U2 wrap record-breaking tour in Canada

U2 made history as they wrapped their 360 Tour in Canada on Saturday after pulling in more than $736 million and playing for 7.2 million fans around the world.

The Irish rockers took the stage in Moncton, New Brunswick for the final stop on the massive trek, which has become the highest-grossing tour ever since kicking off on June 30, 2009.

Supporting acts Carney and Arcade Fire warmed up the 75,000-strong crowd, before U2 took the stage for a set which included their hits I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Beautiful Day, Elevation and Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Chimpanzee bottle feeds tiger cubs at Thai zoo

A two-and-half-year-old male chimpanzee named Dodo has been feeding the cubs every day for more than a year at the Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo.

Dodo's trainers at the zoo around 25 miles south east of Bangkok in Thailand initially just wanted to challenge the chimp.

Since he showed no fear of the tiger cubs, they worked with him until he picked up the habit.

Death toll mounts in Syrian city

Syrian security forces have killed at least 62 people in an escalation of the crackdown on protests ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, activists and residents said.

Most died in raids on the flashpoint city of Hama, where a barrage of shelling and gunfire left bodies scattered in the streets.

Demonstrations calling for President Bashar Assad's ousting are expected to swell during Ramadan, which starts on Monday.

Security forces appeared to be racing against time as they stormed and raided cities and small villages across the country in an attempt to crush a remarkably resilient uprising that began in mid-March.

Your Smartphone Is A Hacker Paradise

Apple's iPhone is often touted as being more "secure" than Google's Android equivalents because it has a tightly managed ecosystem. Apple's careful not to let malicious apps into its App Store, from where they could worm their way into devices. It turns out that the update dealt with a single loophole uncovered by Trustwave Spiderlabs' Nick Percoco and team, and Apple worked fast to solve it because as holes go, it was gaping. To get a certificate, a website offering this type of security has to officially request one from a trusted certificate authority, and the certificate is crafted to have the identity of the website built into it. Percoco's team decided to test iOS devices with the same kind of hack that a malicious coder could use to break SSL.

'Chuck' casts 'Matrix' minx for final season

Carrie-Anne Moss, known best for her "Matrix" role, has signed on to guest star in the upcoming final season of "Chuck".

Moss will play Gertrude Verbanski, "a former spy who now runs Verbanski Corp, the chief rival of Chuck's new spy company. She's ruthless and deadly, yet she also has a weak spot for one John Casey - her old rival."

Mark Hamill and Craig Kilborn will also be guest starring on the show, both playing villains.

"Chuck", which airs on NBC, will be ending its run with their fifth season, comprised of 13 episodes.

Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter marries rugby star

Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter Zara Phillips married England rugby star Mike Tindall on Saturday -- but Britain's second royal wedding of the year was largely a low-key affair, with only a hint of the glamour and excitement of Prince William's showstopping nuptials.

Phillips, 30, who is 13th in line to the throne and does not use a royal title, and Tindall, 32, were greeted by hundreds of flag-waving well-wishers and the sound of traditional bagpipes as they left their wedding service at Edinburgh's 17th-century Canongate Kirk after a private ceremony.

George Lucas' 'Red Tails' will finally hit theaters

George Lucas has been talking about Red Tails for a long, long time. If you look closely, you can find the film’s title mentioned in nearly every major article written about Lucas in over a decade. Especially during the slow-but-steady release of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, the Red Tails project began to take on the aura of myth: It was the Film George Lucas Would Make Next, lurking just over the next dune. (To quoteSpaceballs: “You said that three dunes ago!”) The film — which tells the story of the heroic African-American pilots in the WWII-era Tuskegee program — finally went into production a couple years ago, with a cast that included Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Bryan Cranston.

Google Acquires I.B.M. Patents

Google made its most recent move in the ongoing great game of acquiring tech patents. The company purchased a bundle of more than a thousand patents from I.B.M., according to a report in the New York Times.

