Stuck in the middle The last time we saw the guys in the horned helmets, they were standing numbly in Nawlins while their star-spangled rivals carried Adam Vinatieri off the Superdome floor. The Patriots have earned another set of championship rings since then and strung together a 21-game winning streak. And the St. Louis Rams have gone on a jolting carnival ride that still ...


EADS boosted by Airbus orders European aerospace group EADS reports higher-than-expected profits, boosted by sales in its Airbus plane-making subsidiary.


Ill., Mich. Want New Federal Isotope Lab (AP) AP - Like most of us, politicians don't know much about isotopes. But because they know something about money and jobs, lawmakers from Illinois and Michigan are locked in a battle to convince the federal government that their state and not the other one is the perfect place for a new lab devoted to these unstable atomic forms.


Brown may miss target, PwC says Gordon Brown may miss his golden rule on public borrowing because of a shortfall in corporate tax revenues, a new study says.


Chirac 'snubs' Allawi at EU talks Iraqi interim leader Iyad Allawi is to meet EU leaders, but France's president says he is too busy to attend.


UK house market 'losing impetus' UK house prices fell by 1.1 in October, confirming a softening of the housing market, the UK's biggest mortgage lender says.


UNH Center to Study Stormwater Treatment (AP) AP - A new research center at the University of New Hampshire hopes to help reduce a huge threat to water quality nationwide: stormwater carrying pollutants into streams, wetlands and coastal harbors.


Dillon is not yet up to speed Corey Dillon , who missed last Sunday's game against Pittsburgh with a thigh injury, was held out of practice again yesterday.


Cahoot hit by web security scare A security loophole at internet bank Cahoot allowed customers to view other people's accounts, a BBC investigation reveals.


Ex-East Timor governor acquitted \The only person to begin serving his jail sentence for the 1999 violence in East Timor is cleared on appeal.


Fatalism? It's an old frame of mind  quot;Hey, there. You look so happy. Red Sox fever still got you? quot;  quot;Nope. Over and done with that. quot;


Broadband in the UK growing fast Britons are signing up for broadband net connections in greater numbers than ever, figures by BT show.


Restoration Said May Help Gulf of Maine (AP) AP - Improved fish passage on the Penobscot River and recovery of a salt marsh on the west branch of the Pleasant River could bring environmental benefits to the Gulf of Maine, according to a new report.


Nigeria union calls second strike Nigeria's main trade union says it will hold a second general strike which could target oil production.


Zholtok death shakes hockey world Latvian and NHL hockey players and fans were saddened yesterday after national star Sergei Zholtok died while playing in Belarus.


Experts Study Skeletal Remains in Utah (AP) AP - Archaeologists have begun excavating ancient skeletal remains believed to be those of five people, probably Anasazis.


Convictions in Enron fraud trial Four former Merrill Lynch employees and an ex-Enron executive are found guilty of artificially inflating the energy firm's profits.


Key New England games HOFSTRA (4-4) vs. MAINE (4-4) When, where: Tomorrow, 2 p.m., at Orono, Maine. Last season: Maine won, 44-21. Comments: Maine is coming off a 35-34 loss to Massachusetts. TB Marcus Williams rushed for 175 yards on 28 carries to lead a Black Bear offense that accumulated 451 yards. Ron Whitcomb completed 22 of 33 passes with 1 TD and 1 ...


Study: Bears Kill More Elk Than Wolves (AP) AP - Grizzly and black bears killed a majority of elk calves in northern Yellowstone National Park for the second year in a row, preliminary study results show.


Receiver refused to lose grip The way Larry Lester sees it, there wouldn't be any ups without the downs. The triumphant highs just wouldn't be worth savoring without first having experienced the devastating lows.


UN condemns Ivory Coast bombing The UN says government air strikes on rebel-held territory in northern Ivory Coast is a "major violation" of a truce.


UMass draws support There are some people who think the University of Massachusetts basketball team is a contender in the Atlantic 10 this season. The Minutemen received 12 first-place votes and were projected for a third-place finish in the East Division in the league's men's preseason poll with voting from coaches and the media.


Trouser traders scent foul play China protests against a US investigation that could lead a to trade war over China's cotton trouser trade.


Hopefuls in the homestretch It's still a month from the final vote, but make no mistake, the Heisman Trophy race is heating up. Starting tomorrow, and continuing through the first week of December, the candidates will strut their stuff.


Rare White Rattlesnake Finds Home (AP) AP - A white rattlesnake that was found on a Meade County ranch 19 miles southwest of Faith has landed in the private collection of Denise and Chris Alverson of Rapid City.


Germany unveils debt cut measures The German government announces a series of measures to rein in its public deficit, including proposing scrapping one public holiday.


Fighting over Brown Jan. 14: NU offers Brown a contract extension through 2009 and a raise after Holy Cross offers him its head coaching position.


India and Iran in gas partnership A major Indian state-owned oil company signs up to a joint venture to  develop a gas field and liquefaction plant in Iran.


Brennan has the last word He was, as usual, ready with a monologue that played well in Burlington or Barre or anywhere else in a state where he has become a beloved figure, known for his quick wit and engaging personality.


Study Links Tree Rings to Global Warming (AP) AP - Did global warming spur severe drought in the Western United States? A new study co-authored by a tree-ring researcher at the University of Arizona shows a possible connection.


Bentley, C.W. Post expect to have berth marks With most Division 2 teams preparing for their final regular-season games, the NCAA playoff picture is beginning to take shape.


Japan warns of prison crowding Japan's prisons are at their most crowded in years, a result of rising crime and longer sentences.


SFO to investigate BAE contracts The Serious Fraud Office investigates allegations of false accounting in connection with contracts between the Saudi Arabian government and three firms, including BAE Systems.


Louisville holds off Memphis Eric Shelton scored his fourth touchdown with 37 seconds left, and No. 14 Louisville held off Memphis, 56-49, last night.


India raises petrol pump prices The Indian government increases retail prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas to bring them in line with recent global rises.


Failed Mars Probe Blamed on Lack of Funds (AP) AP - A failed European mission to land a probe on Mars last year was hampered by late funding from the British government and tensions between groups conducting the flight, a parliamentary committee said Tuesday.


Saving grace Matt Reis has never easily accepted the apprentice goalkeeper's role. Reis has been battling the label of backup, though that has been his position for most of his collegiate and professional career. But Reis's profile could be changing after he saved two penalty kicks as the Revolution eliminated the Columbus Crew from the MLS playoffs last Sunday. Reis ...


Football: Uefa Cup round-up Sasa Ilic hits a hat-trick for Partizan Belgrade in a 4-0 win over Egaleo, plus Thursday's other matches.


Textiles boost Bangladesh exports Bangladesh's exports have risen by more than a quarter, boosted by clothing sales, a government report says.


Researcher Risks Killer Snails for Study (AP) AP - Jon-Paul Bingham puts his life on the line every week for the sake of science. One wrong move, and he could become the hapless victim of a snail attack that could kill him.


Late charge lifts Wellesley Seedings don't matter. At least that's what Wellesley field hockey coach Chris Molonea tried to convey to her players as they faced fourth-seeded Somerset yesterday in Division 1 South tournament action.


A national league The Red Sox are the newest champions to grace the cover of a Wheaties box. But with what the team was paid for the deal, it couldn't even buy a box of Wheaties.


Alaska's Lone Elephant Getting Treadmill (AP) AP - Animal handlers agonized over the issue for more than a year: the wisdom of moving Alaska's only elephant away from the only home she has ever known. Nine elephant experts were consulted from zoos and animal parks in the United States and Canada, and a decision was made: Maggie stays.


Matt Nuzzo Everett's Matt Nuzzo is a four-year starter at quarterback with an amazing 39-1 record. Everett's all-time passing touchdown leader, Nuzzo is this week's Q  amp; A.


Gold Fields fate now in the hands of shareholders Mining giant Gold Fields will know after a crucial shareholder vote on Tuesday if it has succeeded in ending a cheeky hostile takeover bid by its rival Harmony to create the world #39;s largest gold producer.


Cassini Sending Back Data on Saturn Moon (AP) AP - Scientists say the Cassini spacecraft is sending back evidence that Saturn's planet-size moon Titan has some familiar features, but that it still remains one of the strangest worlds.


Dead Black Watch soldiers named The three Black Watch soldiers killed in a suicide bomb attack in central Iraq are named.


Electric plan could hit consumers Greater Boston businesses and homeowners buckling under soaring gasoline and heating costs could get socked with up to \$800 million a year in new electric costs under a proposed federal policy change, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly warned yesterday.


This week's schedule TODAY'S GAMES Division 1 CATHOLIC -- St. John's Prep at Malden Catholic, 6. GREATER BOSTON -- Somerville at Malden, 6:30; Cambridge at Medford, 7; Everett at Peabody, 7; Revere at Waltham, 7.


Farming Killer Cone Snails a Risky Affair (AP) AP - Jon-Paul Bingham puts his life on the line every week for the sake of science. One wrong move, and he could become the hapless victim of a snail attack that could kill him. Bingham, a biochemist at Clarkson University, is a self-described "conehead" whose livelihood depends on scuba diving for tropical marine cone snails and coaxing them to discharge their venom in his laboratory.


Citizens plans push to get customers to switch banks Citizens Financial Group, New England's second-largest bank, plans to launch today an aggressive effort to encourage customers to switch banks.


Arthritis drug warnings 'ignored' \An arthritis drug should have been taken off the market years before it was finally withdrawn, say researchers.


Markets surge on oil drop, election Wall Street bounded higher for the second straight day yesterday as investors reveled in sharply falling oil prices and the probusiness agenda of the second Bush administration. The Dow Jones industrials gained more than 177 points for its best day of 2004, while the Standard  amp; Poor's 500 closed at its highest level since early 2002.


Awesome power of Iceland volcano A volcanic eruption in Iceland has set off tremors and prompted officials to warn pilots to avoid flying through gasses emitted by the blast.


Productivity growth slows The productivity of America's workers grew at a 1.9 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the smallest gain since late 2002, the government reported yesterday.


Supercomputer breaks speed record \The US is poised to push Japan off the top of the supercomputing charts with an IBM prototype Blue Gene machine.


Mitchell has leg up on rematch Sharmba Mitchell knew he shouldn't have been going into a boxing ring two years ago. He should have been going into an operating room.


Dynogen enters drug licensing deal Dynogen Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Waltham said it licensed a late-stage drug candidate from Mitsubishi Pharma Corp. Terms weren't disclosed. The compound, pumosetrag, is thought to be helpful to patients suffering from a variety of gastrointestinal conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome. Dynogen, a privately held firm, said it plans to start new clinical trials with pumosetrag next year. Mitsubishi, part ...


