EU, Microsoft agree on browser ballot

The European Commission and Microsoft have finalised the proposal for a 'browser ballot' in Windows, following the Commission's concern that Microsoft was unfairly using its operating system monopoly to gain control of the browser market.The browser...

Volcano eruption in Philippines prompts evacuations

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from areas near Mount Mayon in the Philippines on Tuesday, after the lava started flowing out of the volcano. Local scientists caution that Mayon might be on...

Suicide bomber kills at least twenty in Pakistan town

Local officials in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan in Pakistan said on Tuesday that at least twenty people were killed after a suicide car bomber attacked the house of a provincial governor. The Al Jazeera...

Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" makes maiden flight

Boeing's newest commercial aircraft, the 787 "Dreamliner", made its first test flight Tuesday in Everett, Washington at 18:00 UTC. Boeing claims that the new 290+ seat wide-body, twin engine jetliner is more fuel efficient than previous Boeing models.The...

Alleged tax-haven scheme linked to Canada's largest brokerage firm

In a continuing crackdown on tax evasion, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has alleged that brokers with a branch of RBC Dominion Securities, Canada's largest brokerage company, helped clients set up accounts...

Guantanamo inmates to be transferred to Illinois

The White House is expected to announce today that several inmates from the United States' controversial detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are to be relocated to a prison facility, to be acquired by the Federal Government, on the US mainland.The...

Cyclone Mick wreaks havoc on Fiji

Cyclone Mick, the first storm of the 2009–10 South Pacific cyclone season, has left at least four people dead after battering Fiji on Monday.The storm inflicted widespread damage throughout the nation, although the island of Viti Levu bore the brunt...

Two killed as Islamic militants storm Philippine jail

At least 31 inmates are believed to have escaped and a further two, including a prison guard, killed after a group of up to one hundred Islamic militants stormed a prison in Isabela City on Basilan island in the southern Philippines. The escapees are...

At least eight die in Afghan capital suicide bombing

At least eight people have died in the Afghan capital Kabul after a suicide bombing hit the Wazir Akbar Khan diplomatic and governmental residential district, according to officials.The car bomb exploded...

At least 22 killed in blast in central Pakistan

A car bomb has killed at least 22 people and injured 70 injured in Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan according to local officials. The bomb exploded in a market in the town in the central Punjab province."The whole market has collapsed," said local resident...

Mark Ingram wins 2009 Heisman Trophy

Ingram, the third consecutive sophomore to win the award for the top American Football player in NCAA Division I, was visibly emotional about receiving the award. The award was the first for Alabama.The margin of victory was the closest ever for the...

Maori flag to fly along side the New Zealand Flag on Waitangi day

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has announced that Cabinet decided on Monday that the controversial Maori sovereignty flag Tino Rangatiratang from 2010 is to be to be flown on New Zealand’s national day, Waitangi Day on Auckland Harbour Bridge, Premier...

WHO: Polio reemerging in Africa

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said earlier today that polio has reemerged in several countries in Africa. WHO Africa regional director Luis Gomes Sambo made the announcement at the beginning of a Zimbabwe conference regarding child immunisation."Several...

Dubai receives bailout from Abu Dhabi

The government of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates has agreed to give US$10 billion to its neighboring emirate, allowing the state-owned Dubai World conglomerate to repay its immediate debt obligations. Dubai says more than $4 billion of the injection...

Africa makes first draft version of UNCCC treaty, with harder goals

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, after four days of negotiations, Africa countries have made the first draft version of future possible treaty, to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol. Africa leaders demand 5% of GDP of developed...

Berlusconi to remain in hospital after assault

The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is to remain in the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, following yesterday's assault which left him with facial damage, two broken teeth, a broken nose and cuts to his lips. The assault on the 73-year-old media...

Google mobile phone rumours ramp up

Rumours have increased over the possible release of a Google branded smartphone in the New Year, running its Android mobile operating system. Speculation has been rife after it was reported that Google have distributed handsets to its employees for testing...

Ryan Giggs named BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Welsh footballer Ryan Giggs was named as the 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year in a ceremony Sunday night. The 36-year-old Manchester United and Welsh international player has won a record eleven Premier League titles in his career, and made over...

Iran releases five detained Britons

Iranian authorities have released five British yachtsmen who were detained last week in the Persian Gulf. A statement from Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that, after investigation, it reached the conclusion that their illegal entry was a mistake.Britain's...

