‘Microsoft has lost its appeal against a record 497m euro (£343m; $690m) fine imposed by the European Commission in a long-running competition dispute.
The European Court of First Instance upheld the ruling that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position.
A probe concluded in 2004 that Microsoft was guilty of freezing out rivals in server software and products such as media players.’
‘Iraqi officials Monday condemned the weekend killings of eight civilians during a Baghdad street battle involving American security contractors and said they would shut down Blackwater, the company involved.
Blackwater said its employees acted in self-defense. The U.S. State Department said it plans to investigate what it calls a “terrible incident.”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to express regret for the weekend killings, both governments said. [..]
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf, said, “We have revoked Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq. The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday’s killing will be referred to Iraqi justice.”‘
‘The trucking association is calling on the Territory government to balance funding of level crossing upgrades with road surface improvements.
The Victorian Government yesterday announced 250 level crossings will be upgraded as a result of the rail crash near Kerang that killed 11 people earlier this month.
But the Executive Officer of the Australian Trucking Association, Peter Goed says a similar response would not be appropriate for the Territory.
He says painting trains bright colours could improve rail crossing safety.
“We should paint them a different colour… bright pink or something or purple or whatever so they can be seen easily,” he said’
‘In 2005, the last time the American Society of Civil Engineers rated America’s infrastructure, bridges received a “C” grade; dams earned a “D.”
Even that rating may be generous, a Monitor analysis of dam-inspection data shows. Since 1999, the number of “high-hazard” dams rated “deficient” has more than doubled, according to data from the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) in Lexington, Ky. High-hazard dams are those whose failures could cause fatalities. In 1999, the US had 546 such dams rated deficient. By last year, it had 1,333.
A second category of “significant-hazard” dams (so-called because they threaten substantial property loss) saw a rise from 339 to 949 deficient dams over the same period. In all, 2.6 percent of the nation’s dams are deficient, according to the ASDSO.’
‘A man who left his girlfriend’s body to decompose in his Jeep Cherokee must pay her parents $500,000 for interfering with their rights to properly bury her, a Jackson County jury has ruled.
In 2005, Matthew C. Davis, 42, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison for abandoning a corpse and 15 more for three unrelated drug charges.
Police found the decomposed body of Amber McGathey, 22, in Davis’ Jeep on June 6, 2004. Prosecutors believed McGathey died of a drug overdose four days earlier, when a witness saw a man wheeling a shopping cart with what appeared to be a body in it.
On Wednesday, the jury ordered Davis to pay $250,000 each to Boyd McGathey, of Parkville, and Debra Augustine, of Waterloo, Ill. They had sued under a rarely used legal doctrine called “interference with the right of sepulcher and burial.”‘
‘A Bosnian couple are getting divorced after finding out they had been secretly chatting each other up online under fake names.
Sana Klaric, 27, and husband Adnan, 32, from Zenica, poured out their hearts to each other over their marriage troubles, and both felt they had found their real soul mate.
The couple met on an online chat forum while he was at work and she in an internet cafe, and started chatting under the names Sweetie and Prince of Joy.
They eventually decided to meet up – but there was no happy ending when they realised what had happened. [..]
“To be honest I still find it hard to believe that the person, Sweetie, who wrote such wonderful things to me on the internet, is actually the same woman I married and who has not said a nice word to me for years.”‘
‘The 25-year-old was driving out of a car park off the Nepean Highway at Frankston South, south of the city, when the accident occurred just before 12am (AEST) yesterday.
Police said the woman backed her sedan through a wooden safety fence before plunging 20m over a cliff.
“She is very, very lucky,” a police spokesman said.
“It’s a very steep cliff and pretty well a straight drop down to a beach.”
The woman was unconscious and smoke was coming out of the car’s engine when police arrive, he said.’
‘A man who prosecutors said made a practice of getting teenage boys drunk has been found guilty of manslaughter for getting one of them killed.
Ryan Schultz, 31, had a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit an hour after the crash that killed Sonny Hart in May 2006, the prosecution said.
Schultz bought whiskey for a group of boys and drank with them at a park north of Salem, the prosecution said. [..]