This weekend on TV, radio TODAY AUTO RACING 4 p.m. -- NASCAR Nextel Cup Checker Auto Parts 500 qualifying at Avondale, Ariz., Speed Channel 5 p.m. -- NASCAR Craftsman Trucks Chevy Silverado 150 at Avondale, Ariz., Speed Channel PRO BASKETBALL 7:30 p.m. -- Celtics vs. Indiana at the FleetCenter, FSN, WWZN (1510) 8 p.m. -- Houston at Memphis, ESPN 10:30 p.m. -- San Antonio at ...


Local firm in pact to turn corn to plastic Plastic made from corn could soon be widely available, the result of a joint venture signed yesterday between a small Cambridge company with MIT roots and Archer Daniels Midland Co. , the multibillion-dollar agribusiness.


Shaq turns up Heat at home Shaquille O'Neal made sure the arena was filled. Dwyane Wade took care of sending the record crowd home happy.


Merck could suffer from Vioxx lawsuits NEW YORK -- Already wounded by the withdrawal of its Vioxx pain reliever from the market, Merck  amp; Co. must now contend with hundreds of lawsuits over the drug's side effects -- lawsuits that threaten to further damage the company's finances and reputation.


Fremont settles with Spitzer, SEC Fremont Investment Advisors has agreed to pay \$2.1 million in restitution and \$2 million in civil penalties to end federal and state mutual fund timing cases, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said yesterday.


Note on slain filmmaker's body makes threat on Dutch politician  THE HAGUE -- A letter left on the body of a Dutch filmmaker killed in Amsterdam contained death threats against a politician and was signed by a suspected terrorist group, the justice minister said yesterday, as police pressed an investigation into radical Islamic groups.


Antiterror change urged in Europe WIESBADEN, Germany -- European investigators need to have sharper tools and share intelligence better to be able to apprehend suspected terrorists faster, French and German officials said yesterday.


Wizards Play Spoiler Antawn Jamison leads a balanced scoring attack as the Wizards get off to a 2-0 start after spoiling the Charlotte Bobcats' NBA debut Thursday night with a 103-96 win.


United Seeks an Additional \$2 Billion in Cost Cuts United Airlines told its unions that it wanted to terminate its four pension plans and seek additional wage and benefit concessions.


Journey Nears an End Fletcher's Cove -- one of the best fishing holes in the country -- has been in the Fletcher family since the Civil War, but will soon be handed over to the National Park Service.


Soldiers say they watched 'chaos' as Iraqis looted munitions LOS ANGELES -- Explosives were looted from the Al Qaqaa ammunitions site in Iraq while outnumbered US soldiers assigned to guard the materials watched helplessly, soldiers told the Los Angeles Times.


Ace Dismisses 2 Executives in Response to Inquiry Ace Ltd., a Bermuda insurer that is a subject of the New York attorney general's investigation into the insurance industry, dismissed two executives.


Shaq Wins Home Debut Shaquille O'Neal scores 17 points and Dwyane Wade adds 28 as the Heat defeat the Cavaliers 92-86 in Shaq's home debut with Miami.


Spurrier Pulls Out Former Gators and Redskins coach Steve Spurrier removed his name from consideration Thursday to replace Ron Zook at Florida.


Service Bundling Sweeps Up ServiceMaster profitably bundles services and pays a healthy 3.5 dividend.


Davis Gets a Grip Vernon Davis has used his size and athleticism to develop into an explosive downfield target at the tight end position for the Terrapins.


Arafat's Condition Is Deteriorating, Reports Indicate Conflicting reports that the Palestinian leader was fighting for his life touched off a flurry of political activity in Jerusalem and Ramallah.


Cardinals Outgun Tigers Eric Shelton scores his fourth touchdown from one yard out with 37 seconds left, and No. 14 Louisville holds off Memphis, 56-49, Thursday night.


No More Clubbing Maryland opens its season against Division II Bryant University, instead of a club team, after a new NCAA rule prohibiting those exhibitions.


Colonials Favored George Washington and Saint Joseph's were picked to win their respective Atlantic 10 divisions in a poll of men's basketball coaches and media.


MCI Could Become a Value The company says its revenue is stabilizing. If so, a value stock is in the making.


Despite G.O.P. Gain, Fight Over Judges Remains Although Republicans made significant gains on Election Day, their majority of 55 senators still falls five votes short of the 60 needed to break a Democratic filibuster.


Singh Hangs Close Despite missing half his fairways and a half-dozen putts inside 12 feet, Vijay Singh grinds out a 1-under 69 to stay within three shots of the lead at the Tour Championship.


Oldest Profession Is Still One of the Oldest Lures for Young Nigerian Women For nearly 20 years, the women of Benin City, Nigeria, have been going to Italy to work in the sex trade.


T. Batista a Free Agent Third baseman Tony Batista officially files for free agency Thursday, becoming the most significant member of the new Washington franchise to do so.


Reasons to Like Four Seasons The luxury hotel manager doubles earnings for the second straight quarter.


Clemens Still Not Sure Roger Clemens tells reporters he is very close to retirement but has yet to make a decision on whether he will play next season.


George Walker Bush, Jr., Re-elected President of the United States Former alcoholic and functional illiterate George W. Bush has won re-election and will retain his office as 43th President of the United States of America, despite a proven inability to pronounce the word "nuclear".    The final tally of electoral votes was updated live throughout election day, 02 November 2004, by Andrew Tanenbaum of Electoral-Vote.com, where he stayed up all night hopefully tabulating the votes, only to sob bitterly at the sheer monstrous ratfuckery of it all.  He then asked to be excused to the bathroom, from which a single gunshot was later heard.


Confusion Marks Reports on Arafat   PARIS, Nov. 4 -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat remained critically ill at a military hospital near here late Thursday night after slipping into unconsciousness on a day dominated by rumors, confusion and false reports that he had died.


An Introduction to Scoring Baseball Games Now that the 2004 major league season is officially over, baseball fans typically gravitate to another sport to get them through the winter,     until spring training comes around the next year.      However, I see this downtime as the perfect opportunity for fans, young and old, to get themselves acquainted with how to score a baseball     game, in preparation for the coming season.  This article will introduce the reader to how to score a baseball game for themselves.


Finding Courage at Iraq Field Hospital Doctors and injured troops traumatized by suicide bombing prepare for possible battle in Fallujah, which insurgents have controlled for six months.


Electoral College Change Without Amendments The electoral college has produced controversial decisions six times in the history of the United States.      Such election results produce calls for changes to     the Constitution.  Amending the Constitution is     a difficult and complicated process. Only 27 Amendments have passed in over     200 years.     Here are some changes that can be made to the system without amending the Constitution.


Australian Says Practicality Key in Iraq An Australian security expert suggests Americans should focus on training national forces and meeting such basic needs of citizens as food and jobs in Iraq.


Understanding Aviation There are those few uninformed that spread ill will about commercial aviation. As is the case in just about anything, people who have no understanding of something love to pick it apart. I'm sure we all know someone who refuses to fly. Their reasons most likely include "I just don't feel safe on those things." The fact is, really, that airline travel is exceedingly safe, and becoming ever safer. I will try to explain exactly why this is. I'd also like to introduce general aviation, and relate what I know about the future of air travel. It is a sad fact that the general public knows very little about aviation, and yet has so much to say about it.


Al Qaeda claim to 9-11 Bodes Ill If you haven't heard it yet, you soon will.  Osamma has finally claimed responsiblity for 9/11.  I think, however, that it's a really bad sign. I think it means that all of the goodwill that flowed to the US In sympathy for the attack has now been fully squandered -- and probably much more.


A Tale of Two Osamas There are some interesting, and telling, differences between the CNN translation of Osama bin Laden's speech, and Aljazeera's.


Why YAML?  Why not? I started a simple project a while back; all I needed to do was store some information about stuff around the office, and since it's a small office, I thought that a RDBMS system was overkill.  So I decided to go with XML.  After creating a document, I then decided to fight with XML DTDs, and tried to fight with both XML DOM and XML SAX for Python, I finally decided on an approach that built dictionaries using SAX, as described here.    After messing with it for a while, I decided there had to be a better way.  Almost by accident, I stumbled upon YAML.


Hillary Rosen Loves Larry Lessig (and other improbable tales) In Wired, Hillary Rosen, the former head of the Recording Industry Ass. of America, writes of her love affair with... no way dude. Yep. Larry Lessig, her long time foe who started the Creative Commons.


The Rumors on the Internets A shadowy group of nerds calling themselves Internets Vets for Truth have collected a pile of video clips related to the current US election. Named after Bush's statement in the second debate, "I hear there are rumors, uh, on the internets," the site includes clips from Going Upriver, Fahrenheit 9/11 (also available for download here), and a number of other odds and ends. If you haven't already been saturated by enough media this year, here's your chance to see the greatest hits.


Rojo Hits 1 Million Feeds \\"We are happy to announce  that Rojo passed the million feed mark\today. This means that we are now regularly indexing and updating over 1\million RSS and Atom feeds--and all of them are searchable via Rojo. If you\are not already a Rojo user but would like to be during our beta trials, you\can be invited by a friend or request an invite from us here."\\Rojo  is now aggregating and indexing 1 million feeds.  To be precise exactly\1,000,239 feeds.\\This makes Rojo one of the largest feed search engines on the market today!\\The ability to have feeds pre-indexed means that when you join Rojo you'll\already have access to the feeds you need and a high probability that an archive\will exist.  Th ...\\


Karzai Officially Declared Winner KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 3 -- President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday was officially declared the winner of Afghanistan's first-ever democratic presidential election more than three weeks after votes were cast, giving him a five-year mandate to try to steer this country out of a quarter-century of civil war and strife.


Latin American Leaders Discuss Haiti Brazil will send additional peacekeepers to help restore order in Haiti and boost the 4,000- force to 5,500, a top government official said at a summit of Latin American leaders.


In AD 2004 \\(Second term was beginning.)\\<Kerry> What happen ?\\<Edwards> Somebody set up us the bomb.\\<Edwards> We get Ohio exit poll.\\<Kerry> What you say?!\\<Edwards> Fox News turn on.\\<Kerry> It's you !!\\<Bush> How are you gentlemen !!?\\<Bush> All your ballots are belong to us.\\<Bush> You are on the way to election defeat.\\<Kerry> What you say !!?\\<Bush> You have no chance to win make your time.\\<Bush> Ha Ha Ha Ha ....\\<aminorex> take off, every zogby\\<aminorex> for great justice\\Thanks coderman and #inforanarchy!\\


Fujimori on List Blocking Entry to U.S. Former President Alberto Fujimori is on a watch list barring his entry to the United States because of allegations of corruption during his decade-long authoritarian regime, a U.S. diplomatic official said.