British actress Maggie Jones dies age 75

British actress Maggie Jones has died at the age of 75. The actress was best known for playing the role of Blanche Hunt in the British soap opera Coronation Street. She died on Wednesday morning in hospital. Jones played Blanche for 35 years but did...

Religious and political leaders criticise Swiss ban on minarets

Religious and political leaders from around the world have criticised the ban on building minarets as part of the Swiss referendum held in November.Leaders from the Vatican and the Muslim community around the world have deplored the vote as an attack...

Pakistani Member of Parliament killed by suicide bomber

A Pakistani provincial politician was killed earlier today by a teen-aged suicide bomber in the northwestern Swat valley.Shamsher Ali Khan, a member of the Awami National Party, was receiving guests at his residence in the town of Kanju, when a young...

Chelsea Clinton engaged to banker Marc Mezvinsky

Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Bill Clinton, U.S. President from 1993 to 2001, has announced that she is engaged to her long-term boyfriend. The 29-year-old announced her engagement to Marc Mezvinsky to friends via e-mail. Mezvinsky is the son of Ed...

Porfirio Lobo wins Honduran presidential elections

Porfirio Lobo, a wealthy rancher, has won the presidential election in Honduras, with about 56% of ballots cast, according to results. Election officials say voter turnout was high, in spite of a call by ousted President Manuel Zelaya to boycott the...

Somali pirates seize Greek-owned tanker

Somali pirates have seized the Greek-owned Maran Centaurus, an oil tanker with 28 crew members on board, yesterday, according to reports.Officials say the tanker, which can transport more than two million barrels of oil, was sailing from Saudi Arabia...

4-year-old boy killed by dog in Liverpool, England

A four-year-old boy has been killed by a dog in the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. The child has been identified as John Paul Massey. The animal belonged to his uncle. The boy's 63-year-old...

LHC sets new particle energy acceleration record

The world's Large Hadron Collider accelerated its protons to an energy of 1.18 TeV at 00:44 GMT+1 today. This set a new world record, surpassing the 0.98 TeV record set at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory's Tevatron collider, which was commissioned...

US President Obama delivers address on Afghanistan plan

Tuesday evening, United States President Barack Obama went to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, to deliver a televised address to announce his new approach to the War in Afghanistan.President Obama announced an increase of 30,000...

Boat accident in Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 73

A boat sank in the western Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, killing at least 73 people, according to reports.The International Committee of the Red Cross says the cargo boat was carrying passengers,...

Iran to build ten new uranium enrichment plants

Iran's announced earlier today that it plans to build ten new uranium enrichment plants. Iranian media reported that the Cabinet approved the construction of the plants just two days after the International...

Soviet statue returns to Moscow

On Saturday, Worker and Kolkhoznitsa, a giant statue of Soviet times, was returned to a pedestal in Moscow, Russia. It was done after a long five-year restoration process since the monument was dismantled...

Prime Minister of Vanuatu loses seat over paperwork error

Edward Natapei, the Prime Minister of Vanuatu has lost his position and parliamentary seat over a paper work blunder. Natapei was in Trinidad and Tobago at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and his staff failed to file the paperwork that notified...

Five dead, ten critically injured after van carrying children rolls on Louisiana highway

Five people are dead and ten more are in a critical condition after a minivan packed with children rolled over on Louisiana's Interstate 10 highway yesterday. The vehicle's driver lost control after a...

Obama declares tougher emission targets before Copenhagen summit

Barack Obama has set tougher emission targets in a White House speech. He said, the USA intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions "in the range of" 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. Obama will attend the Copenhagen international...

Suspected bomb derails Moscow-St Petersburg train, kills at least 25

An express train travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg in Russia derailed yesterday, leaving at least 25 people dead and 100 more wounded. Authorities suspect a terrorist attack after a possible bomb crater was found beside the line.File map of Russia's...

Zimbabwean cargo plane crashes in Shanghai; three dead

A cargo aircraft registered in Zimbabwe crashed today at Shanghai International Airport in China. Three of the crew have been killed.Another four people were taken to the Pudong Xinqu People's Hospital after the plane went down on takeoff and burst into...

