Cell Phones and Connections Faster than Lightning

People in the wireless industry have been talking about what will replace 3G networks in the next two or three years. AT&T , Verizon , Sprint , and their peers overseas need something to spark consumer demand now that many people already own handsets and higher-end smartphones

Share

Volunteers, scientists guard endangered whales

Glenn Wood and several other retirees lean on a wood rail on the second story balcony of the Golden Lion CafĂ© — a beachside pub and restaurant in northern Florida. It’s 8 a.m., so no one’s here for French fries or beer-battered fish. As the group gazes out into the ocean sunrise, they’re scanning for North Atlantic right whales

Share

Black actors still face Oscar challenges

On a winter evening in early 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to win an Oscar, a best supporting actress honor for her performance as Mammy, the servant in "Gone With the Wind." She accepted her award at the Academy Awards ceremony at the Coconut Grove, a nightclub in Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel, where she was seated in the segregated section at the rear of the room. Though her win was played as a sign of progress for black actors in America — “Not only was she the first of her race to receive an Award, but she was also the first Negro ever to sit at an Academy banquet,” said Daily Variety, according to Mason Wiley and Damien Bona’s indispensable “Inside Oscar” — her role was poorly received by much of the black community.

Share

Three cleared over murder of Russian journalist

A jury in Moscow on Thursday acquitted three men charged with involvement on the murder of independent journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The not guilty verdicts followed a two month trial that was hampered from the start by the man accused of masterminding the shooting, Rustam Makhmudov

Share

U.S. lawmakers visit Gaza for first time in 8 years

A U.S. congressional delegation visited Gaza Thursday, marking the first time that American lawmakers have entered the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory in eight years, according to the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem.

Share

Venezuela seizes Stanford-owned bank

Venezuela’s government seized a local bank owned by Allen Stanford Thursday as politicans and banking regulators in the region attempted to quell panic after the flamboyant Texan financier was charged over an alleged multibillion dollar fraud scheme. Customers in Latin America and the Caribbean have been queuing up or logging onto online banking services to withdraw money from institutions owned by the Stanford Group

Share

Afghanistan, trade on table as Obama visits Canada

President Obama takes his first foreign trip as head of state Thursday when he travels to Canada. And though he enjoys an 81 percent approval rating north of the border, Obama is expected to tackle several explosive issues with America’s largest trading partner. • The war in Afghanistan: Canada has about 2,800 troops in Afghanistan, but Parliament has voted to pull them out by 2011.

Share