Schultz believed that “the way to live life and have fun was to get a bunch of teenage boys drunk,” Deputy District Attorney Tiffany Underwood said in closing arguments.’
‘Fast food giant McDonald’s has been fined £13,500 after a metal bolt was found in a snack at a West Midlands shopping centre.
A customer chewed on the bolt, which was in a sausage and egg McMuffin, at the outlet in Merry Hill in June 2006.
The company pleaded guilty at Dudley Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to a charge of producing food which did not meet required standards.
The court heard bolts were missing from a kitchen grill.’
‘Australia’s opposition Labor Party has questioned the need for female sailors to be given breast enlargements paid for with public money.
An armed forces spokesman defended the operations, saying they were carried out for psychological reasons, not to make sailors “look sexy”.
Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said the “holistic needs” of service personnel were considered under defence policy.
But he said breast augmentations were not routinely funded by the military.’
‘At first there was a wall of secrecy about a supposed Israeli attack on Syria 10 days ago. Now, the leaks have started and there are suggestions the air assault by Israel was in response to Syria’s nuclear ambitions.
In Israel itself there is an official blackout on any information related to the attack, with the Israeli military censor banning any reporting from Israeli sources.
However the British and American press, quoting unnamed US sources, have been putting together an alarming picture.
What happened in Syria 10 days ago has been at the centre of one the biggest guessing games in Israel. Whatever it was, it was very serious.’
‘A Milwaukee man suffered serious burns during a camping trip and is suing the company that makes his aftershave, reported WISN-TV in Milwaukee.
Federal court records filed this week show that Charles Lewitzke, 81, was at the Arrowhead Campground in the Wisconsin Dells with his kids and grandchildren in 2004. He washed and shaved in a bathroom and afterward applied Brut aftershave on his neck and face. He also used an aerosol deodorant.
Documents said that after grooming, he walked to a fire pit to cook breakfast. When he was starting the fire, the body parts that had Brut on them ignited, seriously burning 30 percent of his body. The second- and third-degree burns needed skin grafts in some areas.’
‘A woman who crashed her vehicle into five cars in three separate accidents says she didn’t stop because she was rushing her pot-bellied pit to the veterinarian.
Deborah Angiolillo left a trail of smashed cars and trucks across Palm Coast Wednesday afternoon. She first struck a vehicle in a parking lot. Deputies say Angiolillo left that scene and drove to the intersection of Cypress Point Parkway and Palm Coast Parkway where she hit the back of an SUV. Reports show she shifted into reverse, hit yet another car, and drove away.
She ended up at a second intersection where deputies say she hit a pick-up truck, which hit the car in front of it. The impact of that wreck threw Angiolillo’s car into another car’s path. [..]
Angiolillo was taken to the hospital but first told deputies that her pot-bellied pig was dying and needed emergency care. Deputies searched the scene but didn’t find a pig. Angiolillo was taken into custody under Florida’s Baker Act which allows law enforcement to hold people for psychiatric evaluations.’
‘OJ Simpson faces multiple charges including armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the alleged theft of items of sports memorabilia from a Las Vegas casino hotel room, police said.
The former American football star, who was sensationally acquitted in one of the biggest murder trials in US history, was arrested on at least six counts in relation to the reported robbery on Thursday.
They include two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a deadly weapon, Las Vegas police announced at a news conference.
All the counts are felonies and carry potentially lengthy sentences.’
‘A group of soldiers find a location they suspect has an IED. They use a bomb defusing robot to neutrailize it but end up setting off the IED completely destroying the robot.’
(1.5meg Flash video)
‘Many state laws targeting convicted sex offenders violate the rights of people who pose little risk, a leading human rights group said Wednesday. It called for repeal of laws restricting where these ex-offenders can live and for curbs on access to online registries.
Human Rights Watch depicted its report, two years in the making, as the first comprehensive study of sex-offender policies in the United States. It said many of the laws are of questionable value in protecting children from sex crimes, but expose offenders who have served their sentences to harassment and violence.