US Group Seeks to Defuse Venezuela Funding Row

 CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - A Washington-basedpro-democracy group said on Thursday it wanted to defuse a rowwith leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has accused the U.S.Congress-funded organization of backing efforts to topple him.


More Election Response \\More and more bloggers are waking to the news:\\Lessig : \\...\\"Bush has won the popular vote. And it would take a freak of nature to imagine\the 220,000 provisional ballots would fall strongly enough to shift Ohio. He\will win the College. He is our President - legitimately, and credibly."\\"Our criticism of this administration must now focus narrowly and sharply: on\the policies, not on the credibility of the man."\\Joi Ito :\\"As Larry says, "It's over. Let it go." Jon is saying, "Don't complain -\organize!" Although the previous post about the wacky voting system is\interesting, it's unlikely that any sort of recount or technicality will\change the fact that today, the people of the Uni ...\\


Another Four Horrible Years. \\I'm not sure what to think about this news.  I'm still stunned. I woke up this\morning feeling betrayed, and shocked.\\How could so many Americans be out of touch with reality?  How could so many\Americans be so intolerant?  How could the Iraq war go unpunished?\\The answer is that this is probably not the America I call home.\\Kerry might not have been perceived better than Bush by most Americans but its\clear that if this election were between Bush and *NOT* Bush - NOT Bush would\have won in a landslide.\\The silver lining might be that Bush will have to deal with the problem he\created in Iraq.  This doesn't sit well with me as more Americans and Iraqis\will die in a needless war.\\In the ...\\


No More Books \\I spent today packing up everything I own.  I'm moving into a new apartment in\two weeks and the movers need to have everything in boxes.\\About 60 of the weight from everything I own is due to books.  Probably\equivalent to the weight of one dead tree.\\Its just a data!  Theres no reason to have it in meatspace format!  I can't\compress it!  I can't search it!  I can't create a backup copy!  Books are evil!\\Thats it.  I'm done.  No more.  From here on out I'm only going to own at a\maximum of 20 books (hopefully less).  \\I'm either going to use Safari  or sell the book once I'm finished reading\them.  If there's anything I need I'll just paste it into my personal wiki and\use permalinks. ...\\


Power Struggle Darfur's Janjaweed militia aren't the only ones sowing chaos and death. Meet the two rebel factions threatening yet another civil war


EDS again postpones Q3 earnings report An ongoing review of its Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) contract has forced embattled services provider Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) to again postpone its financial report for its third fiscal quarter, the company said Wednesday. EDS also announced its audit committee is conducting an internal investigation on a separate matter.


French Plays Defense With its native tongue losing to English as the global lingua franca, France is fighting back


A Lapdog Bares its Fangs By scuttling the new Commission, the European Parliament has finally proved to Brussels and the national capitals that it can bite as well as bark. Why thats good for the E.U.


No style points, only a win for Illini NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Illinois has played much better and has looked much better. But in grinding out a 72-60 victory over Arkansas before 13,140 rabid Razorbacks fans, the fifth-ranked Illini took another important step Saturday.


Salesforce.com unveils Winter '05 at user conference SAN FRANCISCO -- At the Dreamforce 2004 Salesforce.com user conference on Monday, the company that says "just say no to packaged applications" continued to expand on its strategy of tightly integrating its hosted solution with in-house enterprise applications.


BEA touts industry-specific solutions initiative BEA Systems on Monday is rolling out its BEA Enterprise Solutions program, featuring the companys Solution Frameworks initiative to link BEA WebLogic Platform with partners products for deployment of SOAs (service-oriented architectures).
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Spam Is Finally a Crime Siblings are the first ever to be convicted for sending boatloads of junk e-mail pushing bogus products. Also: Microsoft takes MSN music download on a Euro trip....  Nokia begins legal battle against European counterparts.... and more.


XM Makes a RadioPod The satellite radio company gears up to clean up in the portable player market. Also: United States lays a clear line against internet gambling   hellip;.  Outsourcing continues without a hitch    hellip;. and more.


Meyer makes it official Florida announces that the Utah coach will become the head coach of the Gators next season. By MIC HUBER. GAINESVILLE -- Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley was able to fall asleep Friday night for the first time in a long time.


Pols, Don't Count on Recounts The 100,000 electronic voting machines in use in Tuesday's election have a big downside: Candidates who dispute the results won't have a way to conduct a meaningful recount. Analysis by Kim Zetter.


China Cracks Down on I-Cafes Internet cafes that fail to enforce the strict rules governing their use are being shut down by the government. Also: Companies worry that the spyware buck will stop with them   hellip;.  High-tech outsourcing to India continues    hellip;. and more.


Smart Web Changes World The Gartner-sponsored ITXpo symposium in France sets itself to identify long-term technology trends that are altering sectors like travel, marketing and investing. More web-enabled mobile devices and a smarter internet are key players.


Brazilians Hot For Broadband Betting on strong demand for high-speed internet access in the next few years, Brazilian phone companies are rushing to set up for a broadband boom.


3D patent suit extended to Dell, HP, IBM, Sony, others PC makers targeted as list of allegedly infringed patents grows


Sugar Bowl will leave Tigers with bitter taste If theyd lost a game, they would understand. If they hadnt won their conference championship game, they wouldnt argue. If theyd even ever really struggled to win, they could see being left out on the championship picture.


Dollar Struggles Before U.S. Jobs Report  LONDON (Reuters) - European stocks jumped to fresh 6-month  highs on Friday, buoyed by lower oil prices and a strong rally  on Wall Street, but the dollar hung close to record lows  against the euro ahead of key U.S. jobs data.


MPAA to Sue Over Movie File Sharing The movie industry announced Thursday it will file its first wave of lawsuits later this month against those it alleges are illegally sharing copyrighted films on the Internet, joining the music industry in its fight against piracy. -The Washington Post


Microsoft E-Mail Looks Like Spam to Some For a year, Microsoft Corp. has extolled the virtues of the Can-Spam Act, which Congress passed in late 2003 to crack down on purveyors of unwanted bulk e-mail.  But some think the software giant is engaged in its own spamming.
\\-The Washington Post


Third-Quarter Loss \$3.4 Billion for MCI MCI Inc. Thursday reported a loss of \$3.4 billion during its third quarter, reflecting its recent decision to write down the value of its telecommunications network.
\-The Washington Post


Jury Finds 2 Guilty of Felony Spam Two North Carolina residents Wednesday became the first people in the nation to be convicted on felony spamming charges after a Loudoun County jury found that they flooded tens of thousands of America Online e-mail accounts with unsolicited e-mail, prosecutors said. -The Washington Post


FBI Pursuing More Cyber-Crime Cases The FBI is adding more Internet crime suspects to its top lists of wanted criminals, signaling a growing interest in cracking down on cyber-crime. -washingtonpost.com


Tech Investors See Brighter Future Investors cheered a final verdict on the outcome of the presidential race, leaving behind their fears of a 2000-style election and boosting markets, especially stocks perceived to benefit from a continued Bush administration. -washingtonpost.com


Bloggers Gain Attention In 2004 Election Traffic on Web logs -- blogs for short -- and other political sites skyrocketed on Election Day, creating online audiences rivaling those of traditional media organizations. -Leslie Walker


XM Satellite Radio's Loss Narrows XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. said Thursday its third-quarter loss narrowed due to a sharp revenue increase from the company's growing subscriber ranks.


Time Warner Plans for Settlement Time Warner Inc. said Wednesday that it is creating a \$500 million reserve in response to the federal investigations of its America Online unit and that it also will restate AOL Europe's financial results for 2000 and 2001.
\-The Washington Post


Citigroup Unit Violated Its Fiduciary Duty Arbitrators have awarded \$75,000 to a longtime WorldCom Inc. employee who argued that bankers contributed to her financial losses by profiting from their relationship with the struggling company and its chief executive at the same time they administered a stock-options program for WorldCom workers.
\-The Washington Post


Huang to Push For a Research Institution Eugene Huang  is an introvert who's on an extended lecture circuit, a high-level government official who dislikes politics and, as of Oct. 1, one of the youngest state Cabinet secretaries in the nation.


Cazenove links up with JP Morgan Cazenove, one of Britain's last independent investment banks, joins forces with US banking giant JP Morgan.


How to Make the Right Call on Cell Plans Wireless phone service can't be purchased on price alone -- first, you need to decide which carrier to go with, since not all offer the same service. -Rob Pegoraro


Annual Cell Phone Guide Fast Forward columnist Rob Pegoraro was online to discuss The Washington Post's annual cell phone guide.


'San Andreas' Among Best Games "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" is an epic homage to the West Coast gang culture of the early 1990s. Yes, parents, there's way too much violence and profanity here for the kids. For those of us 18 and older, though, it's among the best video games this year.


Supercomputer breaks speed record The US is poised to push Japan off the top of the supercomputing charts with an IBM prototype machine.


World 'will act on climate gases' International action on climate change will eventually come, a leading UK environmental thinker says.


Kovalainen stuns competition in com staff writers. The 2004 World Series by Nissan champion stunned the competition and the crowd at the Stade de France in Paris to walk away with the Race of Champions trophy.


Scientists lift veil on Beagle 3 The team behind the Beagle 2 mission has unveiled its design for a successor to the British Mars lander.


Minister upbeat on climate change The US may change its stance on global warming despite George Bush's re-election, says UK minister.


Cyprus planes to destroy locusts Cyprus begins aerial spraying to eradicate swarms of crop-destroying locusts that have arrived from Africa.


Roman cosmetic secrets revealed A 1,800-year-old sealed pot of ointment found in London last year was most probably a cosmetic foundation.


Antarctic food web under threat The shrimp-like krill that feed so many Antarctic species, such as whales and penguins, is in big decline, say researchers.


Supernova produces cosmic rays Astronomers claim to have found the first firm evidence that cosmic rays can come from stars that have exploded, or supernova remnants.


Sarin 'Gulf war syndrome cause' \Gulf war syndrome may have been caused by exposure to the nerve gas sarin, according to reports.


BALCO founder goes public in sports steroids scandal But on national television Friday night, and in a first-person story posted on a magazine #39;s Web site, the alleged mastermind of the BALCO sports doping scandal seemingly


China aims for five days in orbit \China's second manned space flight  will carry two astronauts into space and will orbit the Earth for five days.


Nasa to resume shuttle missions The US space agency says it hopes shuttle flights, suspended since the Columbia disaster, can begin next May.


Cloning of flies is latest buzz Flies are the latest animals to be cloned, the journal Genetics reports.


