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BELGRADE, Serbia-Serbia, a landlocked nation of 7.1 million in southeastern Europe, is holding a presidential runoff vote on Sunday. The outcome holds the key to Serbia's bid to join the European Union as well as its relations with Kosovo, a former province whose declaration of independence Serbia has refused to accept. The nationalist opposition has...

BLANTYRE, Malawi-Malawi's new president says official investigators will look into her predecessor's recent death in...

KAMPALA, Uganda-An American who serves as a commander with a Somali militant group says in a new autobiography that he had a...

An American zoologist is attacked by a 10ft-long alligator as he attempts to move the creature from beside a highway. This video has no sound. To view this content you need Flash and...

At a time when women are "eating for two," dieting can safely lower the health risks of obesity during pregnancy, according to a new study. British researchers reviewed data from 44 trials involving 7,278 women to determine the safety and effectiveness of weight management programs during pregnancy. Not only did the moms-to-be gain less weight, they also lowered their risk of dangerous complications. "Dietary interventions were most effectiv...

ATHENS/LONDON (Reuters) - In Athens, the homeless are on the streets in growing numbers, soup kitchens feed twice as many people as a year ago, and the poor are diving into garbage bins in search of scrap they can sell. Newly appointed lawmakers raise their arms during a swearing in ceremony in Athens May 17, 2012. REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis Greece is close to breaking point as it struggles with austerity targets set by creditors, but this is ...

DONGSHIGU, China -- Relatives of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng have told for the first time how...

NEW YORK - U.S. stock futures are rebounding as leaders of eight of the world's biggest economies begin to gather outside of Washington to determine how best to limit damage from the debt crises rattling Europe. Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 58 points to 12,471. Standard & Poor's 500 futures are up 7.4 points to 1,308.7. Nasdaq composite futures are up 11.5 points to 2,516.25. U.S. stocks have been battered throughout the month...

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin congratulated his fellow co-founder and company CEO Mark Zuckerberg for a job well done, crafting a dorm room start-up into the largest tech company IPO in history in just eight years. Saverin kudos to his former Harvard schoolmate on, you guessed it, Facebook along with a screenshot of the social network from its early years. "Congrats to everyone involved in the project from day one till today, and I esp...

WASHINGTON — The leaders of eight of the world's biggest economies meet this weekend outside Washington, seeking to keep Europe's debt crisis from spiraling out of control and jeopardizing fledgling recoveries in the U.S. and elsewhere. The turmoil in Greece is draining confidence in the 17 countries that use the euro. Borrowing costs are up for the most indebted governments. Depositors and investors are fleeing banks seen as weak. Unemploym...

NEW YORK -- U.S. stock futures are rebounding as leaders of eight of the world's biggest economies begin to gather outside...

Cedar Park is seeking a consultant to lead a revision of the city blueprint - a...

The city of Austin is in talks to purchase a 1.8-acre tract of land downtown - reportedly valued at $3.6 million -...

Health care plan company Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas has named Bert...

Kyle Alspach VC Editor- Boston Business Journal Email Facebook didn't stay in Boston, but its influence certainly did. I polled a handful of young Boston startup entrepreneurs and employees this week to see what sort of role, if any, Facebook played in inspiring them to take the tech startup route with their career. Not everyone reported that the company had an influence....

Amy Shapiro Research Director- Charlotte Business Journal Email | Twitter This week's Charlotte Business Journal lists North Carolina's Top 100 public companies, ranked by market value. Charlotte-area companies hold the top three spots on the list again this year and make up half the top 10. Bank of America Corp. tops the list...

By Karolos Grohmann and Tony Jimenez MUNICH, May 18 (Reuters) - A look at how the Chelsea and Bayern Munich teams compare tactically and where the game might be won or lost ahead of the Champions League final at the Allianz Arena: GOALKEEPERS Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer, competing in his first Champions League final after reaching the last four with Schalke 04 last season, has been outstanding in Europe and saved two penalties in Bayern's sho...