Reiterating a strategy long-espoused by the tech giant, an e-mail statement from Google said that the purchase was relevant to its "business needs," stressing, "Bad software patent litigation is a wasteful war that no one will win." In short, the idea is that preemptively buying patents will mean law suits are less likely down the line.

Apple now has more cash than the U.S. government

As the U.S. government attempts to reach a deal on raising the debt ceiling, the Treasury's operating cash balance dropped to $74 billion this week, less than the $76 billion that the tech company Apple had in cash as of June 25, when it released its most-recent financial results.

Apple is taking in more money than it lays out, CNN said.

At present, the U.S. is spending around $200 billion more than it takes in in revenue every month, BBC News reports. Meanwhile, Apple is raking it in. In the three months ended June 25, net income was $7.31 billion, an increase of 125% from a year earlier.

Not only has the world's highest-valued technology company surpassed the fiscal strength of the world's most powerful nation, but Apple is now the second-largest company on the planet, after Exxon Mobil, with a market capitalization of $363.25 billion, according to Financial Post. And earlier this week, shares of the company began trading above $400 a share on the Nasdaq Stock Market for the first time ever.

Yes, Apple is really on a roll.

Alcatel-Lucent Gets $70 Million in Microsoft Patent Case

Microsoft has been ordered to pay US$70 million to networking vendor Alcatel-Lucent in a years-old patent dispute that at one time could have cost Microsoft $1.5 billion.

A jury in San Diego issued its verdict Friday in a lawsuit that accused Microsoft of violating patents in several products including Outlook. The suit was brought by Lucent in 2003, before it merged with Alcatel.

In 2007, a jury in the same court ordered Microsoft to pay Lucent $1.5 billion for the infringement. The judge overturned that decision, saying Microsoft infringed only one of two patents at issue, and that the second patent was jointly owned by a European research institute, so the court didn't have jurisdiction to rule on it.

Facebook offers bounty to bug hunters

Facebook began offering rewards of $500 or more on Friday to security researchers who identify vulnerabilities in the social network.

"To show our appreciation for our security researchers, we offer a monetary bounty for certain qualifying security bugs," Facebook said in a blog post.

Security researchers who are the "first person to responsibly disclose" a bug that could "compromise the integrity or privacy of Facebook user data" would be eligible for a bounty of $500, Facebook said.

"Our security team will assess each bug to determine if qualifies," Facebook said.

The Palo Alto, California-based social networking titan said a typical bounty was $500 but it "may increase the reward for specific bugs."

Facebook last month hired George Hotz, a celebrated hacker known as "GeoHot," but has not disclosed what he is doing for the company.

Hotz was sued by Sony for hacking the Japanese company's PlayStation 3 game console and is credited with being the first person to go public with a way to hack into an iPhone.

Source: csmonitor

BofA sued for securities fraud by institutional investors

The tsunami of litigation washing over Bank of America Corp. intensified Thursday with some of the nation’s biggest institutional investors suing the bank in federal court in Los Angeles. The investors allege securities fraud by Countrywide Financial Corp., the troubled mortgage lender BofA purchased in 2008.

Plaintiffs, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and funds managed by BlackRock, (NYSE:BLK) T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) and TIAA-CREF allege that Countrywide misled investors about its finances and lending practices.

“These prominent institutional investors made every effort to amicably resolve their claims for recovery of damages caused by the massive and pervasive fraud at 

Countrywide without filing formal litigation, but were unsuccessful,” the investors’ attorney, Blair Nicholas, a partner at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, wrote in an e-mail to Bloomberg News. The investors hope to “maximize” their returns in a jury trial, he told the news service.

