24 May 2013
Last updated at 06:05 ET
The project was temporarily halted last year when the BBC Trust initiated a review
The BBC is to close its Digital Media Initiative (DMI), after a report found it failed to deliver on its objectives.
The project, which was launched in 2008, is understood to have cost the BBC £98.4m
“The DMI project has wasted a huge amount of licence fee payers’ money,” BBC director general Tony Hall said.
“I have serious concerns about how we managed this project,” he add [...]
BBC abandons £100m digital project
24 May 2013
Last updated at 06:05 ET
The project was temporarily halted last year when the BBC Trust initiated a review
The BBC is to close its Digital Media Initiative (DMI), after a report found it failed to deliver on its objectives.
The project, which was launched in 2008, is understood to have cost the BBC £98.4m
“The DMI project has wasted a huge amount of licence fee payers’ money,” BBC director general Tony Hall said.
“I have serious concerns about how we managed this project,” he add [...]
Embattled Toronto mayor fires aide
24 May 2013
Last updated at 05:38 ET
The embattled mayor left City Hall on Thursday without making any comment
The mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, has sacked his chief of staff as he fights allegations that he has been caught smoking crack cocaine on camera.
No reason was given for Mark Towhey’s dismissal.
Two Toronto Star journalists have reported they were shown mobile phone footage in which the mayor appeared to smoke the drug.
Mr Ford has dismissed the allegations as “ridiculous”, accusing the newspaper [...]
The ‘chicken poop’ credit and other bad tax breaks
The tax code has plenty of loopholes that businesses can take advantage of, including one for chicken farms already required to dispose of chicken waste in ways that don’t pollute groundwater.
The fuss over Apple’s complex strategies to avoid taxes put the corporate tax code on display in all its convoluted glory this week.
It so happens that one of those strategies is among the “worst” corporate tax breaks identified by experts surveyed recently by CNNMoney.
What makes a bad tax break? There’s no singl [...]
Robson to face Wozniacki in Paris
Laura Robson has drawn former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the first round of the French Open.
The British number one
has beaten Venus Williams
and
Agnieszka Radwanska
in recent weeks and will open against the Danish world number 10 in Paris.
British number two Heather Watson will face the Swiss Stephanie Voegele who is ranked eight places below her at 58.
Andy Murray’s absence through injury means there are no Britons in the men’s singles for the first time since 1994.
More [...]
Summer may bring air travel woes
Last month sequestration became tangible for the many U.S. air travelers who experienced flight delays as a result of air traffic controller furloughs. After a week of inconvenience for passengers, however, Congress found a bipartisan solution to end the furloughs and ensure that the nation’s commercial aviation system would function at full capacity, at least through the current fiscal year.
As the nation commemorates Memorial Day, we also celebrate the unofficial start of summer and kick off one of the year’s busiest seasons for air tra [...]
Bercow’s McAlpine tweet libellous
24 May 2013
Last updated at 05:57 ET
The High Court has ruled that a tweet by Sally Bercow about Lord McAlpine was libellous.
A subsequent hearing will determine the damages she now owes him.
Mrs Bercow, the wife of Commons Speaker John Bercow, published a tweet two days after a BBC Newsnight programme had wrongly implicated a “leading Conservative politician” in sex abuse.
Amid widespread speculation about his identity, she wrote: “Why is Lord McAlpine trending. *innocent face*.”
Tornado-ravaged city of Moore, Okla., to hold Sunday memorial
Jewel Samad / AFP – Getty Images
Lightning strikes during a thunderstorm as tornado survivors search for salvagable items at their devastated home on May 23, in Moore, Okla.
The decimated city of Moore, Okla., will hold a public memorial service Sunday evening, six days after a tornado killed 24 people, injured 377 and destroyed hundreds of homes.
Gov. Mary Fallin said the prayer service at the First Baptist Church will be “open to all,” though it was unclear if President Barack Obama, who is visiting Oklahoma that day [...]
Syria ‘to attend peace conference’
24 May 2013
Last updated at 05:22 ET
Russia says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government is ready for dialogue
Russia says Damascus has agreed “in principle” to attend an international conference on the Syria crisis set to be held in Geneva in June.
Its foreign ministry said the Syrian government would participate “in order for Syrians themselves to find a political path to a solution”.
It follows efforts to get all the sides involved in the peace talks.
Syria’s main opposition gr [...]
FCC hopes to avoid ‘end of world’ for cell phones
FCC Commissioner Jessia Rosenworcel says the spectrum auction process must be simplified.
The path to clearing up enough airwaves to satisfy the insatiable demand for mobile downloads is a confusing, complicated mess.
Mobile data traffic is expected to increase by a factor of 13 in five years, according to Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500). That’s why the Federal Communications Commission and carriers are working diligently to free up big swaths of wireless spectrum for mobile devices. By doing so, they’re attempting to stave off [...]
Perri Shakes-Drayton: ‘I’m hoping to be the greatest runner ever’
Do you remember your first ever race? How old were you, and how did you fare? It probably would have been at primary school on sports day or in the playground. I thought I was quite fast but it wasn’t until I did a cross-country race and was the first girl in the borough to cross the line that I knew I could run.
What’s your greatest running achievement? I’d say being double European indoor champion in the 400m in the European Championship just gone. That was a great achievement for me because it wasn’t my usual ev [...]
Fed’s Bullard wants inflation pickup before tapering QE
LONDON |
Fri May 24, 2013 5:41am EDT
LONDON (Reuters) – A top Federal Reserve official said on Friday U.S. inflation would have to pick up before he voted to scale back monetary policy stimulus and that this was unlikely to happen in the coming month.
“Before I would be in favor of tapering I would like to see some reassurance that inflation was going to move back towards target,” St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said in a CNBC interview.
“I am concerned about this inflation numb [...]
3-D Printed Windpipe Gives Infant Breath of Life
PRINTED PART A cast of Kaiba Gionfriddo’s airway with a 3-D printed splint in place
Image: Courtesy The University of Michigan Health System
The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way…
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Kaiba Gionfriddo was six weeks old when he suddenly stopped breathing and turned blue at a restaurant. Kaiba’s parents quickly rushed him to the hospital where they [...]