Climate gas cuts 'are affordable' Tackling climate change will cost far less than the pessimists suggest, a British scientist says.


Fury at killing of Pyrenean bear French environmentalists condemn hunters who shot one of the last female brown bears in the Pyrenees.


Arctic heads into warmer future The Arctic is undergoing rapid and possibly irreversible climate change, says a major report.


Male Fish Producing Eggs in Potomac River In the Potomac River scientists and anglers have uncovered male smallmouth bass growing eggs. The reason is a mystery, but clues point to estrogen-enhanced sewage.


Hairy Legs Help Bugs Walk on Water Water striders do what few other animals can: They walk on water. How the freshwater insects pull it off has baffled scientists #151;until now.


Spellbinding Planets You won't want to miss this:  Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets, will be beautifully close together just before sunrise on Thursday, Nov. 4th, and Friday, Nov. 5th.


Actor Ewan McGregor on Globe-Spanning Motorbike Adventure This summer movie actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman wrapped up a motorcycle trip across Europe, Asia, and North America. In an interview, they discuss the open road, cranky border guards, and roadside hygiene.


Kite-Assisted Expeditions Cover New Ground #151;Fast Earthbound adventurers outfitted with special kites and harnesses are using wind power to reach some of the most remote spots on the planet.


Fed-up Americans eyeing Canada? Canadian officials are reporting that their government's immigration Web site has been swamped with traffic since George W. Bush gave his acceptance speech on Wednesday. Missing Links


Housing market  #39;heading for stagnation #39; The housing market will stagnate rather than slump, economists insisted after figures from the Halifax revealed a 1.1 per cent drop in prices last month.


Cazenove joins forces with JP Morgan Cazenove, the Queen #39;s broker, today effectively called time on 181 years of independence when it announced a joint venture with the US banking giant JP Morgan.


Singapore Shares End Slightly Higher Singapore shares ended slightly higher Friday in a session dominated by Singapore Telecommunications Inc., which fell sharply following news of a placement of its shares by parent Temasek Holdings.


Reliving Lewis and Clark: An Adventure in Its Own Right Reenactors following in the footsteps of the Lewis and Clark expedition are encountering weather and experiences that are making the modern journey an adventure in its own right.


Workplace blues in election aftermath Tech industry workers find that the election's outcome is affecting workplace morale, concentration.<br /> Photo: Company president holds morale meeting


Apple kit rated five out of five by... er... Apple AppleStore buyers' ratings scheme limited to non-Apple products


Are Electronic Voting Machines Reliable? Hoping to avoid the problems of dimpled ballots and hanging chads, election officials around the U.S. will rely on electronic voting machines for tomorrow's presidential vote. But are the machines secure?


The case for women in the technology business Interview IBM's Rebecca George fights her corner


Antarctic Lakes: 145 and Counting, Scientists Say Deep beneath the Antarctic ice sheets are at least 145 lakes that may be teeming with microscopic organisms similar to those that could be thriving beneath the ice on Jupiter's moon Europa.


Photo: Company president holds morale meeting Tim Farrelly held a meeting for his San Francisco staffing company Wednesday to raise morale after John Kerry lost the presidential election.


Microsoft wants servers to drive Office sales Looking to give customers a reason to upgrade to Office 12, Microsoft will further tighten ties between its desktop and server software.


First US Spam Conviction A man was convicted in a Virginia court on Wednesday of sending AOL users millions of unsolicited emails using fraudulent email address is facing nine years in prison after becoming the first person to be convicted under new anti-spam laws.


What triggers nicotine dependency? Revealing study Nicotine is a major addictive component in cigarettes, scientists said. However, how chemical dependency results from nicotine #39;s interaction with brain cells still largely stumps the experts.


Microsoft to help users prepare for patching Microsoft has promised to give advance notice of its monthly security updates to customers to help them prepare to install related software patches.


Blizzard dates World Of Warcraft in US and Down Under Blizzard has finally confirmed a launch date for its long-awaited massively multiplayer title World Of Warcraft, with North America, Australia and New Zealand all getting the game on November 23rd.


#39;Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas #39;: one wild ride It #39;s been copied by rivals, disparaged by social critics, attacked by politicians and snapped up - check the sales numbers after just one week on the shelves -y gamers.


Lost faith in Internet Explorer? Try another browser Microsoft has won the browser wars, but a battle is raging for the runner-up spot and one of the contenders has recently been refreshed.


Munch Museum to Stay Closed Well Into 2005 Oslo #39;s Munch Museum could remain closed until June 2005 while officials upgrade its security system following a brazen daylight robbery in August of two Edvard Munch masterpieces.


Nokias smartphones Nokia unveiled three new megapixel handsets this week in a further move towards its long-term bid to take a 40 share of the market.


IBM ups investment in modular-software push Firm's new consulting service supports services-oriented architecture, an emerging software-development model.


Vijay stalking the leaders in Atlanta Atlanta - The world #39;s top three golfers were all within striking distance of the leaders after the first round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta on Friday.


Turin 2006 president to resign  quot;This is equivalent to a lack of faith in the work carried out up until now, quot; said Castellani in a statement.  quot;For this reason I have decided to offer my resignation as president to the board on November 24th


Manchester United Football Club in Figo link Portugese superstar Luis Figo could be a Manchester United Football Club target if he is not offered a new Real Madrid deal. The 33-year-old midfielder is out of contract at the end of 2006 and is hoping to


RUUD SCORES Sparta defender Jiri Homola has admitted his ability to not see a man dressed in red standing 6 #39; 2 quot; in height cost his team dear on Wednesday night.


Enough points to go around MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Eric Shelton scored his fourth touchdown with 37 seconds left, and No. 14 Louisville held off Memphis 56-49 on Thursday night.


Teske well placed in Japan Australia #39;s Rachel Teske is three shots behind the leaders after the opening round of the LPGA tournament in Otsu, Japan. Teske shot a 6-under-par round of 66 to trail co-leaders Chihiro Nakajima of Japan and Sweden #39;s Annika Sorenstam, who are 9-under.


Social responsibility in dollars and cents When tech companies want to do the right thing, Ernst Ligteringen is the man they increasingly turn to for advice.


Arafat #39;s health raises questions about Mideast As Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat clung to life Thursday, many in the West began to hope -- not for his death, but for the possibility that peace might follow it.


Militants attack army unit in Thailand, killing one soldier A group of suspected militants armed with M-16 assault rifles attacked an army unit protecting Buddhist monks at a temple in Thailand #39;s southernmost province of Narathiwat early Friday, killing one soldier, police said.


Cahoot hit by web security scare A security loophole at internet bank Cahoot allowed customers to view other people's accounts.


Open-source details hold up Solaris release Sun will release the source code of its operating system, but those eager for details may have to wait until early 2005.\


SugarCRM to launch on-demand service With its open-source model, the company has the potential to shake up the industry, one analyst says.


Gadget show heralds MP3 season Some gadget lovers might be disappointed this Christmas as experts predict a shortage of iPod minis.


Slim PlayStation triples sales Sony PlayStation 2's slimmer shape has proved popular with UK gamers, with 50,000 sold in its first week on sale.


EDS delays earnings again Auditor KPMG says it isn't ready. Struggling IT services giant is also probing its bonus plan.


Seamen sail into biometric future A luxury cruise ship in the Caribbean is the unlikely setting for tests of biometric ID cards for seafarers.


US duo in first spam conviction A US brother and sister become the first people criminally convicted of sending spam e-mail.


Earnings alert: Write-downs widen DirecTV's loss Plus: Time Warner net income slips...Cell phone unit shores up Verizon...Gateway trims loss in third quarter...EDS delays earnings.


Adobe dipping toes into desktop Linux waters Job postings reveal company's increasing Linux involvement, even if Photoshop won't run on open source anytime soon.


Queen sell pirate music to fans Queen are tackling piracy by offering fans the chance to legally download pirate recordings.


Madagascar Readies More Protected Nature Sites (Reuters) Reuters - Madagascar has identified the\additional forests, wetlands and marshes it wants to protect\under a plan to triple the size of its nature reserves by the\end of 2008, a global conservation group said on Friday.


US blogger fired by her airline The US airline attendant suspended over postings on her blog, or online diary, has been fired by her employers.


MP calls for eBay 'gun crackdown' A dossier purportedly showing the sale of illegal firearms on eBay is to be handed to the home secretary.


Inuit language finds home on net Inuit living in Canada can finally have their say on the web as their native tongue is offered online.


Linux cluster companies attract new funds Venture capitalists are lavishing money on the fashionable Linux supercomputing concept--but smaller firms face much larger rivals.


Late surge to US campaign sites US election websites saw a late surge in traffic as polling stations prepared to open, report traffic monitoring firms.


Winners and losers (USATODAY.com) USATODAY.com - Republicans were the clear winners Tuesday as President Bush won re-election and the party expanded its majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Democrats emerged from the polls with a bad case of the "blues" and a mandate to figure out what went wrong.


Asian telecom firms come together Seven Asian mobile phone firms are joining together to form an alliance that will invest \$30m to \$40m in new technologies.


Carphone lifted by buoyant sales Strong sales of new mobile phone models boosts profits at Carphone Warehouse but the retailer's shares fall on concerns at a decline in profits from pre-paid phones.


Sun marketing exec heads to start-up Azul Shahin Khan has joined start-up Azul Systems, which builds computing hardware to accelerate the execution of Java software.


IBM revs supercomputer in rankings race Blue Gene/L performance likely to far outpace NEC's Earth Simulator in contest of high-powered machines, News.com has learned.\<br /> Photos: SGI's rival Columbia supercomputer


Consumers 'snub portable video' People want to listen to music while they are on the move, rather than watch video, research suggests.


SIA: Chip sales to hit record, flatten Semiconductor sales will reach \$214 billion this year, a new record high. But next year will be about the same.


Intel devising chip line for consumer electronics A new group of processors could put the chipmaker inside your set-top box.


Dossier: Bob Bells review of the 2004 season The Renault F1 Teams chassis Technical Director reviews a hard-fought season, which saw the team meet its objectives and prepare for the future.


GTA sequel is criminally good The newest release in the GTA franchise, San Andreas, could be the best yet,


Intel looks to the high end roundup The firm makes over its Pentium 4 Extreme Edition and gets ready to unveil a new top-of-the-line Itanium 2 for servers.\<br />\ Photo: Dell's 'Extreme' machine\


Dell closing in on plans for new U.S. plant? North Carolina legislators are to discuss a proposed package of incentives for the PC maker during a session set for Thursday.\<br /> Photos: Inside Dell's Austin assembly plant


Putin Makes First Visit to Turkey (AP) AP - Vladimir Putin headed to Turkey on Sunday for the first official visit by a Russian president, looking to boost a growing economic relationship that is turning a longtime foe into a newfound trading partner.