Promises Of An Entourage Movie Heat Up As The Final Season Begins

In the grand history of "movie adaptations of TV shows that will probably never happen but the people involved keep talking up anyway," Entourage isn't the worst offender. Yes, it's been rumored on and off since around 2007, and as recently aslast December executive producer Mark Wahlberg was talking it up as a possibility, but it hasn't come up nearly as often as, say, the Arrested Development or Party Down movies, maybe because there are fewer hopeful journalists who actually want it to happen. 

But with the final season of Entourage now airing on HBO, the movie rumors are flying faster than ever, and have moved up to the person who actually has the power to make it happen, namely creator and executive producer Doug Ellin. During the TCA press tour, that week where the creators of every show gather with every television critic in the country to be barraged with questions, both Wahlberg and Ellin sounded very confident about the possibility of a movie. "If I had to finance it myself, I would do it," Wahlberg said-- and that's no empty promise, considering he could probably actually do that.

Boeing shows off 787 Dreamliner at Oshkosh air show

Marking its public debut in the U.S., Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, the 21st century's first radically different commercial airliner, landed at the AirVenture air show on Friday.

The world's first jetliner made largely of superhardened plastics is still officially "experimental,'' sharing that title with many of the homebuilts and other aircraft on display at the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual week-long show in Oshkosh, Wis. But that similarity will end soon.

The Dreamliner, an ultra-smart plane that Boeing says will achieve a 20 percent improvement in fuel burn compared to planes the same size, is scheduled for delivery to its first customer, Japan's All Nippon Airways, by the end of September, Boeing officials said.

That's three years late. The twin-engine plane that will carry up to 250 passengers has been beset by design and construction problems that caused numerous delays.

Kitten overlooked for adoption because she looks like Hitler

An abandoned kitten, named Kitler by animal rescue staff because of her uncanny resemblance to the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, is being overlooked for adoption on account of her appearance.

The six-week-old kitten, small enough to fit into a cup, bears a striking resemblance to the German Fuhrer due to a bold black marking across her nose.

The little cat found by a member of the public was severely malnourished and clinging to life after being left abandoned by a roadside.

The kitten was taken to the Wood Green animal shelter in Godmanchest, Cambridgeshire, where she was nursed back to health and is now said to be full of life.

Staff at the centre say she is still in need of a new home and they feel she is being overlooked because of her appearance.

Baros brace sinks Liverpool

kenny; not a happy at all with his team's performance.

An understrength Liverpool side lost 3-0 to Galatasaray in Istanbul, their second successive pre-season defeat by that scoreline.

Having been defeated at Hull on Saturday, manager Kenny Dalglish sent out a virtual reserve side in the first half at the Turk Telekom Arena, with only Andy Carroll considered a genuine first-team starter.

Such was the make-up of the team there were five full-backs on the pitch at the start and the disjointedness cost them as former Reds striker Milan Baros hooked home an eighth-minute volley and added a far-post header just before half-time.

Britney Spears is back in the pink during energetic Cleveland concert at The Q

At Quicken Loans arena Tuesday night, Britney Spears drove into the center of the stage perched atop the windshield of a pink convertible Mini Cooper with a stripper pole erected in its back seat. Attached to that pole was a guy she'd pulled from the audience named Greg, a daddy-ish type in a blue polo shirt. His hands tied behind his back, he had to sit still while Brit wrapped her fishnet-clad thighs around his neck. I got nine lives like a kitty cat." That lyric, from "How I Roll," a nonsensical yet sizzling new single, is hardly hyperbole.

Once written off as the punch line to jokes about washed up superstars, Brit is back - washboard abs and all. The K-Fed loving, paparazzi-whacking, head-shaving antics of years ago are ancient history. With "Femme Fatale," her new No. 1 album, two Video Music Award nominations and a kinetic summer tour, the 29-year-old mother of two is thumbing her darling, turned-up nose at all the haters out there and dancing her toned bum off. They wore naughty Catholic school girl plaid mini skirts and white button-down shirts knotted just under the bosom, hot pants and stilettos. There were more tanned thighs and exposed navels on display than spring break in Cancun.

