Topic: W A R - on March 29, 2003 at 1:08:23 AM CET
Missile rocks Kuwait City
An explosion rocked a shopping mall in central Kuwait City early Saturday.
A Kuwaiti security official said the explosion was in the vicinity of the Souq Sharq district, on the Gulf coast near the center of the city, according to a report from the Reuters news agency. Several missiles have been launched at Kuwait from Iraq since the U.S.-led war against Iraq began.
A policeman near the scene told Reuters he had seen a missile come in and land in the sea.
Earlier, more than 50 people were reported killed in a Baghdad marketplace as bombing of the Iraqi capital resumed after nightfall Friday.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on March 29, 2003 at 1:03:17 AM CET
What's So Free About This DVD?
Go to any gathering of open-source developers and someone is bound to tell you that free software isn't free -- not free as in "free lunch," anyway. Free as in "free speech."
Such politics have sparked another technological transformation, this time freeing a DVD from the constraints imposed by copyright-protection technology.
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Topic: W A R - on March 29, 2003 at 12:52:03 AM CET
Reality Check: Psychogical Operations - Cheaper Than Blood
You've probably seen the pictures, again and again now, stunningly shot, poetically rendered. What could point to a more bloodless success than opposition forces that have made an informed decision that surrender is better than death?
What led them to do it?
U.S. President George W. Bush broadcast to the Iraqis: "Many Iraqis can hear me tonight in a translated radio broadcast…Our forces will give Iraqi military units clear instructions on actions they can take to avoid being attacked and destroyed."
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Topic: W A R - on March 29, 2003 at 12:45:23 AM CET
Fighting in the streets
As coalition forces advance in Iraq, they are increasingly faced with the inevitability of fighting in cities. Urban combat poses specific challenges in communicating, traveling and isolating enemies from noncombatants. Tall buildings and underground tunnels stretch the dimensions of the combat zone and shorten the range of engagement, making warfare even more unpredictable. Click on each of the arrows to find out more about the strategies and risks involved with urban combat.
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Topic: W A R - on March 29, 2003 at 12:38:52 AM CET
Bombs Can't Bust Saddam Bunker, Builder Says
The German architect of one of Saddam Hussein's main bunkers in Baghdad said on Friday the Iraqi leader can survive anything short of a direct hit with a nuclear bomb if he stays within its four-feet-thick walls. "It could withstand the shock wave of a nuclear bomb the size of the Hiroshima one detonating 250 meters away," said Karl Esser, a security consultant who designed the bunker underneath Saddam's main presidential palace in Baghdad.
U.S.-led troops will also find it hard to fight their way in through its three-ton Swiss-made doors, Esser told Reuters in an interview.
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Topic: W A R - on March 29, 2003 at 12:23:30 AM CET
Signs of U.S. POWs found at hospital
U.S. Marines who secured a hospital that had been used by Iraqi forces later found several bloodied U.S. uniforms worn by female soldiers, NBC’s Kerry Sanders reported Friday from the hospital. The find suggested that Iraq had held several POWs at the hospital, which is in An Nasiriyah, a town where at least five Americans were taken prisoner in an attack that killed two other soldiers and left eight missing.
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Topic: HOLLYWALD - on March 28, 2003 at 11:55:33 PM CET
How George Harrison saved Monty Python
Monty Python's The Life of Brian was the most controversial film of its time, incurring the wrath of religious zealots across the world. But, as Robert Sellers reveals, the publicity only helped the film - and its principal backer, George Harrison. Out in Tunisia, a couple of sand dunes along from where George Lucas shot Star Wars, the Monty Python team were preparing their own little contribution to late 20th-century culture - Life of Brian.
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Topic: HOLLYWALD - on March 28, 2003 at 11:48:56 PM CET
Charges dropped against Toronto woman charged after whistling near movie set
Mary Fish whistled a happy tune Wednesday.
The 54-year-old woman saw charges against her dropped, ending a 29-month ordeal that began Oct. 16, 2000 when she was arrested after whistling near a Toronto movie shoot.
The charges were stayed after lawyer Robert Rotenberg argued Fish's rights were violated because of the delay in bringing the case to trial, slated to start Wednesday.
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Topic: LOST FOUND - on March 28, 2003 at 11:44:13 PM CET
Climber plans Everest in 15 hours
A veteran Nepali climber, who has scaled Everest nine times, said Thursday he was planning to achieve the feat again in a record 15 hours.
Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa, 35, wants to climb the 29,028-feet mountain in record time to celebrate the golden jubilee of the first ascent.
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Topic: FUN - on March 28, 2003 at 11:41:28 PM CET
April Fool jokers spin wicked Web
Did you hear about the genetically engineered whistling carrot that was covered with air holes, so it whistled when it was cooked? How about the hamburger for left-handed customers?
If you haven't, you might want to turn to the Internet for a quick primer on hoaxes and practical jokes -- new and used -- as April Fool's Day approaches.
Stave off the gloom of world events for a day by playing a good joke on a friend, colleague or family member in honour of the 16th century French, who celebrated New Year's Day on April 1, long after the Gregorian calendar was introduced and the start of the year moved to January 1.
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Topic: SPY - on March 28, 2003 at 11:38:58 PM CET
Satellites launched into N. Korea spy orbit
Japan's space agency successfully launched two reconnaissance satellites Friday into a designated orbit, which will enable the government to monitor North Korea's military buildup, officials said. The launching of the two spacecraft -- the first reconnaissance satellites that the Japanese government has launched -- marks a departure from its principle of limiting the use of space for peaceful purposes.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on March 28, 2003 at 11:26:27 PM CET
World's largest virus found
A giant virus that lurks inside amoebas and may cause pneumonia in humans has been spotted by scientists. "Mimivirus" is the biggest virus found so far, and was discovered in a sample taken from a water cooling tower in Bradford, UK, in 1992.
It has at least 900 genes, an enormous number for a virus, and its size is more like that of a bacterium.
It can be spotted through a good optical microscope - most viruses can only be visualised by electron microscopes.
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