Afghan Kidnappers Meet on Fate of U.N. Hostages  KABUL (Reuters) - Leaders of an Afghan militant group  holding three U.N. workers hostage were meeting on Friday to  decide whether to kill them or extend a deadline for  authorities to meet their demands, a member of the leadership  council said.


AMD's slow but steady market share gains Fifteen percent, then 15.5 percent, and now 15.8 percent. AMD is gaining back lost ground, Mercury Research says.


Taipei Plans City-Wide Wi-Fi by End 2005  TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taipei plans to make wireless Internet  access available across the Taiwan capital by the end of 2005,  joining a small number of cities offering Wi-Fi networks.


Radio Shack exec joins AMD board David Edmondson, president and COO of the retailer, has been elected to the board of the chipmaker.


Nokia Says Handset Market to Slow, Share to Rise  NEW YORK/HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia NOK1V.HE, the world's  largest mobile phone maker, expects slowing mobile phone growth  in 2005 but plans to launch more phones next year and regain  lost market share, the company said on Thursday.


Exploit code makes IE flaw more dangerous Program targets vulnerability, prompting security firm Secunia to issue "extremely critical" rating.


Microsoft Expands European Music Download Business  LONDON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp launched its MSN music  download service in eight new European countries on Thursday in  an attempt to fend off a recent expansion push by archrival  Apple Computer's iTunes.


Microsoft: Security requires teamwork The software giant also tells European customers that it is making progress with efforts to limit security attacks against its products.


Verizon to Buy NextWave Licenses for \$3 Billion  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless said on Thursday that  it had signed an agreement with NextWave Telecom Inc. to  purchase all of its airwave licenses for \$3 billion.


16 candles for first Internet worm In 1988, a student unleashed a self-replicating worm that halted thousands of computers--and lit a fire under online security.


Programs: 'Larry' Series Is Still Behaving Badly  PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Reuters) - As founder and president of  PRUDES (People Revolted by Unnecessary Depictions of Eroticism  and Sexuality), I am shocked -- shocked! -- by "Leisure Suit  Larry: Magna Cum Laude."


Virus report points to profit-hungry hackers Trend Micro report validates concern in security industry that malicious hackers are more interested in money than fame.


ID cards to double U.K. passport fees Costs tied to the country's controversial biometric ID card plan will cause the price of new passports to soar.


Nokia Challenges Sagem, Vitelcom on Patents  HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia has taken legal action against  small European handset makers Sagem and Vitelcom on allegations  of patent infringements, the world's largest mobile phone maker  said on Thursday.


Air of Expectation Is Heavy as G.I.'s Itch to Prove Their Mettle in Falluja Urban warfare drills are taking place in and around Falluja, Iraq, where the Marines expect to lead an all-out attack soon.


Psst...now it's Cisco source code up for sale The Source Code Club hackers are back, selling what they claim are files of Cisco firewall software.


Trying to Catch a Falling Currency Although Americans vacationing in Europe may be howling over higher prices in hotels and restaurants, the adverse impact of the rapidly declining US dollar has fallen mainly on foreigners, at least so far.


IE exploit is top of the hacks Attacks via an Internet Explorer flaw are more common than any other hacking technique, a security firm has found.


PluggedIn: Can Radio Kill the Digital Music Star?  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A funny thing happened on the way  to the consumer electronics store.


Microsoft debates spoofing as security flaw Microsoft rejects claims from security researchers that a spoofing technique discovered on Internet Explorer is a vulnerability.


Special jet flies Bell to family FORMER McDonald #39;s boss Charlie Bell will be flown home to Australia in a specially-equipped jet at a cost of nearly \$400,000. The Sydney boy who grew up to run the world #39;s biggest fast food franchise was diagnosed


Cell Phones Increasingly Used to Snap the News  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Twice in one month the biggest Dutch  newspaper published front-page pictures shot by amateur  photographers using their mobile phones, showing how advances  in technology can assist traditional media in gathering news.


Qwest rides VoIP train to new destinations The local phone giant is ready to enter new territories with business-class voice and data services.


Cisco target of patent lawsuit A small company claims that Cisco stole its intelligent routing technology, and the company's lawyer is looking for a big pay-out.\


Net Banking Fraudsters Step Up the 'Phishing' Scam  LONDON (Reuters) - Fraudsters have developed a potent new  computer program that steals Internet banking customers'  details by duping them into opening up a bogus e-mail, a  British security firm said Wednesday.


Openwave names new CEO Former Inktomi chief David Peterschmidt replaces Don Listwin, who will continue to be vice chairman.


Sprint in Talks with Qualcomm on TV to Cellphones  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Corp. is in talks with Qualcomm  Inc. about using a network the chipmaker is building to deliver  live television to Sprint mobile phone customers, Chief  Operating Officer Len Lauer said on Tuesday.


SBC, BellSouth let their fingers do the walking Companies are buying YellowPages.com and will expand it into a nationwide online business directory.


Iran has nuclear talks in Europe Iranian and European officials meet in Paris in a bid to finalise a compromise on Iran's nuclear programme.


Photos: Networks of tomorrow New communications technology could spawn future products. Could your purse tell you to bring an umbrella?


Children killed in Gaza explosion Two Palestinian children are killed in disputed circumstances in an explosion in southern Gaza.


Dollar Struggles Before U.S. Jobs Report (Reuters) Reuters - European stocks jumped to fresh 6-month\highs on Friday, buoyed by lower oil prices and a strong rally\on Wall Street, but the dollar hung close to record lows\against the euro ahead of key U.S. jobs data.


Cisco, MIT look from lab to market New communications technology could spawn futuristic products. Could your purse tell you to bring an umbrella?<br />\ Photos: Networks of tomorrow\


Post-election rally rolls Amid falling oil prices, stocks climb for 2nd straight day as Dow closes at highest level since Sept. 14. BY PRADNYA JOSHI. Stocks kept climbing higher yesterday as oil prices retreated and investors continued


Europe follows US rally European shares opened higher on Friday, boosted by a strong post-election rally on Wall Street overnight and a fall in oil prices to a five-week low.


Nokia plans 40 new models in  #39;05 HELSINKI: Nokia, the world #39;s largest mobile phone maker, plans to bring 40 new handsets to the market next year as it seeks to expand its already dominant market share amid increased competition from rivals Motorola, Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson.


2nd UPDATE: Temasek Cuts SingTel Stake; Raises S\$800M SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Singapore #39;s state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd. Friday said it sold a 2 stake in Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.


Verizon Wireless to buy NextWave #39;s licenses for \$3 bn NEW YORK, November 5 (newratings.com) - Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications (VZ.NYS) and Vodafone Group, has reached an agreement to acquire all of NextWave #39;s airwave spectrum licenses for about \$3 billion.


P2P for cell phones: Reach out and share something Next year, wireless operators will debut ways to share a favorite ring tone. But don't expect a Napster free-for-all.


Time Warner Cable mulling wireless Company's looking at ways to offer wireless phone service, executives say. The move is targeted at the Baby Bells.


Napster offers service to AT T Wireless users The service lets users of the Audiovox SMT5600 smart phone download an unlimited number of songs for \$14.95 monthly.


Convicted spammer gets nine years in jail Two spammers have been convicted of three charges of sending thousands of junk e-mails through servers located in Virginia. Jeremy Jaynes was sentenced to nine years in prison and Jessica DeGroot was fined \$7,500 (4,075).


Enter the World of Warcraft, soon In a simultaneous cross platform release, multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft will go on sale in North America on November 23, and here in the UK  quot;shortly after quot;.


LOTS OF HOOP-LA IN HARLEM EVICT SUIT November 5, 2004 -- A Harlem community group says the National Basketball Players Association has unleashed a full-court press to try to bounce them out of their offices.


RFID royalties suspended for testing Intermec Technologies will not seek payments for patents in the radio tracking technology for 60 days. Why?


Hensby, Appleby close Aussies Mark Hensby and Stuart Appleby are just two shots off the lead after the first round of the elite 30-man Tour Championship in Atlanta.


No New Worries for Boro Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren has no new injury worries for Sundays visit of Bolton. Midfielder Ray Parlour came through the full 90 minutes of last nights UEFA Cup Group E victory over Lazio


Staying home for dream job The pinstripes were a brighter blue, the cap featured an orange NY, but Willie Randolph, a Yankees icon, seemed right at home yesterday when he was introduced at Shea Stadium as the new manager of the Mets.


On to what really matters Step outside the University of Alabama football complex this week and it wasn #39;t hard to find distractions. The Mike Shula vs. Sylvester Croom debate.


Observers speculate on Mideast peace process without Arafat When Rabbi Jonathan Gerard traveled to Israel in 1996 his group took a bus to the border of Gaza and, led by armed Palestinian guards through throngs of Palestinians, met with Yasser Arafat.


Chirac to skip EU meeting with Allawi Jacques Chirac, the French president, is to miss an EU summit meeting today with the interim Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi. Aides to Mr Chirac, an opponent of the US-led war, denied the move was a snub


Iran faces tough talks with EU big three TEHERAN - The third round of nuclear talks with Iran and the European Union trio of Britain, France and Germany will be  quot;tough and complicated quot;, an Iranian spokesman said Friday.


Lebanese hostage freed in Iraq Two Lebanese held hostage in Iraq for more than two months have been freed and returned home, officials said in Beirut Friday. Marwan Kassar and Mohammed Hussein, who had been working in Iraq for the Lebanese


Taiwan issues shooting report, but mystery remains Taiwan released on Friday the full report by a top US forensic expert on the election-eve shooting of President Chen Shui-bian but it offered few clues on who was responsible for the mysterious attack.


At posh hotels, iPod a high-tech mint on the pillow Apple's digital music player becomes the latest amenity at swank hotels, and ups its status as a pop-culture icon.<br /> Photo: Preloaded iPod in your next hotel room?


Gateway looks to pump up direct sales How about a \$269 server? PC maker turns on rebates, special offers to breathe life into its direct-sales efforts.


Apple store takes reviews--but not of its own stuff Apple will brook no criticism of its offerings on its new product review page--but praise and pan other makers' stuff all you like.


Mac developer looks to Windows to escape Tiger With Apple planning to offer similar features in its next version of OS X, programmer Arlo Rose moves Konfabulator to Windows.


Screen shots: Election night gadgets Among the devices used was a futuristic plasma monitor designed by three technology companies specifically for CBS.