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - Former Manchester United and Norway striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is to hold talks with Premier League club Aston Villa about their managerial vacancy, Molde confirmed on Friday. Villa sacked manager Alex Mcleish after one season in charge on Tuesday having narrowly avoided relegation and a long list of candidates have been linked with the job. Solksjaer, who was formerly a reserve team coach at United before return...

WARSAW, May 18 (Reuters) - Poland's goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski wants to leave Arsenal after months of watching his compatriot Wojciech Szczesny from the bench, a Polish daily quoted the 27-year-old as saying. "I hope that my adventure with Arsenal has come to an end," Fabianski told Friday's Gazeta Wyborcza. "I intend to leave and play in a strong league. I wanted to leave in the winter, too, but (Arsenal manager) Arsene Wenger did not give...

KIEV, May 18 (Reuters) - A psychic pig is set to take over where Paul the Octopus left off at the 2010 World Cup by predicting the results of matches at the European championships in Ukraine and Poland. Kiev's city government said on Friday it would wheel out the porky tipster to give daily forecasts once the tournament kicks off next month. "A unique oracle hog, a real Ukrainian pig and a psychic which knows the mysteries of football," a st...

May 18 (Reuters) - Argentina's Boca Juniors and Velez Sarsfield took 1-0 leads in the first legs of their Libertadores Cup quarter-finals against Brazilian opposition in Buenos Aires. Striker Pablo Mouche scored in the 51st minute to give six-times champions Boca their victory over 10-man Fluminense at La Bombonera on Thursday night. “Flu, who had defender Carlinhos sent off just past the half hour for a second booking for handball, were mis...

By Nick Mulvenney SHANGHAI, May 18 (Reuters) - Asafa Powell thinks he has pinpointed why he has so often failed to produce on the big occasion and believes that if he is at his best he will win the 100 metres at the London Olympics. The Jamaican former world record holder has run under 10 seconds more times than anyone else in the history of sprinting but has struggled at major championships and been eclipsed by compatriot Usain Bolt. The 29...

By Simon Cambers ROME, May 18 (Reuters) - World number one Victoria Azarenka said she only played in this week's Italian Open to avoid a ranking penalty. The Belarussian won her first match against Shahar Peer but then immediately pulled out of the tournament, citing a right shoulder injury. On Friday, Azarenka revealed via Twitter that she had been forced into playing in order to protect her position at the top of the world rankings. "I was...

ROME, May 18 (Reuters) - Serena Williams enjoyed an easy passage into the semi-finals of the Italian Open tennis on Friday when her opponent Flavia Pennetta retired with a right wrist injury. The Italian, ranked 21, had treatment at 3-0 down and decided to quit when Williams was leading 4-0 and 40-0. Williams, who won last week's title in Madrid, will play either China's Li Na or Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the last four. Holder Maria ...

By Alan Baldwin ATHENS, May 18 (Reuters) - David Beckham hit back on Friday at suggestions that he might be selected for the British Olympic soccer side at the London Games because of his celebrity status rather than on merit alone. "I've never said it's disrespectful but it's kind of a question I've always felt is," the former England captain told reporters on a visit to meet children at a school in Athens when asked about his prospects. "T...

Palaeontologists from North Carolina State University have found the fossilized remains of a 60-million-year-old South American giant that lived in what is now Colombia The turtle in question is Carbonemys cofrinii, which means "coal turtle," and is part of a group of side-necked turtles known as pelomedusoides. The fossil was named Carbonemys because it was discovered in 2005 in a coalmine that was part of northern Colombia's...

SEOUL - Early Friday, Japan successfully launched a South Korean satellite. The historical accomplishment puts the Japanese in the same arena as European and Russian entities in the lucrative commercial space launch business. The roar of the H-2A launch vehicle shattered the early morning silence On the southern Japanese island of Tanegashima. The space center was illuminated as the liquid-fueled 57-meter high two-stage rocket rose off the...

In the beginning -- what will surely be known as the pre-IPO phase of its history -- Facebook built itself into a gargantuan presence on the web by mostly offering itself up as the ubiquitous photo album, as well as a means of keeping tabs on "friends." It sold advertisements, making more and more money as its user base grew. But that business model, it turns out, can only take even Facebook so far: The value of all the things people post to...

