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Obama won the election, but did he beat Britney and Miley for top Web searches of 2008?
Governor General Michaelle Jean cuts short an overseas trip to return to Canada to deal with a growing political crisis.
Retail sales across the 15 euro nations fell more than expected in October, increasing the chance of an interest rate cut.
STARTING in 1965 with the DB5 in ?Goldfinger,? Aston Martin has been linked at the tuxedoed hip with James Bond; gadget-packed Astons have been driven by Connery, Lazenby, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig.
Treat the whole family to a festive adventure at one of these magical attractions
How would our government react to a terrorist attack in the age of social networking? Mumbai and other atrocities have led to draconian plans, says Michael Cross
Google announces the public release of support for the CalDAV protocol.
The former president says he is open to the possibility of a role in the Obama administration.
Plaxico Burress reported to Giants Stadium to learn his season is over.The New York Giants placed Burress on the reserve/non-football injury list Tuesday, officially ending his season.
In an alternate universe, we're all obsessing about the impending release of The Matrix V and Chronicles Of Riddick 9. Even as we're drowning in retreads of things that launched in the 1960s, just think of all the more recent works that tried ? and failed ? to launch a franchise. Why is it so difficult?
For the most part, Rupert Murdoch courts controversy. "He likes to set the house on fire and watch all the fire engines drive maniacally down the road," Michael Wolff writes in a biography of the News Corporation chairman. But he's touchy about his third wife, Wendi Deng, nearly 40 years his junior.
One of the most notorious sex cases in Hollywood history could reach a belated conclusion if Roman Polanski gets his way. The Oscar-winning director is seeking the dismissal of a charge that saw him flee the US in 1978 after admitting "unlawful sexual intercourse" with a 13-year-old girl. Lawyers for Polanski filed a request in Los Angeles yesterday on the basis of new evidence brought to light by the recent documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. The request alleged that the film, which had its premiere in Cannes last May, revealed "a pattern of misconduct and improper communications" between the district attorney's office and the judge handling Polanski's case. "This case serves as a classic example of how our justice system can be abused, and defendants' rights trampled, by an unholy alliance between courts and criminal prosecutors," said a statement from Polanski's lawyers, Chad Hummel and Brad Dalton. Dalton is the son of Doug Dalton, who represented the Polish-born director in the original case.Polanski, 75, has been living in Paris since fleeing the US to avoid a likely custodial sentence. He was originally indicted on six felony counts although all but one - unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor - were dropped. Even so, the film-maker faced a prison sentence of between 16 months and three years. The warrant issued at the time of his arrest remains in force, ensuring he would be seized by the authorities if he returned to America. The incident, which sparked a media storm, reportedly took place after Polanski booked 13-year-old Samantha Gailey as a model for a Vogue photo shoot. He is alleged to have given her champagne and Quaaludes (a sedative) before having sex with her at the Mulholland Drive home of his friend Jack Nicholson. Gailey publicly forgave the director in 1997. At the time of the incident, Polanski was one of Hollywood's most in-demand directors, thanks to the success of Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. Despite his tarnished reputation, he continues to be well-regarded within the industry and won the 2003 best director Oscar for his work on the Holocaust drama The Pianist. The award was accepted on Polanski's behalf by the actor Harrison Ford. Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for Los Angeles district attorney Steve Cooley, said her office had not yet received the papers for Polanski's case and would not take a position until it had done so. "We're looking forward to seeing Mr Polanski in Los Angeles to litigate it," she added The case is due before the Los Angeles county superior court on January 21.Roman Polanskiguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
The process of opening up the new .tel net domain - a repository for contact details - begins on 3 December.
US secretary of state urges Islamabad to act swiftly after refusal to hand over 20 named suspects wanted by India
Somali pirates have freed a Yemeni cargo ship captured 10 days ago without a ransom, says a minister.
