Box Office Weekend: Bully for Bullock

On Father’s Day weekend, while dads were playing catch with their sons and preparing the backyard barbecue, women rushed to theaters to see a romantic comedy with a female star. The Proposal, with Sandra Bullock as a Canadian publishing exec who must marry her harried male assistant in order to stay in the U.S, whacked the opposition and topped the North American box office.

Share

Chrysler’s New Boss: Sergio Marchionne

Whenever Sergio Marchionne talks about his latest calling–fixing auto companies written off as basket cases–he doesn’t sound anything like most auto types. For a start, he’s a lawyer and an accountant rather than a car engineer, and instead of getting bogged down in long discussions about the merits of one particular type of engine or gearbox, he likes to talk about Apple

Share

Mosley says deal close in F1 breakaway row

Max Mosley claims a deal is "very close" to end the damaging row which could see a breakaway Formula One series next season. FIA president Mosley spent Sunday at the British Grand Prix locked in talks with members of the teams who have rebelled against plans by world motorsport’s governing body to impose a budget cap and other rule changes. Eight teams from the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) claimed late on Thursday that they would set up the rival series

Share

Vettel secures pole for British Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel maintained the impressive form he showed in practice by comfortably securing pole position in his Red Bull for Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The German, the only driver apart from world championship leader Jenson Button to win a Formula One race this season, finished nearly four tenths of a second quicker than Button’s Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello, with the other Red Bull of Mark Webber third on the grid. Button, who leads the standings by 26-points after dominating the season with six victories from seven races, is down in sixth place — his worse qualifying of the season — to the disappointment of home supporters.

Share

Zakaria: ‘Fatal wound’ inflicted on Iranian regime’s ideology

The decisive margin of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in elections last week stunned many observers and angered his opponents’ supporters, who in the ensuing days took to the streets in protest by the hundreds of thousands. The decisive margin of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in elections last week stunned many observers and angered his opponents’ supporters, who in the ensuing days took to the streets in protest by the hundreds of thousands.

Share

Monsoon season compounds refugees’ troubles

"Refugees are the most vulnerable people on Earth. They are fighting to survive." — Angelina Jolie, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees goodwill ambassador The world’s population at the end of last year included 42 million displaced people, 80 percent of them in developing nations, according to a report this week by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Many of these refugees are living in minimal standards for shelter and are exposed daily to the harshest elements of weather, the report says

Share

Do Monkeys Pay for Sex?

It turns out that one of humanity’s oldest professions may be even older than we thought: In a recent study of macaque monkeys in Indonesia, researchers found that male primates “paid” for sexual access to females — and that the going rate for such access dwindled as the number of available females went up. According to the paper, “Payment for Sex in a Macaque Mating Market,” published in the December issue of Animal Behavior, males in a group of about 50 long-tailed macaques in Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia, traded grooming services for sex with females; researchers, who studied the monkeys for some 20 months, found that males offered their payment up-front, as a kind of pre-sex ritual

Share

Arab neighbors watch Iran’s troubles

"Millions voted for President Ahmadinejad and that makes the elections definitive," declared Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Akbar Khamenei during his Friday sermon. With these simple words addressing Muslim worshippers, he ended speculations about his position following a week of pro-opposition demonstrations claiming vote-rigging and denouncing their candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi’s defeat

Share