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The United States Congress would set about an investigation into leaked e-mails which hint global climate change statistics have been systematically controlled to make the case for anthropogenic global warming more credible.

But the leakage of thousands of hacked written document* from the University of East Anglia has added fuel to the argument because they include snide comments about climate sceptics and exchanges about how to present the data to make the global warming look convincing.

China will demand next month’s Copenhagen climate summit culminates in a real deal, Xinhua news agency quoted a Chinese negotiator as saying, but appears to have accepted that a legally binding agreement must wait until 2010.

Today is the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Spotlighting the fact that 33 million people are living with the disease. Against a backdrop of HIV/AIDS infection rates that are rising at alarming levels in Jambi, activists and sex workers in Central Java, Yogyakarta and West Java commemorated World AIDS Day in different ways on Monday.

There were 2.7 million new infections in 2007 (the stats on which the report is based), and 2 million died of the virus. More than 1 million people are infected with HIV in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are among the voices calling for routine HIV testing of every American starting at age 13, because every year, about 20,000 new infections are caused by people who don’t realize they’re infected.

An Air New Zealand Airbus A320 crashed into the sea off the southwest coast of France when it was on a test flight on Thursday. Rescuers found two bodies from the Mediterranean Sea and five per ple were missing.

“Seven people were involved. We have recovered one dead body,” said a spokesman for the Pyrenees-Orientales prefecture. The French search and rescue team said there was little optimism any survivors would be found.

Witness reported that he saw the plane dive abruptly and plunge into the Mediterranean sea. “I could see it was an airliner because I saw two large engines. There was no fire, nothing,” the witness, a local policeman, told France Info radio.

Coordinated terror attacks struck the heart of Mumbai, India’s financial hub. Nearly 100 people have been killed and 900 injured.  The attackers specifically targeted Britons and Americans, witnesses said. Officials said at least 200 people were wounded.

Fire spread through the luxury Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, where terrorists were holding as many as 15 people hostage, the Press Trust of India reported. A little known Islamist group called the Deccan Mujahadeen claimed responsibility for the attacks, PTI said.

“The United States condemns this terrorist attack and we will continue to stand with the people of India in this time of tragedy,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said. “President Bush offers his condolences to the Indian people and the families of the innocent civilians killed and injured in the attacks.”

A new study reported that regular exercise or physical activity can help sufferers in the fight against cancer.

It has been discovered that regular exercise can help to bring down the risk of cancer in women by 20 percent in a study done by the National Cancer Institue. The fact that exercise has many positive effects on your body such as body weight, immune system functions and hormone functions makes researchers believe that exercise is extremely helpful in reducing the risk of cancer even though there hasn’t been an association between exercise and cancer that has been proven.

Dr. Susan Boolbol says, “This is one of the first studies that has shown that in women who do not have a history of breast cancer, they can actually reduce their risk by exercising.” (continue reading…)

WWE.com reported that Jaff Hardy was found unconscious in stairwell at his hotel in boston this morning. And he has been rushed to a nearby hospital. But we have no further details at this time.

The brief announcement noted that due to privacy issues, WWE is not releasing the name of the hospital.

Hardy was scheduled to face Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov for the WWE title at tonight’s PPV.

We’ll have an update on things as soon as we get them and since we’re bound to receive emails on this, at time of writing I have no idea on whether this is anything other than an angle. Speculating otherwise would be pointless.

Microsoft announced to release free anti-malware protection to consumers by the second half of 2009.

Currently codenamed Morro, the new program will be completely free. Microsoft’s aim is to “[..]focus on getting the majority of consumers the essential protection they need by providing comprehensive, real-time anti-malware protection, covering such threats as viruses, spyware, rootkits, trojans, and other emerging threats, in a single, focused solution.”

And then there’s last month’s software report by NPD, which showed Live OneCare actually outselling McAffee Virusscan. It’s done fairly well in terms of sales, so why change now? (continue reading…)

The New Xbox Experience officially has been released by Microsoft today. This is a real big milestone for the Xbox 360 as it reinvented itself in several directions with this software update. However, all Xbox users who successfully applied to the preview program by submitting their valid console ID will be getting the update over the next few hours.

Netflix announced today that its streaming movies and TV service would be debuting at no additional cost to current Xbox gold and Netflix subscribers along with the NXE update. This isn’t the first time we have heard of streaming Netflix over the Xbox 360. The streaming service was announced in July when details of the NXE update first started circulating. (continue reading…)

The Apache County, Arizona Attorney’s Office has released interrogation video of an 8-year-old boy, who allegedly shot and killed his father and another man at his house, the biggest unanswered question is “Why?”

Police say the boy planned and meticulously carried out the shootings, but they haven’t discussed a motive. Child psychologists and others say that while many factors could cause a child to kill a parent, the most common in other cases has been severe abuse.

In the released interview, which lasts about 12 minutes, the boy tells officers that he found the two men dead after coming home from school. He then says he cried for like a half an hour after finding the men.