Eight years, 900 million users, and several Winklevoss lawsuits later, Facebook is going public in what will be the third largest IPO in history. Facebook, which will begin trading on the Nasdaq under "FB," will raise over $18 billion and will be worth more than $100 billion when it makes its stock market debut. By comparison, Google raised $1.67 billion in its 2004 IPO, which valued the company at $26.4 billion. We'll be bringing you the la...

At this point, there's no question -- Facebook is among the hottest IPOs ever. With the announcement Thursday that the world's largest social network priced its common stock at $38 per share and will raise $16 billion, it instantly not only became the biggest tech IPO ever, but the third biggest IPO in history, according to the AP. As Facebook makes its NASDAQ debut, it's a good time to look at some of the other hot -- albeit much smaller --...

Like our close living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, humans are hardwired come into conflict with one another, often violently. Even so, like our ancestors, we also have the capacity to resolve fights; something that one anthropologist says has evolved along with our societies over the millennia. We still have a way to go, he points out. The current system we have in place for dealing with large-scale conflict — the United Nations — is ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A private spacecraft stands ready to launch on a historic first visit to the International Space Station tomorrow (May 19). The unmanned Dragon space capsule, built by commercial firm SpaceX, is slated to lift off atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket early Saturday from here at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft has an instantaneous launch window at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT), with a 70 percent chance of ...

| Linkpost | 5.18.12 Hot trend in computing — Chips that sometimes get it wrong: Inexact chips increase the speed and efficiency of computer processors at the cost of a few computational errors. My report on a local computer scientist with a hot idea. (chron.com) Department of Commerce slaps large tariffs on...

Sharon Kennedy WynneTampa Bay Times In Print: Friday, May 18, 2012 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Story Tools Print this story Purchase reprints Contact the editor Email Newsletters...

www.rocksbackpages.com In the mid 1970s, things were not going well at Neil Bogart’s Casablanca label. A joint venture with Warner Brothers had failed, and a Johnny Carson album had tanked. But, in the shape of "a guy from Germany" and Donna Summer, all that was about to change. Speaking to Jim Esposito in 1976, Neil Bogart takes up the story... "In December, 1974, after the Johnny Carson album, which was not successful – we lost almost enou...

Two of Ghana’s finest musicians Kojo Antwi and Sherifa Gunu, are set to thrill patrons at the launch of the 2012 edition of the Miss Ghana beauty pageant event, as well as the Miss World Charity Ball, which comes off on Tuesday May 22, at the Banquet Hall...

CANNES, France - The breakout performance of the Cannes Film Festival so far is Aniello Arena's turn as a Naples fishmonger who becomes obsessed with appearing on a "Big Brother"-style TV show in "Reality." But Arena won't be walking the red carpet at the Italian movie's gala premiere Friday. He'll be where he's been for two decades — in prison. Arena was riveting in the film by "Gomorrah" director Matteo ...

The largest retrospective of Rolf Harris' paintings to date is being held at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. The exhibition,...

MARK Ronson has denied saying that Amy Winehouse was "freaked out" by Adele's international success. The music producer who worked with the later 'Valerie' singer on her album 'Back To Black' claimed he didn't...

Who doesn't love Tina Fey? No, seriously. The Saturday Night Live alum has provided us countless moments of laughter throughout the years, and we just wish we could give her something awesome for 42nd birthday today. Hmmm...what would Liz Lemon...

Hyderabad, May 18 (IANS) Amid tight security, the fifth anniversary of the bomb blast at the historic Mecca Masjid here passed without any untoward incident Friday. The Friday prayers at the 17th century mosque near the landmafrk Charminar and in other mosques across the city passed off peacefully, officials said. Police had made elaborate security arrangements around Mecca Masjid and at other places of worship in the communally-sensitive ...

Kabul, May 18 (Xinhua-ANI): Two NATO service members were killed Friday morning in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan, the military alliance confirmed in a press release. "Two International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan today," the NATO-led ISAF said in the press release. The...