Smartphones running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone 7 operating system could surpass those with Google’s Android operating system by 2013, market research firm Pyramid Research said.
Today, Android smartphones are ruling the market, outselling phones running Nokia’s Symbian OS. Apple’s iPhone is third, followed by Research In Motion Ltd.’s Blackberry, and lastly Windows Phone 7 is a distant fifth place.
In its Q1 smartphone forecast, Pyramid Research based its projections on the partnership agreement between Microsoft and Nokia, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones.
“We believe that Nokia and Microsoft are a very powerful tandem, and that will show in its full force by the end of 2013,” said Senior Analyst Stela Bokun in a research note. “Lower price of the devices will be the crucial prerequisite for the expansion of [Windows Phone] models. Nokia knows it and Microsoft knows it, and I am sure they will act on it quickly.”
Pyramid’s premise is that Nokia will be able to market Windows smartphones in emerging markets at much lower price points than the high-end iPhone and Android devices currently in the market. In addition, smartphone growth will create a much bigger overall market for such devices in Asia and Europe.
Market research firm IDC issued a separate report earlier in the year stating that Windows smartphones will be No. 2 in the market by 2015, also citing the Nokia-Microsoft partnership. But IDC forecasts that Windows will only have a 20.9 percent market share, less than half of Android’s 45.4 percent share.
Some analysts believe that in addition to the Nokia partnership, Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Skype is another way the company plans to attack the mobile market.
“Microsoft's plan to acquire Skype fits in perfectly with its recent partnership with Nokia because both offer incredible reach,” wrote Forrester Research analyst Mike Gualtieri in a note last week.
“Nokia has a huge number of device users even though they lost the smartphone market. There are still hundreds of millions of people to convert to smartphones and tablets.”
But for now, sales of Windows Phone 7 devices still trail the iPhone and Android smartphones on U.S. carriers, by a wide margin.
AT&T Wireless last week slashed the price of two Windows smartphones by half—LQ Quantum and Samsung Focus—to $49.99, their second price cut since debuting at $199 late last year.
Eldar Murtazin, the editor-in-chief of mobile-review.com, which is in Russian, said that Windows Phone 7 sales so far have been dismal, and his analysis of the sales of its devices showed that consumers bought only 674,000 units globally in 2010.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Here Comes The iPhone 5
ntro
The latest buzz around technology nerds right about now? The iPhone 5, which is supposed to launch in early 2012, is the newest member of the Steve Job’s apple family. The rumor is that this Smartphone will run on both networks (Verizon and AT&T), and run at better trafficking speeds than the others. Here is a look at the rumored specs of the iPhone 5.
Hardware
First of the changes -- and most pronounced -- is the shifting of the Phone’s antenna notches (the little black bands that intersect the frame of the device). On the Verizon version, there are four slits which are symmetrical -- two on the top right and left, and two along the bottom. At one of Apple’s technology conferences in California, Apple's Tim Cook told the crowd that the move is all about making the new CDMA chipset play nice with the antenna design. As you know the iPhone 4’s antenna was badly placed causing it to repeatedly drop calls and aggravate its consumers. Apple has also slightly shifted the mute switch and volume buttons to accommodate the antenna changes, and there's no SIM slot.
Internals
You still have Apple's powerful A4 CPU chugging alongside 512MB of RAM, the incredible 960 x 640 IPS Retina Display. Ram is what makes your phone speed faster or slower depending on the amount you have. Basically the same as the Apple Iphone 4. No major internal changes have been added.
Phone quality and calls
The troubles that AT&T has had with reception and dropped calls on the Iphone are legendary, and even if 100 percent of the issues do not lie with the carrier, there's most definitely a belief that the company's GSM network simply isn't equipped to handle the traffic devices like the iPhone have created. The new location of the antenna on the Iphone 5 makes call clarity and networking traffic much better. You should see a real improvement in the Iphone’s network and call clarity.