Intel, Microsoft team to tout digital home Tech giants set to launch TV, print, cinema and online ad campaign to market the digital lifestyle.\<br /> Photos: Microsoft's Media Center 2005 launch


Newscasters show off election-night gadgetry Among the devices used was a futuristic plasma monitor designed by three technology companies specifically for CBS.\<br />\ Screen shots: Election night gadgets


PalmOne ponders Microsoft, Linux options Handheld maker looks beyond Palm OS with quiet tests of other operating systems, News.com has learned.


US jobs and sales figures indicate weakening economy The US Labor Department on Friday issued its employment report for November, showing slower job growth than had been expected. Only 112,000 new jobs were created, compared to forecasts of 180,000.


Photo: The Audiovox SMT5600 smart phone AT #38;T subscribers using the SMT5600 can now get songs downloaded to their handsets via the Napster to Go service.


Gateway closes AOL chapter with stock buyback Plan to repurchase \$315 million in shares owned by Time Warner marks end of deal dreamed up at height of Internet appliance vogue.


Microsoft investigating reports of new IE hole Microsoft is looking into reports this week of a serious buffer overflow vulnerability in its Internet Explorer Web browser, but has not yet seen malicious code that exploits the reported flaw.


Reporter's notebook: The e-voting debate brought home Computerworld's Dan Verton went to the polls on Tuesday, cast his vote electronically without a hitch, and yet came away from the experience wanting something more than an "I voted" sticker.


Wisconsin ruling could set \$300M precedent on modified apps A Wisconsin judge's refusal to order the state to refund sales tax paid by a Neena, Wis., company on a customized SAP AG rollout could relieve the state from paying out more than a quarter of a billion dollars in tax refunds to software users.


Offshoring company looks to make programmers obsolete in legacy conversion An Indian company claims its software automatically converts legacy applications written in old languages such as Cobol and Pascal to modern languages such as C and Java.


Global chip sales headed for tough times in 2005 Global semiconductor sales next year are expected to total \$215.3 billion, up just 1.2 from this year, according to a forecast released this week by an industry group that tracks global chip sales.


EDS again postpones Q3 earnings report A continuing review of its troubled Navy/Marine Corps Intranet contract forced embattled services provider EDS to again delay its third-quarter financial report.


MCI reports \$3.4B loss, but says it's back on track MCI reported a \$3.4 billion third-quarter loss today, as the company's efforts to recover from bankruptcy were slowed by stiff competition in the long-distance telephone service market.


Internet banking fraudsters step up phishing scam A potent new program circulating on the Internet embeds itself on a user's computer and either overwrites saved bookmarks or redirects the victim from the intended banking site to an authentic-looking fake.


IBM, SGI win Linux supercomputer deals in Asia IBM Corp. and Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) have won contracts to supply Linux-based supercomputers to a Korean national university and a Japanese nuclear research institute, the two companies said Thursday.


Update: Omnipod beefs up instant messaging service Omnipod, which provides hosted instant message (IM) services to companies of all sizes, is preparing several enhancements to its platform, including the additions of a Web-based client, a telephony component and a persistent-chat feature, Omnipod's chief executive officer said.


Nokia to revamp mobile handsets  Nokia Corp. hopes to distinguish its products and regain lost market share by leading the mobile-device market in delivering cutting-edge bells-and-whistles on its new handsets, company executives said Thursday duringhop a daylong meeting in New York with analysts.


Microsoft checks out new IE security flaw reports  Microsoft is investigating reports of a serious security flaw in Internet Explorer (IE), but has not yet seen malicious code that exploits the reported flaw, the company said Thursday.


'ROIDS COULD RUIN THE GAME (New York Post) New York Post - THINK of Major League    Baseball as the Titanic    after it rammed into the    tip of the iceberg.


HP, Brocade hook up for integrated servers Hewlett-Packard on Thursday announced that it will integrate Brocade Communication's SAN switching capability into its HP BladeSystem architecture.
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Find out how Crate   Barrel expects to save \$180,000 by moving to VoIP, compared to a traditional PBX.


IBM creates SOA practice Deepening its commitment to help corporate users create SOAs (service-oriented architectures) through the use of Web services, IBM's Global Services unit on Thursday announced the formation of an SOA Management Practice.


Microsoft to help users prep for patching Microsoft Corp. will give customers advance notice of its monthly security updates in an effort to help them prepare to install related software patches, the company announced Thursday.


Telcos' convergence strategies diverge CANNES -- Kai-Uwe Ricke, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Deutsche Telekom AG, and Ben Verwaayen, his counterpart at BT Group PLC, have diverging views on convergence -- the idea that, some day, fixed and mobile telecommunications systems will come together into a seamless whole.


Update: MCI reports \$3.4B loss but says it's back on track MCI Inc. reported a \$3.4 billion third-quarter loss on Thursday, due mainly to a write-off of the value of its assets, as the company's efforts to recover from its bankruptcy were hampered by stiff competition in the long-distance telephone service market.


Phishers Adopt Scam Tricks From Virus Writers Dangerous new ways to try to steal your money are in progress.


Microsoft Investigates Reports of New Internet Explorer Hole Yet another security flaw reported for popular Web browser.


Microsoft to Help Users Prep for Patching Software giant will publish advance notice of security bulletins.


Microsoft, Intel Spread Digital Joy Companies are teaming up to bring their technology to your living room.


Symantec Eyes Mobile Phone Market Company is readying security software or cell phones and handheld devices.


Mailblocks Finds Its Messages Blocked Challenge/response e-mails accidentally marked as spam by AOL and EarthLink.


Tech 2005: What's New and  What's Next The products you use are about to get smarter, faster, smaller, cheaper, and more colorful. Here's your guide to what's ahead in PCs, software, mobile gadgets, home electronics, and more.


More E-Voting Problems Reported Some voters say machines indicated they had voted for a different candidate.


More Surfers Ditch Internet Explorer Microsoft's browser continues to lose market share as more users switch to Mozilla.


Poor Defenders Some anti-spyware companies use confusing ads, and our tests show their \$20-\$60 products are less effective than free competitors.


New Media Center OS Plays Well Windows XP Media Center 2005 connects smoothly with video and audio equipment.


Tech.gov: Paying for Piracy in Advance Should prices for blank media and recording products include a royalty fee to copyright holders for presumed losses to piracy?


Qualcomm to Build National Wireless Media Network Network would beam music and video to 3G handsets.


First Look: NEC's Slick Wi-Fi Projector NEC's LT265 can connect to an 802.11g wireless network, but getting it set up can be tricky.


Tech Spending Outlook Perks Up CIO Magazine says poll shows IT budgets are expected to grow over the next year.


Search Engine Forums Spotlight Links to this week's topics from search engine forums across the web: Local Search Marketing: A Huge Untapped Market - Research: Do Keywords In URL Influence Your Rank? - Make All Your Keywords Plural? - How Do PPC Campaigns And SEO Compliment Each Other - World Without Search Engines - Does Adwords Have a Limit On the Number of Ads? - New AdWords Classifications Coming


Iraq's Allawi Plays Down EU 'Spectators' Remarks (Reuters) Reuters - Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad\Allawi sought to calm anger on Friday over his description of\states that opposed the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein as\"spectators."


Politicians See E-Voting as a Remote Prospect (Reuters) Reuters - Forget the hi-tech predictions\-- it will be years, if ever, before electors can use the\Internet to vote, many policymakers believe.


Tuning up your Skills in the Web Search Garage Every now and then a book comes along that's a must-read for every serious searcher, and Tara Calishain's Web Search Garage falls squarely into that category.


The Search Engine Report - Number 96 Search Engine Watch editor Danny Sullivan's recap of top search engine stories from October 2004.


Bosch to hire 600 software engineers in India by next year (AFP) AFP - German maker of car parts and electrical household goods Robert Bosch said it will hire 600 software professionals by next year at its Indian software and engineering centre.


Local Search: Missing Pieces Falling into Place Some pundits claim that the paid search market has peaked, but new research tells a different story, suggesting that local search is emerging as an important and powerful driver for the paid search market.


Impressions of Search Engine Strategies Stockholm Last week, Search Engine Strategies made its debut in Sweden, drawing attendees from all over Scandinavia, Europe and even Africa and India.


LookSmart and UpSNAP Partner for Cell Phone Directory LookSmart and UpSNAP Partner for Cell Phone Directory\\Looksmart has partnered with UpSNAP! to offer its customers a new way to extend their reach off-line and directly to consumers via text-enabled cell phones under a pay-per-click/call model. UpSNAP! recently launched its free 411 service allowing mobile users to access White Pages ...


Feedster Offers RSS Feed Finder Feedster Offers RSS Feed Finder\\Feedster is now offering an RSS feed finder, at http://www.feedster.com/feedfinder.php . This search is in beta, but allows you do search a database of over 900,000 RSS feeds (Feedster claims an index of 972,046 feeds at this point) by entering keyword, description, owner's name, etc.\\A search ...


Six Ways To Create a Keyword-Rich Domain Name Six Ways To Create a Keyword-Rich Domain Name\\An effective domain name can help to brand your site. It can also communicate to your customers the types of products you sell online. An easy to remember domain that describes your services should be the goal of every site owner. Here are ...


Why you should NOT submit your site on Search Engines Why you should NOT submit your site on Search Engines\\Before to answer to this question we have to know what is the difference between a search engine and directory. Here is a brief explanation. The main difference between search engine and directory lay in the way how websites get entered ...


Amazon.com Gets Sex Appeal with Adam   Eve Deal Amazon.com Gets Sex Appeal with Adam  #038; Eve Deal\\Who says that a shopping search entity can't turn up the heat and still not bow down entirely to the porn industry. As some of the major online shopping and search sites have been laying down the law on riskee sex driven ...


Importance of Keywords in URLs and Search Engine Ranking Importance of Keywords in URLs and Search Engine Ranking\\One of the most debated topics in the SEO community (besides for the black hat versus white hat topics) is the question; do keywords in the URL improve a page's rankings? It is funny, some top notch SEOs claim they do, while ...


Copernic Desktop Search Targeting Multi-Lingual European Markets Copernic Desktop Search Targeting Multi-Lingual European Markets \\Copernic and its international business development partner Contraco initiated a European market penetration strategy by announcing German, French, and Dutch versions of the award-winning Copernic Desktop Search (CDS) product, with an Italian version soon to follow. Copernic continues to outmaneuver both Microsoft and ...


Yahoo Announces Media Head - Former ABC Chairman Braun Yahoo Announces Media Head - Former ABC Chairman Braun\\Yahoo today hired former ABC television network Chairman Lloyd Braun as head of Yahoo Media and Entertainment. Lloyd Braun will be overseeing Yahoo movies, TV, entertainment, music, games, finance, news, weather, sports, health and children channels. \\Bloomberg reports that Braun left Walt ...