Hope Williams, one of the week-old conjoined twins separated last night by surgeons at Great Ormond Street hospital in London, has died.Her parents, Laura and Aled Williams, were present when the baby girl died after being separated from her twin, Faith. After the procedure, Hope's lungs proved too small for her to survive.Doctors said the emergency operation was essential because an intestinal blockage had caused a sudden deterioration in the babies' health.The surgery lasted 11 hours, finishing at about 7am today.Professor Agostino Pierro, the head of the surgical team, said the operation was "one of the most complex and challenging" caried out at the hospital.Faith had a 50% chance of survival, he said. She was in a "stable" condition although complications could still occur."If everything goes well there will be more surgery required to close her tummy but I can't tell you now when the surgery will happen," Pierro said.More than 20 staff were involved, he said. The twins were moved into different theatres after the separation."The technical separation worked well ? although it was extremely challenging ? and went according to plan," he said."However, very sadly, after separation baby Hope's lungs proved too small to support her breathing and she died last night in the presence of her parents. "They are clearly devastated by the loss of their daughter and we offer them our deepest condolences on their loss." Laura Williams, 18, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, became the youngest mother of conjoined twins in recorded medical history when the babies were delivered by caesarean section last Wednesday.They were joined from the breast bone to the navel but had separate hearts.They were found to be joined after a 12-week scan during pregnancy. Doctors warned that the twins might not survive but the parents decided to continue the pregnancy.Doctors had hoped to wait until the babies were older and stronger to operate but decided their shared circulatory system and two separate hearts made a delay too risky.The survival rate is 20-25% for emergency separation of conjoined twins in cases like Hope and Faith's, according to Great Ormond Street.In non-emergency cases, where both children are stable, the hospital's success rate is over 80%.The twins had been treated at Great Ormond Street since their birth. It is one of the leading European centres for the care of conjoined twins.Healthguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
A British doctor volunteering in DR Congo performs a life-saving amputation using text message instructions from a colleague.
Berlin zoo reluctantly seeks new home for its growing star attraction as it cannot afford cost of larger enclosure
Britain's dominant services sector is shrinking at a record pace, a new survey showed this morning, suggesting the economy is heading into a deep recession.The CIPS/Markit monthly snapshot of the sector showed that the purchasing managers' index, which measures everything from output to orders and jobs, fell to just 40.1 last month, the lowest since the survey began in 1996.As the figure is far below the 50.0 level that divides expansion from contraction, the survey suggests that the sector, which account for about two thirds of the economy, is contracting rapidly.The data come as the Bank of England's monetary policy committee gathers for its monthly two-day interest rates meeting, at which it is widely expected to slash another one percentage point off Bank rate, taking it to a joint all-time low of just 2%.The news also sent the pound down sharply on the foreign exchanges, to below $1.47 and to 1.16 against the euro.The services PMI came on the back of similar surveys of the manufacturing and construction sectors this week, both of which also showed record drops in activity."Given the weakness across all purchasing managers' indices it looks as though we could see the economy contract by close to 1% in the fourth quarter," said James Knightley of ING Financial Markets."The first quarter of 2009 is likely to be similarly weak given the long lead times before the policy stimulus we have seen can take effect, especially since the monetary policy transmission mechanism is not functioning properly. This will put pressure on the BoE to continue delivering aggressive monetary easing and we expect to see a further 100bp of rate cuts tomorrow. Rates are then expected to all to 1% early in the New Year."A similar survey of the services sector in the euro zone was equally weak, leading analysts to predict another interest rate cut from the European Central Bank on Thursday.RecessionEconomicsBank of EnglandInterest ratesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
An international conference opens in Norway where the first of more than 100 countries will sign a treaty to ban cluster bombs.
Mumbai police believe a senior Lashkar-e-Taiba planner in Pakistan masterminded the Mumbai terrorist attacks last week and was among several leaders of the militant group who were in touch by satellite links with the 10 terrorists in the two days before they landed in India.
The warm feeling surrounding Germany's celebrity polar bear Knut is turning icy ahead of his second birthday, because Berlin may lose him.
Researcher June Edmunds argues that most young British Muslims are not disaffected radicals. But politics professor Anthony Glees points out that her study is based on just 26 interviews
Although there's been some evidence to suggest Snow Leopard could hit the market several months ahead of expectations, new information reveals that Apple remains heavily engaged in building out some of the features first previewed back in June.