U.S. man tries to remove his hernia with a butter knife..

The wife of the 63-year-old Glendale man called emergency services when she discovered his attempt at self-surgery to remove the protruding hernia, police said.

"She said he had impaled himself with a knife," Sergeant Lorenz said, Associated Press reports.

Officers found the man naked on a patio lounge chair outside his apartment with a 15-centimeter butter knife sticking out of his stomach, AP says.

He was upset by the hernia and wanted to get it out, his wife told police.

Arctic scientist under investigation

A federal wildlife biologist whose observation that polar bears likely drowned in the Arctic helped galvanise the global warming movement seven years ago was placed on administrative leave as officials investigate scientific misconduct allegations.

Although it wasn't clear what the exact allegations are, a government watchdog group representing Anchorage-based scientist Charles Monnett said investigators have focused on his 2006 journal article about the bears that garnered worldwide attention.

The group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, filed a complaint on Monnett's behalf on Thursday with the agency, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (Boemre).

Boemre told Monnett on July 18 that he was being put on leave, pending an investigation into "integrity issues". The investigator has not yet told him of the specific charges or questions related to the scientific integrity of his work, said Jeff Ruch, the watchdog group's executive director.

A Boemre spokesperson acknowledged there was an "ongoing internal investigation" but declined to get into specifics about it.

Gold set for monthly gain after reaching record

Gold, trading within 0.7 per cent of a record, is set for the first monthly increase in three as US politicians remain deadlocked on how to raise the federal debt ceiling and avoid a default that may hurt financial markets.

Immediate-delivery gold was little changed at $US1617.55 an ounce in Singapore after reaching an all-time high of $US1628.05 on July 27. Spot gold has rallied 7.8 per cent this month, with gains also driven by the sovereign-debt crisis in Europe that pushed bullion in euros and pounds to all-time highs.

A House of Representatives vote on Speaker John Boehner’s deficit-cutting plan was delayed again yesterday, further eroding the time left to craft a deal. Senate Democrats have said they will kill the proposal, while President Barack Obama has threatened a veto. US borrowing authority expires August 2.

Hina charms Indian Papers

A flurry of flattering headlines yesterday greeted Pakistan's 34-year-old first woman foreign minister.

Hina Rabbani Khar's picture adorned the front pages of most Indian newspapers.

‘Pak Puts On Its Best Face', said The Times of India, the biggest-selling English-language daily, while mass circulation Hindi newspaper Navbharat Times said India was 'sweating over the model-like minister'.

‘Pak bomb lands in India', joked the Mumbai Mirror.

The Mail Today tabloid devoted space to Khar's choice of outfit and her fashion sense.

'Tasteful accessories — Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, oversized Hermes Birkin bag and classic pearl jewellery — added a hint of glamour to her look,' it said.

Daniel Craig & Harrison Ford: 'Cowboys & Aliens' Set Was 'A Rodeo'

Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford team up as opposing forces in a frontier town who unite to fight an otherworldly foe in 'Cowboys & Aliens,' in theaters Friday, and Harrison tells ET the atmosphere on the set at times was like a rodeo!

"No animals were harmed in the making of this movie -- a couple of actors were kind of shook up or bruised; we took it easy on the animals," says Harrison with a laugh. "You ask any actor, 'Do you ride?' and they go, 'Ooh, yeah, I ride, I ride real well,' and then when you pull up to the mark there are a couple of empty horses. It was a rodeo, it was good."

Co-star Olivia Wilde, a seasoned rider, had a serious mishap on the set when she fell off her fast-moving horse, but ultimately brushed it off. "Oh yeah, it was insane," she confirms. "The good thing is I know how to fall, which may have saved my life in this case."

Continental Airlines Cancels 24 Flights on Sickout

United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL)’s Continental Airlines unit canceled 24 flights today because of crew shortages, mostly from the carrier’s hub at New Jersey’s Newark airport.