ObjectsSearch Offers Open Source Search Results ObjectsSearch Offers Open Source Search Results\\Aiming to provide users with unbiased website ranking, ObjectsSearch.com has launched an open source search engine based on Nutch.org's search. ObjectsSearch looks to solve problems related to search result manipulation and information overload. ObjectsSearch claims that their open source approach provides an "alternative to commercial ...


News: Former University of Texas student indicted for allegedly hacking into computers, stealing info The Associated Press


News: Corporate governance goals impossible - RSA Companies are struggling to cope with tighter corporate governance regimes, which might even work against the goal of achieving improved IT security they are partly designed to promote.


Infocus: SSH User Identities This article shows how to improve SSH security using public key authentication instead of, or in addition to, password authentication.


Columnists: The Cost of Security Training The cost of providing security training to your staff may be high, but what is the cost of not providing any training at all?


Columnists: Phishing For Savvy Users Recent "phishing" episodes are still often overlooked by tech-savvy users, but a lesson in history shows how entire nations have been fooled.


Cell Signaling Technology Carlos Del Castillo, IT manager at Cell Signaling Technology, drove the effort to move the company to Macs. Now  #147;no one worries about the system anymore, #148; he says.  #147;They #146;re concentrating on their work, using the Mac as a tool rather than as a computer. #148; Also, check out Why Mac for Science and other new features on the Science site.\ Nov 04


Reviewing iPod Photo Comparing the new iPod Photo to iRiver H320, Walt Mossberg writes in the Wall Street Journal,  #147;Our verdict: The iPod Photo was just as easy, and satisfying, to use with photos as it is with music. It #146;s a winner, if a little pricey. But the iRiver player is complicated and clumsy, designed by techies for techies. #148; Nov 03


Amazing Animation Effects  #147;Motion is a fantastic application designed for people who want to add professional-looking titles, DVD menu items, and other visualizations to their video and DVD projects, #148; writes Jan Ozer in PC Magazine.  #147;What #146;s most striking about Motion is that it is simple enough that beginners can jump right in, yet advanced enough that professionals will be happy with the results. #148; Nov 02


iPod Photo Worth Every Dime  #147;Apple #146;s latest addition to its hugely popular iPod line, the iPod Photo, has moved the bar even further as the digital lifestyle continues to converge, #148; writes Mike Wendland for the Detroit Free Press.  #147;It combines the two most important things driving consumer electronics this year: digital music and digital pictures. #148; Nov 02


User Serviceable iMac G5  #147;The iMac G5 is completely user serviceable, #148; writes Leander Kahney for Wired News.  #147;With its simplified, modular interior, the machine was designed to make it easy for consumers to perform their own repairs. If something goes wrong, Apple dispatches a spare part, and the owner performs the do-it-yourself repair, from swapping out a faulty hard drive to installing a new flat screen. The new iMac is perhaps the most user-serviceable machine on the market. #148; Nov 01


Hardest Tech-Support Job on Earth When U.S. soldiers need expert engineering advice -- like how to gauge the structural integrity of a bombed-out bridge in a battle zone -- they contact the Army's crack squad for quick answers. Michelle Delio reports from Vicksburg, Mississippi.


Phone Sex Is Better Than Porn Why look at pictures when you can have the real thing? All it takes is a telephone -- and the ability to give good voice. Commentary by Regina Lynn.


Incredibles: Another Pixar Winner Some filmgoers still snub animation, but it's their loss if they miss The Incredibles. This movie is an example of great filmmaking: gorgeous cinematography, smart writing and genuine feeling for the characters. Jason Silverman reviews Pixar's latest wonder.


Progress in an Ancient Tongue Research advances could bring Ethiopic characters -- hundreds of them -- to text messaging, and maybe help modernize the country. Andrew Heavens reports from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.


Brand Names Take a Beating Sure, there are more brands than ever. But their value is plummeting as consumer loyalty evaporates. Who's to blame? A new breed of hyperinformed superconsumers. By James Surowiecki from Wired magazine.


Computer Loses 4,500 Votes UniLect gives bogus information to North Carolina counties about the capacity of the company's electronic voting machines, and some voters' picks go ignored as a result.


Movie Lawsuits on the Way The movie industry plans to sue people who share movies online. Starting Nov. 16, people who trade copyright films online could be sued for thousands of dollars. By Katie Dean.


Flu Shots Skin Injection Might Stretch Supply of It Researchers said it may be possible to stretch the supply of flu vaccine by giving some people reduced doses that are injected into the skin instead of a muscle.


Sperm Stem Cells Are Grown Outside Body Scientists have succeeded in growing outside the body the special stem cells that direct the remarkably prolific process of sperm production.


Measure Passed, California Weighs Its Future as a Stem Cell Epicenter A vote by Californians to spend \$3 billion on human embryonic stem cell research could speed progress on the promising but controversial field and make the state the epicenter of such research.


Spawning of Interloper Fish in Potomac Worries Experts With the evidence of the northern snakehead fish's spawning, hope is fading along the Potomac River that the aggressive, toothy Asian invader can be stopped.


Drought Unearths a Buried Treasure Due to a drought in Utah, Glen Canyon is on its way back  viewable in much of its former glory.


A Palmtop's Curious Subtraction The new Palm Tungsten T5 takes a lot of steps backward, but offers one huge leap forward.


Have You Called Your Car Lately? The Viper G.P.S. Tracking System can be reached by the Internet or a cellphone.


Movie Industry Preparing Suits on File Sharing Hollywood's major movie studios said that they would begin filing lawsuits against people who make copyrighted films available for downloading over the Internet.


Giving Voice to Video Games As video games take on an ever slicker, more cinematic feel, developers are increasingly turning to cartoon actors, movie-trailer announcers and even film stars to read the lines.


Giving Overstuffed Cameras Some Offloading Options For regular travelers with eager shutter fingers, storage gadgets can be more economical than additional memory cards.


On-time performance soars at O #39;Hare in September Airlines at O #39;Hare Airport in September ranked fourth in on-time arrivals and 10th in on-time departures nationwide, according to federal figures released Thursday.


Linux cluster storage system takes off Linux Networx has developed a clustered storage appliance which is able to pool capacity from separate storage devices into a single high-capacity resource.


Bosnian Government Resigns Bosnian Prime Minister Adnan Terzic has announced that he and the Bosnian government will resign. Terzic made the statement to Bosnia private television, BN TV.


Seven to be charged with terrorism over killing of filmmaker (AFP) AFP - Seven people close to Islamic groups in the Netherlands are to be charged with terrorist-related activities over the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, the Amsterdam public prosecutor revealed.


Listwin steps down as CEO at Openwave (SiliconValley.com) SiliconValley.com - Don Listwin, chief executive of communications software maker Openwave Systems, is giving up the executive reins to throw himself into a personal crusade against cancer.


Regions house prices  #39;will buck trend #39; House prices in East Anglia will buck the national trend by holding firm or even continuing to grow, says a building society chief.


JPMorgan, Cazenove Announce Joint Venture JPMorgan Chase  amp; Co. and Cazenove Group PLC said Friday they were launching a joint venture to combine their investment banking services for British customers.


Despite 1.8bn loss, MCI says it is back on track MCI has reported a \$3.4bn (1.8bn) third-quarter loss due mainly to a write-off of the value of its assets. The company #39;s efforts to recover from its bankruptcy are being hampered by stiff competition in


Update 2: Japan Airlines Sees Profit on Int #39;l Travel Japan Airlines Corp. said Friday that it returned to profitability in first half of the fiscal year as international travel picked up from a decline a year ago caused by the war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak in Asia.


Cool weather heats up retail sales Cool autumn weather and apparent pent-up demand for clothing drove strong sales in October at Gap, Neiman Marcus and other national retailers, according to company reports issued Thursday.


Appliance sales give Sears an Oct. surprise Sears Roebuck and Co. surprised naysayers Thursday by reporting a sales gain in October, the first in six months. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 1.9 percent versus a year ago, largely on the strength


Musicians push for satellite radio A rift appeared within Canada #39;s music industry yesterday as prominent artists called on the CRTC to embrace satellite radio and the industry warned of lost revenue and job losses.


Shareholders sue Tribune Co. Tribune Co. said yesterday it has been sued by shareholders who are upset by the circulation scandals at Newsday and the Spanish-language paper Hoy.


Indonesian experts deny  #39;Flores man #39; fossil claim YOGYAKARTA (Antara): Indonesian senior pale-anthropologist Teuku Jacob denied claims made by Australian anthropologist Peter Brown saying that fossils found in September 2003 were of a newspecies called Homo floresiensis.


NFL FRIDAY: WEEK 9 For the second week in a row, Pittsburgh tries to knock off an undefeated team. With ex-Eagle Duce Staley, the Steelers should be able to run the ball against a Philadelphia defense that struggles stopping the run.


Top UN arms inspector slams Bush The chief UN nuclear arms inspector sharply criticized the Bush administration Thursday, saying the American invasion and occupation of Iraq had damaged the credibility of the United States.


Marines await orders for Fallujah assault A senior US commander says marines are making final preparations for an imminent offensive against Iraq #39;s rebel bastion of Fallujah and are awaiting orders to strike.


EU fast-tracks action to end institutional limbo Incoming European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso acted Friday to end an unprecedented EU stalemate, by arranging fast-track confirmation hearings for his re-arranged Brussels executive team.


Security No. 1 for Afghan head President Hamid Karzai promised Thursday to assemble a representative government, but said he did not feel bound to offer top Cabinet positions to his defeated rivals.


Afghan militants may spare Filipino Afghan militants have hinted they might release a Filipino hostage, one of three UN workers kidnapped last week, as his country has no troops in Afghanistan.


No mutiny from Microsoft's bounty A year on, and the company's \$1 million tip-off program has nabbed just one virus writer. Is it a bust?\


Iran, EU Nuke Talks Underway, No Breakthrough Seen  PARIS (Reuters) - Diplomats from France, Britain and  Germany met their Iranian counterparts on Friday for a new  round of talks to persuade Tehran to give up its uranium  enrichment program, but diplomats said no breakthrough was  likely.


Kuwait Plans Big Oil Project Spending  KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait plans to spend some \$30 billion  to \$40 billion to upgrade its energy sector, and to increase  oil production capacity 60 percent to four million barrels per  day by 2020, top oil officials said in remarks published in  local newspapers on Sunday.


Egypt 'will release Israeli spy' Reports say Egypt is to free an Arab-Israeli man jailed on spying charges in return for six students held by Israel.


Shining Path leader faces retrial Abimael Guzman, ex-leader of Peru's Shining Path rebels, faces retrial in a civilian court 12 years after his capture.