Ferry capsizes in Bangladesh, at least five dead and 50 missing

A ferry has sunk in Bangladesh earlier today, killing at least five people, according to authorities. About fifty more people were missing after the incident.Police said that the accident occurred as the vessel, called the MV Coco-4, came near a river...

Namibia votes in presidential election

Voters are heading to the polls today in Namibia to elect a president and parliament The ruling South West Africa People's Organization is expected to win presidential and parliamentary elections, but a new opposition party is mounting a challenge.Voters...

UN nuclear chief says negotiations with Iran at 'dead end'

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said earlier on Thursday that the organization has reached a "dead end" in a probe into Iran's nuclear program. The IAEA's board is meeting to consider a resolution condemning Iran's...

Golfer Tiger Woods injured in car crash

American golfer Tiger Woods has been injured in a car crash near his home in Orlando, Florida. Woods was reported to have been leaving his home around 2:30 a.m. (EST) in his 2009 Cadillac Escalade, when he collided with a fire hydrant and a tree down...

77 dead after flooding in Saudi Arabia

The worst flooding in 27 years in Saudi Arabia has left at least 77 people dead, and dozens more could be missing. The floods came after torrential rains on Wednesday.The rainstorms mainly affected western parts of the country, including the cities of...

Uninvited couple passes Secret Service checkpoint, crashes White House state dinner

A couple entered a White House state dinner when they were univited, passing through several layers of security, and socialized with high-profile guests Tuesday night.Tareq and Michaele Salahi from northern Virginia arrived at the party at approximately...

Jordanian king dissolves parliament, calls for general election two years ahead of schedule

The king of Jordan, King Abdullah, dissolved the country's parliament on Tuesday, half-way through its four year term, and called for early general elections to be held, up to two years ahead of schedule.The monarch did not immediately provide a reason...

Israel announces 10 month halt to settlement construction in West Bank

The prime minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, told a news conference earlier today that there will be a ten-month stop in the construction of new settlement housing in the West Bank. The Israeli cabinet approved the move by a margin of eleven to...

Death of Kentucky census worker considered suicide

Kentucky State Police said yesterday that the September 12 death of census worker Bill Sparkman was suicide. His body was found naked in a Clay County, Kentucky cemetery, with "Fed" written on his chest and his census identification taped to his neck....

School closed after five-year-old boy dies from suspected swine flu in Buckinghamshire, England

Wednesday, November 25, 2009A five-year-old boy has been suspected to have died from the H1N1 swine flu virus in Buckinghamshire, England. The boy came from Emberton School, which now has just 29 pupils attending.Health tests are currently being carried...

Sakurai Prize awarded for Higgs boson theories

Wednesday, November 25, 2009The American Physical Society has awarded its 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics to six scientists for their contributions to theories on the origin of mass, including the key concepts of the Higgs boson...

British Climatic Research Unit's emails hacked

Thursday, November 19, 2009 Unknown individuals gained access to a server of University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU). As a result, around thirteen years of email correspondence between...

Ritual sacrifice in Nepal sees 320,000 animals slaughtered to Hindu goddess

Tuesday, November 24, 2009In a tribute to Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power, a Nepalese festival began today with the mass sacrifice of 20,000 buffalo in the village of Bariyapur. Shortly after, 300,000...

Reverend Billy Joe Daugherty dies at the age of 57

Tuesday, November 24, 2009Founder of the Victory Christian Centre, Billy Joe Daugherty died aged 57 on Sunday 4:40 am. This followed a short battle with lymphoma. The death was announced by church officials during morning services that day.Adam Sanders,...

Benet Academy, Illinois students support classmate with leukemia

Tuesday, November 24, 2009Students at Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois, United States, have raised money and offered support for Jenna McKeown, a classmate who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.Miss McKeown, a 17-year-old senior from Naperville, was...

Four US, eight Afghan troops killed in Afghanistan after attacks

Tuesday, November 24, 2009International security forces in Afghanistan stated today that recent attacks in the country's south and east have killed four US and eight Afghan soldiers.A NATO statement said that a bomb killed one US soldier in eastern Afghanistan...

UK policeman convicted of murdering WPC fiancée who died after staged car crash

A policeman from the United Kingdom plead guilty to the murder of his fiancée, a female police constable. PC Martin Forshaw, 27, used a steel hammer to bludgeon WPC Claire Howarth, 31, before placing her in her car and staging an accident.Forshaw's intent...