
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Britain's Lloyds TSB Bank is taking over ailing mortgage lender HBOS in what is seen as the biggest shake-up in the banking sector in the wake of the current international market turmoil.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said Thursday the merger was "absolutely necessary to ensure stability in the financial...
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North Korea said Tuesday it had stopped disabling its nuclear facilities in protest of the United States' failure to remove the country from its terrorist blacklist.
The foreign ministry in Pyongyang accused Washington of not having kept its side of a deal struck to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
In response,...
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Police in Zimbabwe detained two members of parliament from Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Monday after they turned up at parliament to take part in a swearing-in ceremony, the MDC said.
George Sibotshiwe, spokesman for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said Shua Mudiwa, MP for Mutare West, and Eliah Jembere,...
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The United States anticipates some changes in the text it has submitted for the consideration of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for a waiver allowing trade in fissile materials with India, an Indian television channel reported Friday.
"There may be changes in the text. But we will not allow any changes that will impede the...
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon plans to visit Myanmar in December to discuss the country's political stalemate, his special envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari disclosed Wednesday.
"Ban Ki-moon plans to come to Myanmar in the last week of December but this time the trip will be focused on politics," said Nyan Win, the...
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Polish and US officials planned to sign a deal Wednesday to station US missile interceptors in Poland, fuelling conflict with Russia in a region once dominated by Moscow.
Poland agreed last week to host part of the US missile shield in return for military aid, including a battery of Patriot air defence missiles in Poland, capping more...
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 Hurricane Dolly formed in the Caribbean is heading toward the U.S.-Mexico border and may strengthen into a Category 2 storm before reaching the coast around midday, forecasters predicted. According to the National Hurricane Center’s Web site, early this morning the hurricane’s center was an estimated 55 miles (90 kilometers)...
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Hezbollah handed back to Israel the bodies of
two Israeli soldiers Wednesday, two years and four days after snatching
them in a July 12, 2006 cross-border raid that sparked one month of
deadly and destructive fighting. Under a deal brokered by a
United Nations-appointed German mediator that closes the final chapter
of that 33-day...
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A court in The Hague is due to rule on
Thursday whether or not it is authorized to hear a case about the role
of the United Nations during the fall of the Muslim enclave Srebrenica
in 1995. After Bosnian Serbs reconquered the Muslim enclave,
they deported and murdered at least 8,000 people. Dutch UN peacekeepers
who were supposed...
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Thai Foreign Minister Noppodon Pattama
announced his resignation Thursday after being accused of violating the
constitution for signing a communique last month with Cambodia to back
the listing of an ancient Hindu temple as a World Heritage Site. 'To show responsibility and spirit I resign,' Noppodon told a press conference. ...
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Communist allies of India's United Progressive
Alliance Wednesday formally withdrew their support to the ruling
coalition over a civilian nuclear deal with the US and demanded a trust
vote in the Indian parliament. Leaders of the four left
parties that have provided the Congress-party led UPA with its
parliamentary majority since...
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Reality TV guru Mark Burnett has been slapped
with a 70-million-dollar lawsuit by a former partner who claims the
producer reneged on a deal to pay him 10 per cent of the profits from
shows like Survivor and The Apprentice.
Conrad Riggs, a former Disney executive, claimed in the lawsuit that
he played a key role in helping Burnett...
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 Israel and Syria stated on Wednesday they had launched indirect talks to reach a comprehensive peace
agreement. The talks are mediated by Turkish officials in Istanbul. This is the first time in eight
years when the two countries are willing to reach a common denominator.
"It will be a very long process. The direct...
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the 136th day of 2008 with 230 to follow. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Venus, Neptune, Uranus and Jupiter. The evening stars are Mars, Mercury and Saturn.Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include author L. Frank Baum ("The Wizard of Oz") in 1856; French chemist Pierre Curie in 1859; author...
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 U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is due to meet the three U.S. presidential candidates Thursday before
holding talks with President George W. Bush in Washington. As British newspapers pointed
comparisons between the premier’s three-day visit in the U.S. and the chronicled trip of Pope
Benedict XVI, a British official said that the...
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 After in London police battled to keep pro-Tibet
demonstrators away from the Olympic flame and more that 20 men had been
arrested, and in Paris the final leg of the 27-kilometre tour from the capital
had to be cancelled because of the protests, Chinese authorities are also
expecting to see protests during the Tibetan stage of the...
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 No fewer than 60 leaders from NATO states, partners and
aspirant members together with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will gather for a three-day meeting in the
Romanian capital Bucharest.
The summit is starting Wednesday and might decide whether it would mark a
decline or a turning point in the...
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 In a new five-minute audio message broadcasted by the Arabic television channel al-Jazeera late
Wednesday, Osama bin Laden warned Europeans they will deal with a “severe
reckoning” due to siding with the United States in Afghanistan and for publishing
cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in magazines and newspapers, which is
considered...
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 According to recent news reports, Russia and India signed a
deal to jointly build a multipurpose transport plane Monday as President
Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrapped up a visit that
highlighted deepening military and economic ties between the two nations.
It was unclear, however, whether the two sides were...
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 In an attempt to minimize further casualties caused by serious differences over the fight against Iraq-based Kurdish guerrillas, President Bush and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey sought Monday to resolve these issues. The two state officials agreed on the need to share intelligence to end their deadly raids.However there...
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 According to a statement released on Thursday by the world’s
web search leader, Google, it was unlikely U.S. antitrust authorities would
seek to impose conditions on its $3.1 billion acquisition of advertising
company Double-Click.
David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, told reporters
he did not expect the Federal Trade...
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