Under Arizona law children aged 8 and above can be tried as adults. But the boy’s defense attorney argued that police should not have questioned the boy without an attorney or a parent present, and said that police never advised the boy of his rights. (continue reading…)

Citigroup, widely seen as the sickest Wall Street bank, will make some of the most severe cuts in the history of U.S. business – 53,000 jobs – as it tries to slash costs and get back to basics before it’s too late.

Those figures are posted on the company’s Web site as part of a town hall presentation that CEO Vikram Pandit is giving today to employees in New York.  According to AP, the Citigroup spokesman said the cuts would be across the board. It is not known how many of those job will be in Orange County.

The cuts, which will leave Citi about 20 percent smaller, are the latest step in a stunning remaking of the American banking landscape since the financial meltdown, an upheaval that has included the demise of storied investment houses and the conversion of others into commercial banks.

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit met with employees Monday and laid out the bank’s strategy in stark terms: “We are a bank. What does a bank do? A bank takes deposits and puts them to work by investing and making loans.”

Samsung Eternity touchscreen phone is available for sale recently through AT&T Web site. It’s not quite the Samsung Omnia that folks are eagerly awaiting for, but it’s a step or two in that direction.

The a867 Eternity has quad-band GSM/EDGE and dual-band 850/1900MHz 3G radios on board. It also carries GPS, Bluetooth with A2DP stereo, and a 3 megapixel camera with Video Share.

AT&T Mobile TV offers instant access to continuous streaming of television content, events and programming like CBS Mobile, CNBC, Comedy Central, FOX News, FOX Mobile, NBC 2Go, MSNBC, ESPN Mobile TV, MTV, Nickelodeon, CNN Mobile and PIX. All the new subscribers can visit AT&T store or AT&T website for a free 30-day trial. Samsung Eternity’s TouchWiz user interface allows instant access to various functions like the clock, music player, instant messaging, photos and AT&T Mobile TV.

The chrome and black exterior are sleek and undeniably cool. There are only three physical keys on the lower portion of the phone and these make navigation a very simple task. Then there’s the built-in accelerometer that will detect motion and orientation to modify the screen display automatically to suit motion sensing games and facilitate photo scrolling.

The Samsung Eternity is priced at $149.99 (approx Rs. 7,315) with a two-year service agreement and $50 mail-in rebate. It is available through AT&T retail locations or online at Wireless AT&T website.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is finally ready for release in Nov.28. we’ve seen the release of a number of highly anticipated smartphones, including the RIM BlackBerry Bold and the T-Mobile G1, and now we have the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. First announced at GSMA 2008 in February, the Xperia X1 made headlines for being the company’s first Windows Mobile device and for its interactive panel interface.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

The Xperia X1 panel interface will allow you to choose what kind of Xperia experience that you want; you will then start to use the QWERTY keyboard, which is a dream to use. The new cell phone runs on the Windows Mobile platform.

Xperia X1 is a horizontal slider, and when closed the front of the phone features a three-inch touchscreen (with a whopping 800 x 480 pixel resolution) with a small collection of buttons beneath it. Of special note is the center action button, which also works as a tiny touchpad in many applications while you drag your fingertip around on it. (continue reading…)

Microsoft is launching a second online store which included the update to Games for Windows Live.

The Microsoft Store, which opened for business Thursday, is designed to carry the largest and most up-to-date selection of the software giant’s product lines, such as Office, Windows, Xbox, and Zune.

However, Microsoft will allow you to re-download products until mainstream support for the product ends.  Usually, that ends after five years.  Of course, you have the option of copying the download should you wish to access it beyond what the mainstream lifetime will support it. (continue reading…)

Thomas Beatie and his wife, Nancy, are expecting their second child next June. You might remember Thomas as the transgender man who gave birth to a daughter, Susan, last June and got a lot of attention as “the world’s first pregnant man.”

He is pregnant again, he tells Barbara Walters tonight on ABC. And while his first pregnancy raised questions that most couples never face (If you physically give birth to a child can you be listed as “father” on the birth certificate?) this second time around raises at least one question that nearly all parents find themselves asking: What is the right time to have a second?

(continue reading…)

Sun Microsystems announced today that it will cut 5,000 to 6,000 jobs to align its costs to deal with the venerable economy. It will be one of the largest tech layoffs this year.

Sun said the layoffs announced today should allow the company to reduce annual costs by $700 million to $800 million, starting in its next full quarter. But it also said it will incur one-time costs of $500 million to $600 million as a result of the layoffs over the next 12 months.

The cuts at Sun had been predicted by some analysts, who were expecting the company to announce significant moves to shore up its business, especially after a Tennessee investment firm recently disclosed that it had bought 21 percent of Sun’s stock. Representatives of Southeastern Asset Management said last month that they planned to have discussions with Sun “and/or third parties” about improving the stock value.

Sun Microsystems is one of several computing companies suffering as companies and individuals spend less on computers. Companies have been forced to cut prices to compete for business as consumers’ purse strings tighten. Earlier this year, Dell announced it would sack 8,800 people.

And Dave Douglas will head a Cloud Computing & Developer Platform division, with cloud-based services including NetBeans and StarOffice.