A so-called sickout left the airline with too few pilots to fly its schedule, the Click2Houston.com news website reported. Megan McCarthy, a United Continental spokeswoman, gave the flight totals and locations by telephone while saying the airline wasn’t speculating on the cause of the shortage.

Continental’s chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association union has said that it has a shortfall of at least 200 pilots, and that its members had to fly extra trips to cover the schedule. A union spokeswoman, Amy Flanagan, declined to comment on the flight cancellations.

Swift U.S. action on debt needed in global

The International Monetary Fund on Monday urged the United States to swiftly raise the debt ceiling to ward off risks of a credit downgrade that could damage the global economy.

The IMF appeal was part of a review of U.S. economic prospects in which it concluded a slow-paced recovery can continue with some fiscal tightening while also stressing its concern about getting government debts under control.

"Directors (on the IMF board) highlighted the urgency of raising the federal debt ceiling and agreeing on the specifics of a comprehensive medium-term consolidation program," the global lender said.

Talks between the Obama administration and lawmakers to craft a plan to avoid potential U.S. default seemed to be making scant progress.

Congressman David Wu quits amid 'unwanted sex' scandal

A US Democratic congressman has resigned amid allegations he had an unwanted sexual encounter with the 18-year-old daughter of a campaign donor.

David Wu of Oregon said he would step down following the resolution of the debt limit crisis in Washington.

The Taiwanese-born congressman said he was resigning to protect his family and fight the "serious allegations".

Mr Wu, who is in the process of divorce, is the third US congressman to resign amid a sex scandal this year.

His encounter with the young woman, the daughter of a childhood friend and campaign donor, was reported on Friday by the Oregonian newspaper.

He does not face any criminal charges in the incident, in part because the alleged victim believed there was not enough evidence to press a case, the newspaper reported.

The newspaper said the encounter occurred in the autumn shortly after Mr Wu, 56, was elected to his seventh term.

Republican Representative Christopher Lee of New York stepped down in February after a shirtless photograph surfaced that he had sent to a woman he met on an online classified advert website.

In June, Democrat Anthony Weiner, also of New York, resigned after it was revealed he had sent numerous lewd photographs of himself to women he met online.


Source: bbc.co.uk

Messi and Xavi, candidates for European Player of the Year

FC Barcelona’s Leo Messi and Xavi Hernández have been nominated for UEFA’s award for the best player of the 2010/11 season, along with Cristiano Ronaldo. The award will be presented on August 25 in Monaco before the draw for the Champions League.

               

 

 

The UEFA Club Footballer of the Year  recognises the best player, regardless of nationality, who played in one of the 53 UEFA member states over the previous season. The jury is made up of 53 journalists from each of those nations and announced today that the three short-listed players are Leo Messi and Xavi Hernández of the latest Champions League winners, Barcelona, and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Four FCB players in Top 10As well as the top three, the positions of the other players in the top ten were also announced. Two of these were Barça players, Andrés Iniesta, who came fourth, and Gerard Piqué, who cam ninth. 

Voting on August 25The winner will be announced on August 25 at the UEFA Champions League group stage 

draw. The 53 journalists will be casting their votes on the same day as the announcement.

By: Subhan Rathore

Atom smasher closes in on elusive particle

Scientists hoping to puzzle out how the universe began will find a long-sought theoretical particle — or rule out that it exists — by the end of 2012, the director of the world’s largest atom smasher predicted Monday.

Rolf Heuer, director of the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, said his confidence was based on the latest findings from the $10 billion proton collider under the Swiss-French border.

"I would say we can settle the question, the Shakespearean question — ‘to be or not to be’ — end of next year," he told reporters at a major physics conference in Grenoble.

The Higgs boson isn’t just any particle. It’s the linchpin of the Standard Model of particle physics theory that explains the Big Bang, because it is believed to answer a fundamental question about why matter has mass. The particle itself is thought to give mass to other particles, and thus to objects and creatures in the universe.

