Ahmadinejad denies calling for Facebook ban

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday he did not call for a ban on Facebook during the country’s presidential election. “I should make an inquiry and ask about this,” he said when asked about reports that his government blocked access to the online social networking site. He added, “I believe in maximum freedom of expression.” The hardline Iranian president made the comment in response to a question from CNN at a news conference

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Ida: Humankind’s Earliest Ancestor! (Not Really)

From the beginning, Ida’s unveiling has been a master class in ballyhoo. A week ago, the first breathless press releases began to arrive, portending the presentation of the now famous 47-million-year-old primate fossil from Germany: “MEDIA ALERT,” the notice shouted in all caps. “WORLD RENOWNED SCIENTISTS REVEAL A REVOLUTIONARY SCIENTIFIC FIND THAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING.” The press releases were followed by an international press conference at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the publication of a book, The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor , an ABC News exclusive and on May 25 a primetime television special on the History Channel

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Why Video Games Are an Excellent Economic Indicator

In a stunning result, the winner of the third annual TIME 100 poll and new owner of the title World’s Most Influential Person is moot. The 21-year-old college student and founder of the online community 4chan.org, whose real name is Christopher Poole, received 16,794,368 votes and an average influence rating of 90 to handily beat the likes of Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Oprah Winfrey. To put the magnitude of the upset in perspective, it’s worth noting that everyone moot beat out actually has a job.

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Deaths at Thai resort vex family, investigators

What started as a romantic Southeast Asia vacation for a Seattle couple ended with Ryan Kells preparing Friday to return from Bangkok carrying the ashes of his fianceé to give to her family in California. “It’s such a shock,” Robert St. Onge told CNN about the death of his sister, Jill, who had been traveling with the man she planned to marry

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Burma tops list of worst places to be a blogger

Bloggers in Burma, Iran and Syria work under some of the most repressive conditions in the world, facing tactics such as regulation, intimidation and even imprisonment, according to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists. The organization released a list of the “10 worst countries to be a blogger” to call attention to online oppression in connection with World Press Freedom Day, which was observed Sunday. “Bloggers are at the vanguard of the information revolution, and their numbers are expanding rapidly,” the group’s executive director, Joel Simon, said in a report posted on the organization’s Web site.

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