India pull off astounding victory India bowl out Australia for 93 to win the fourth Test by 13 runs, but the tourists take the series 2-1.


New menu boosts McDonald's Japan Profits triple at McDonald's Japan after the fast-food chain starts selling larger burgers.


World 'forgets' internal refugees A UN report urges better protection for millions of internally displaced people - refugees in all but name.


Verizon to Buy NextWave Licenses for \$3 Billion
\

 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless said on Thursday that\it had signed an agreement with NextWave Telecom Inc. to\purchase all of its airwave licenses for \$3 billion.


Trio of Hot New Games Victimized by Piracy A month before the video game's scheduled release this coming Tuesday, illegal copies of the hot sci-fi action title "Halo 2" were already circulating on the Internet. It's had a lot of company lately.


IBM Supercomputer Again Claims Record A \$100 million supercomputer being built to analyze the nation's nuclear stockpile has again set an unofficial performance record - the second in just over a month.


Update 10: Oil Prices Fall on Boost in Crude Supplies Oil futures prices plunged by more than \$2 a barrel Thursday, continuing a selloff that began last week amid rising US supplies of crude and expectations of a surge in heating oil production before winter arrives.


Dividend sweetens Molson-Coors deal MONTREAL -- Molson Inc. and Adolph Coors Co. are sweetening their brewery merger plan with a special dividend to Molson shareholders worth \$381 million.


11am Market Update European stock markets got off to a flying start this morning as investors cheered a plunge in crude oil prices and fresh post-election gains on Wall Street.


Teraflop topping IBM supercomputer being assembled The IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer is currently being assembled for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Livermore plans to buy a unit four times the current supercomputers size, according to eBCVG.


Qualcomm media network to boost mobile services The dedicated tower network to be built by Qualcomm #39;s MediaFLO USA subsidiary should give US carriers a smooth road for rolling out mobile multimedia services, though it may be some time before they embrace the idea.


Loeb in limbo as French teams pull out SBASTIEN LOEB, the new rallying world champion, will be the highest-profile casualty of a shock decision yesterday by two leading French manufacturers to pull out of the sport.


Three British soldiers killed in Iraq suicide attack : Insurgents attacked British troops at a checkpoint in central Iraq, killing three and wounding eight in a suicide bomb and mortar barrage aimed at soldiers sent to the high-risk area


Views clash: hero, rogue Yasser Arafat, fighting for his life in a French hospital Thursday, triggered a war of words about his legacy: Palestinians hailed a freedom fighter who saved them from national extinction; Jewish leaders welcomed the imminent death of a terrorist.


Blair Hails Russia Climate Pact Move Russias signing of the Kyoto Protocol, bringing the global climate change agreement into force, was today hailed as a real step forward by Prime Minister Tony Blair.


Six soldiers killed, air strikes mount ahead of expected Fallujah <b>...</b> RAMADI, Iraq : Six British and American troops were killed in Iraq over the last 24 hours as the US military battered the flashpoint city of Fallujah with air strikes ahead of an expected all-out assault.


Review: 'San Andreas' Among Best Games (AP) AP - "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" is an epic homage to the West Coast gang culture of the early 1990s. Yes, parents, there's way too much violence and profanity here for the kids. For those of us 18 and older, though, it's among the best video games this year.


Microsoft E-Mail Looks Like Spam to Some Recipients (washingtonpost.com) washingtonpost.com - For a year, Microsoft Corp. has extolled the virtues of the Can-Spam Act, which Congress passed in late 2003 to crack down on purveyors of unwanted bulk e-mail. The company, with other Internet and marketing firms, helped craft the act and has sued several spammers under its provisions.


Abu Sayyaf kidnapper killed TROOPS killed a member of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnap gang and captured four others in a raid in this southern Philippine city, officials said today.


Tibetan exiles in India campaign for monk's release (Reuters) Reuters - About 100 Tibetan exiles chanted prayers as they began a hunger strike on Friday in a busy business district of Bombay, to demand the release of a Tibetan Buddhist monk jailed in China over a spate of bombings.


California Company to Make New Anthrax Vaccine (Reuters) Reuters - California vaccine maker VaxGen Inc.\will make a new and improved version of the anthrax vaccine for\use in case of a biological attack, the U.S. government said on\Thursday.


Molson, Coors to Offer Special Dividend Adolph Coors Co. and Montreal-based brewer Molson Inc. said Friday that they will pay a special dividend to Molson shareholders in connection with the companies #39; merger.


Vioxx heart risks apparent for years Scientific evidence of increased heart attack risk associated with popular arthritis drug Vioxx was available as early as 2000, say Swiss scientists, although the drug was only withdrawn in September 2004.


Luxury retailers report sales rise Itsa good time to sell champagne and a bad time to sell soda pop. Luxury retailers had strong sales in October while discounters like Wal-Mart Stores Inc.


Microsoft Improves Security Microsoft will provide advanced notice to customers of upcoming patches, including what software and products will be affected, in an effort to allow customers to prepare and pre-roll patches instead of having to try and deal with issues after patches are


E-gold Tracks Cisco Code Thief The electronic currency site that the Source Code Club said it will use to accept payment for Cisco Systems Inc. #39;s firewall source code is confident it can track down the perpetrators.


NBA: Denver 94, Minnesota 92 (OT) Denver #39;s Earl Boykins scored with six seconds left in overtime and the Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-92 Thursday.


EU, meeting Iraqi PM, urged to heal divisions BRUSSELS : European leaders were urged to forget their past divisions over Iraq as they met the country #39;s interim leader on the second day of a summit in Brussels.


Philippines Rushes Relief to Flooded Areas  GENERAL NAKAR, Philippines (Reuters) - Philippine soldiers  rushed food, drinking water and other supplies by foot and  helicopters on Sunday to provinces cut off by four storms in  two weeks that left more than 1,300 people dead or missing.


Dutch politician threatened in letter pinned with knife to filmmaker's body (Canadian Press) Canadian Press - THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The killers of an outspoken Dutch filmmaker threatened his scriptwriter - a politician who renounced Islam and has criticized its customs - in a letter that was pinned to the victim's body with a knife.


Two Guilty in 1st Felony Spam Conviction (AP) AP - A brother and sister who sent junk e-mail to millions of America Online customers were convicted Wednesday in the nation's first felony prosecution of Internet spam distributors.


US military 'seals off Falluja' The US military closes all roads into the Iraqi city of Falluja, amid speculation a major assault is imminent.


U.S. Troops Urge Civilians to Leave Iraqi Rebel City  FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces warned residents of  Falluja through loudspeakers and leaflets on Friday that they  would detain any man under 45 trying to enter or leave the  rebel-held Iraqi city.


Iraq Will Hold Elections on Jan 27-Vice President  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will hold national elections on  Jan. 27, Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari said on Friday.


Putin clears way for Kyoto treaty Russia's President Putin signs the Kyoto protocol on climate change - enabling it to  come into force next year.


Top Linux exec departs from Novell Novell is mum on the exit of Chris Stone, a key leader in the company's transformation to Linux vendor.


MSN's download service expanding Microsoft's music download service launches in eight new countries as the software giant bids to takes on Apple's market leading iTunes.


Job Gains Strongest in Seven Months  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of new U.S. jobs soared  at the sharpest rate in seven months in October, the government  reported on Friday, helped by a surge in construction activity  as hurricane-racked areas in the Southeast were rebuilt.


IBM aims for top 10 with new Spanish supercomputer IBM Corp. and the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science introduced a new supercomputer on Friday that they hope will be the most powerful in Europe, and among the10 most powerful in the world.


Nokia sues over patent and registered designs Nokia Corp., the world's largest mobile phone maker, took legal action earlier this week against two European manufacturers for allegedly infringing on technology patents and registered designs.


Short-Term Rate Futures Sink on Jobs Data  CHICAGO (Reuters) - Short-term interest rate futures  plunged on Friday after U.S. jobs growth for October was far  above median Wall Street expectations, suggesting the  possibility for more aggressive monetary policy tightening.


Oil at 5-Week Low as Supply Fears Ease  LONDON (Reuters) - Oil slid to a five-week low on Friday,  continuing a fund-led selling spree that has knocked 12 percent  from last week's record highs as rising stockpiles have eased  worries of a winter supply crunch.


October Job Growth Stronger Than Expected Employers aggressively hired new workers in October, adding 337,000 people to payrolls after a sluggish summer, although the overall unemployment rate rose marginally, to 5.5 percent.


Molson and Coors sweeten merger plan with dividend worth \$381 <b>...</b> MONTREAL (CP) - Molson Inc. and Adolph Coors Co. are sweetening their brewery merger plan with a special dividend to Molson shareholders worth \$381 million.


MCI reports \$3.4 billion loss WASHINGTON - MCI Inc. on Thursday reported a \$3.4 billion third-quarter loss as it wrote down the value of its assets due to a withering price war for long-distance telephone service.


Job growth continues but unemployment rate remains unchanged OTTAWA - The economy created another 34,300 jobs in October but the unemployment rate remained at 7.1 per cent as more people entered the labour force, Statistics Canada said Friday.


Marsh general counsel to resign amid probe NEW YORK - The general counsel for broker Marsh  amp; McLennan Cos. will step down next week as the embattled firm seeks to clean house and reform its business practices, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.


MSN #39;s download service expanding Microsoft #39;s has launched its MSN music download service in eight more European countries as the software giant bids to takes on Apple #39;s market leading iTunes.


Mars rovers working overtime Martian rovers Spirit and Opportunity are going strong 10 months after they began their geological study of the red planet, mission scientists said Thursday.


IBM Is Back on Top with Blue Gene Supercomputer This recent milestone shows the current state of an ongoing, multi-year project that has been (and continues to be) a series of opportunities and challenges.


Intel readies  #39;East Fork #39; digital home PC platform Intel is gearing up to create a Centrino-style brand and platform for  #39;digital home #39;-oriented PCs, it has emerged. Codenamed  #39;East Fork #39; - after the Ohio state park, apparently - the platform centres on  #39;Smithfield


Munch Museum to stay closed well into 2005 Oslo #39;s Munch Museum could remain closed until June 2005 while officials upgrade its security system following a brazen daylight robbery in August of two Edvard Munch masterpieces.


Stars come out to compete at Advanta Championships at Villanova A year ago, the Advanta Championships returned to The Pavilion after a two-year absence, but the tournament suffered from injury withdrawls and a lack of star power.


Bellamy on Toon Army battle The smile on the Welshmans face was as broad as the Tyne after his 56th-minute volley cemented a 2-0 victory over Dinamo Tbilisi at St James Park last night, in stark contrast to his mood as the Magpies jetted out to Athens for their opening Group D