This Week in Golf -- July 28th through July 31st

PGA TOUR - THE GREENBRIER CLASSIC, The Old White TPC, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia - The PGA Tour moves to West Virginia this week for the Greenbrier Classic.

The event gets a boost from a pair of big names as Phil Mickelson and Tom Watson will tee it up on the Old White TPC. 


Mickelson skipped the inaugural event last year, as did Watson, who is the golf professional emeritus at the Greenbrier.

Watson is skipping the U.S. Senior Open to compete in this tournament.

Last year, Stuart Appleby fired the second 59 in less than a month on the PGA Tour to gain the win. Appleby shot his magical score in the final round and he needed every stroke as he beat Jeff Overton by a single shot. 

Asia Inches Higher Despite US Debt Deadlock

Asian shares edged higher on Tuesday, bouncing back from a slide the previous day, after U.S. stocks posted only modest losses in reaction to the worsening deadlock in Washington over raising the debt limit and avoiding a technical bond default.

The dollar fell to a record low against the safe-haven Swiss franc in early trade as President Barack Obama delivered a prime-time address to Americans, warning that a default on U.S. bond obligations would be a "reckless and irresponsible outcome."

The FTSE CNBC Asia 100 Index [.FTFCNBCA  6868.12    26.07  (+0.38%)], which measures markets across Asia, climbed 0.4 percent.

Japan's stock average rose, helped by short-covering after a fall the previous day and buying shares of companies that reported solid quarterly earnings such as Canon and Kao.

The benchmark Nikkei [.N225  10055.71    5.70  (+0.06%)   ] rose 0.3 percent to 10,076.27 while the broader Topix gained 0.3 percent to 864.73.

Canon rose 2 percent after posting better-than-expected quarterly profits and raising its annual forecast after it staged a rapid recovery from supply chain woes sparked by the March 11 earthquake.

Vatican recalls Irish papal envoy after Cloyne report

The Vatican has recalled its special envoy in Ireland after a damning report on the Catholic Church's handling of child abuse by priests.

Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Leanza has been called back to Rome to discuss the impact of the recent Cloyne Report.

It showed how allegations of sex abuse by priests in Cork had been covered up.

The report led to angry condemnation of the Vatican by Prime Minister Enda Kenny in the Irish Parliament.

In a blistering attack, Mr Kenny accused the church of putting its reputation ahead of child rape victims.

Vice-director of the Vatican press office Father Ciro Benedettini said the nuncio's recall "should be interpreted as an expression of the desire of the Holy See for serious and effective collaboration with the (Irish) government".

Amy Winehouse Joins the '27 Club' of Musicians Dying Young

Amy Winehouse, the Grammy winning singer whose styles combined R&B, soul, and jazz, has joined a rather sad group of hard living, troubled musicians who have managed to die at the age of 27.

A report in the U.K. Daily Mail suggests that Winehouse's death may have been brought on by a combination of ecstasy, cocaine, and ketamine which she bought the night before her death. She was also observed to have been drinking heavily. This comes as no surprise, considering that Winehouse has had a long term problem with alcohol and drug addiction, as well as a recent breakup with her former director and lover.

Winehouse is not the only famous musician to have died at 27, however.

China officials close fake Apple stores in Kunming city

China has moved to shut down several fake Apple stores found in Kunming city.

Three of the elaborate fake stores, which mimicked the look of the real thing, came to the world's attention after being exposed on a blog.

Following the publicity, trade officials investigated and found five stores in Kunming posing as official Apple retail outlets.

Two of the five have now been closed as their owners lacked a business licence.

The BirdAbroad blog, written by an American woman living in Kunming, wrote about a visit to one fake Apple store which superficially resembled the official outlets.

In the article, the blogger wrote about conversations with staff, many of whom were convinced they worked for the US electronics firm.