“These are laws that weren’t based on reason — they were based on a few horrific cases,” said Jamie Fellner, director of the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch. “But it’s very difficult for politicians to demonstrate the courage to urge changes in these laws.”‘
‘Potentially-lethal booby traps were found in a Newport cannabis factory.
Now police across Gwent are being warned of the discovery of several dangerous booby-traps at a house in Newport where police discovered a large number of cannabis plants and extensive growing equipment.
These included a series of 10-inch metal skewers set up inside window frames, and concealed beneath a thin sheet of cardboard, so intruders would not see them until it was too late.
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The cannabis growers had also rerouted the electricity supply and used it to create high voltage wires running across door and window frames, which were accessible from the outside of the house, so that a single touch by an intruder could deliver a potentially fatal electric shock.’
‘An Orlando police officer has been ticketed for slamming his patrol car into a house and then driving away.
The impact knocked the air conditioning unit off the house and broke the fence at the home on Summerlin Avenue. The Florida Highway Patrol said since no one was hurt in the Friday crash, troopers could only ticket officer Sam Cunningham.
He was cited for careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident.’
‘Permanent water restrictions for Sydney have been announced by the NSW Government in a bid to combat climate change.
Called Long-term Water Saving Rules, they will remain in effect regardless of dam levels or downgrades of the current water restrictions scheme.
The rules include restrictions on watering between 10am and 4pm (AEST), the fitting of trigger nozzles on hoses and no hosing of hard surfaces.
Premier Morris Iemma said today the permanent restrictions reflected the Government’s commitment to conserving water in the long term.’
This is a longer version of a video I posted ages back called Bride Freaks Out And Cuts Off Her Hair.
Although, it’s allegedly a hoax.
(18meg Flash video)
‘A Vermont man sent a 16-year-old Enfield girl disturbing text messages and pictures of him wearing a diaper, police said.
Enfield police said Lawrence Robarge, 48, of Vermont, sent the messages to the girl earlier in September. The girl didn’t recognize the number, but she contacted police when she saw the messages and pictures.
“They were very disturbing, given her age and what the text messages say,” Chief Richard Crate Jr. said.
Police said that one picture sent to the girl shows a bottle of baby powder and two diapers. A caption with the photo reads, “Show this to your lady friends then have them call me if their [sic] interested. OKAY???”
Crate said that Robarge dialed the number at random and reached the girl.’
‘A man accused of killing a pet pig may blame the pig as part of his defense.
Joseph Calarudda is charged with stabbing 300-pound “Porky” to death as its owners pleaded for him to stop.
Calarudda is going on trial this week for felony theft of livestock. One of his defenses may be that the pig was aggressive and dangerous.’
‘America’s elder statesman of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken the White House by declaring that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil.
In his long-awaited memoir, to be published tomorrow, Greenspan, a Republican whose 18-year tenure as head of the US Federal Reserve was widely admired, will also deliver a stinging critique of President George W Bush’s economic policies.
However, it is his view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is likely to provoke the most controversy. “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil,” he says.
Fed veteran Greenspan lambasts George W Bush on economy
Greenspan, 81, is understood to believe that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the security of oil supplies in the Middle East.’
‘A school in northern France was evacuated yesterday after a nine-year-old girl took a World War II handgrenade to show to the class.
Her teacher had asked students to bring an unusual object to school, according to deputy police chief Vincent Roberti.
The girl obliged, pulling a grenade her brother had found out of her bag.
The teacher “immediately reacted, putting the weapon in a plastic bag, taking it to the courtyard and warning the school principal,” Mr Roberti said.
Police, firefighters and bomb-disposal experts arrived on the scene while the 191-student school was evacuated.’
‘A coroner has called for “insult chatrooms” to be banned after a man took his own life while being watched by others on a web cam.
A verdict of suicide was returned on Kevin Whitrick, 42, of Wellington, Telford, Shropshire, who died in March.
The court heard he was using Paltalk, which urged users to insult each other, when he said he wanted to kill himself.
He hanged himself while some internet users urged him on and others tried to stop him, coroner Michael Gwynne heard.’
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