Search giant Google has entered the online music market with a new service for finding and buying music online. OneBox is an alliance with music sites Lala and MySpace-owned iLike. The US-only service allows people to search using song titles, artists or using snippets of lyrics and will also stream sought-after tracks. Mark Mulligan, an [...]
A period of careful eating and regular exercise can stave off diabetes for a decade, a study suggests. US researchers followed up nearly 3,000 overweight people who had taken part in a three year diabetes prevention programme. The group had initially been divided into three – assigned either to a diet and exercise programme, the [...]
President Barack Obama has welcomed the news that the US economy returned to growth between July and September. Official figures showed the economy grew by 3.5% during the quarter, its first expansion in more than a year. The growth was helped by a substantial government spending plan, including a scrappage scheme to boost car sales. [...]
EU leaders meeting in Brussels have agreed a deal designed to win Czech backing of the Lisbon Treaty, clearing a major hurdle to its ratification. The Czechs were granted an opt-out from the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, similar to that of the UK and Poland. Czech President Vaclav Klaus was satisfied with the [...]
Germany’s new coalition government has been sworn in after Chancellor Angela Merkel was formally re-elected for a second term by MPs. The new coalition government is made up of Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrat CDU/CSU and the Free Democrats (FDP). It has already promised controversial tax cuts in an effort to boost growth and kick-start [...]
Visitors to technology blog Gizmodo are being warned that they could have picked up more than tips about the latest must-have gadget. According to security firm Sophos, the website was delivering advertisements "laced with malware" last week. A statement on the Gizmodo website admits that it was tricked into running Suzuki adverts which were in [...]
Vending machines stocked with unhealthy snacks in leisure centres run the risk of fuelling childhood obesity, warn experts. Crisps and chocolate are on sale where children exercise despite being banned from schools and children’s TV, the British Heart Foundation found. And children’s meals on offer at the 35 venues spot-checked were dominated by chips, nuggets, [...]
US consumer confidence fell sharply and unexpectedly in October as fears about future job prospects increasingly preyed upon Americans. The closely-watched Consumer Confidence Index from the Conference Board business organisation slipped to 47.7 from a revised 53.4 in September. Analysts were expecting the index to be unchanged or even to rise slightly. Separately, a leading [...]
Prosecutors at the genocide and war crimes trial of ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic have branded him the leader of an ethnic cleansing campaign. The court ruled the trial in The Hague could resume despite Mr Karadzic boycotting it for a second day. In opening remarks, prosecutors said Mr Karadzic had "harnessed the forces [...]
A service that gave many people their first taste of building and owning a web page is set to close. Yahoo-owned GeoCities once boasted millions of users and was the third most popular destination on the web. The free site has since fallen out of fashion with users, who have switched to social networks. Yahoo, [...]
Scientists say they have discovered an antibody that could minimise the major internal bleeding seen in traumas like bullet wounds and car crashes. The team at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) has discovered that a protein called histone is responsible for much of the damage. They say they have found a specific type of antibody [...]
Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction and mining equipment maker, says it will permanently cut 2,500 jobs in the US. But the news comes even as signs of economic recovery have allowed it to rehire 550 workers it had previously laid off. The company has cut about 34,000 full-time and contracted workers globally during the downturn. [...]