Data
Data rates on the Verizon iPhone 4 we tested were dramatically slower than those on its AT&T counterpart. How much slower? Well, even though network speeds fluctuate based on many factors, we didn't see the Verizon device peak much beyond 1.4 Mbps on downloads (and even that high was rare), and it barely hit 0.5 Mbps on upstream. Verizon speeds were more consistent, but the irrefutable fact is that AT&T's network is much, much faster, at least in our neck of the woods. This should still be true for the iPhone 5.
Software
Even though the Verizon iPhone is running iOS 4.2.6, there aren't many significant or noticeable changes save for one new addition: Personal Hotspot. It's a hotspot app that lives in your system preferences, allowing you to connect wirelessly to other devices (over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) to the phone's 3G service.
Battery Life
“On a day of extremely heavy use (lots and lots of phone calls, browsing, email, Twitter, text messaging) we saw well over 24 hours on a single charge.” People jumping from the Iphone 4 should be extremely pleased with this number. The iPhone battery has always killed the Smartphone industry. Its modified lithium-polymer design makes its much more advanced from the iPhone 4.
Pricing
Everyone’s favorite category. How much dough are you willing to shell for the best Smartphone in America? AT&T's tiered plans mean you can pay much less if you don't use much mobile data. If you're willing to live with a 200MB data budget, you can drop down to a $15 a month data plan, which puts you at $74 a month or $888 yearly, and if you further drop texting from that you're down to just $55 per month or $660 yearly.Verizon's unlimited data plans will eventually go away in favor of tiered plans, so if you're looking to get in, you'd better act fast. Compared to AT&T, that's actually a good deal, since AT&T caps its data plans. AT&T offers 2GB of data for $25 a month and the same optional additional $20 surcharge for tethering, and the cheapest combination of voice and unlimited texting plans also offers 450 minutes for $59 a month, so in the end you're spending the same $90 a month or $1,080 yearly for less data, and the same $70 a month or $840 yearly if you drop the texting plan. That means you're looking at $29.99 a month for unlimited data, with an optional additional $20 a month charge for 2GB of tethering data. You'll also need a Nationwide voice plan, of course -- the cheapest with unlimited texting is the $59 plan that offers 450 minutes a month, so you're looking at a minimum of $90 a month (or $1,080 yearly) to keep your Verizon iPhone 4 happy and completely functional. (If you drop the texting it's $70 a month, or $840.)
Jeremy’s Wrap Up
While the Iphone 4 isn't all rainbows and flowers (the data speed issues or the voice / data considerations could be a deal breaker for some), the Iphone 5 will tweak the major problems of the Iphone 4 and it does kind of feel like Apple and Verizon did the impossible: they made the best Smartphone in America just a little bit better
The latest buzz around technology nerds right about now? The iPhone 5, which is supposed to launch in early 2012, is the newest member of the Steve Job’s apple family. The rumor is that this Smartphone will run on both networks (Verizon and AT&T), and run at better trafficking speeds than the others. Here is a look at the rumored specs of the iPhone 5.
Hardware
First of the changes -- and most pronounced -- is the shifting of the Phone’s antenna notches (the little black bands that intersect the frame of the device). On the Verizon version, there are four slits which are symmetrical -- two on the top right and left, and two along the bottom. At one of Apple’s technology conferences in California, Apple's Tim Cook told the crowd that the move is all about making the new CDMA chipset play nice with the antenna design. As you know the iPhone 4’s antenna was badly placed causing it to repeatedly drop calls and aggravate its consumers. Apple has also slightly shifted the mute switch and volume buttons to accommodate the antenna changes, and there's no SIM slot.
Internals
You still have Apple's powerful A4 CPU chugging alongside 512MB of RAM, the incredible 960 x 640 IPS Retina Display. Ram is what makes your phone speed faster or slower depending on the amount you have. Basically the same as the Apple Iphone 4. No major internal changes have been added.
Phone quality and calls
The troubles that AT&T has had with reception and dropped calls on the Iphone are legendary, and even if 100 percent of the issues do not lie with the carrier, there's most definitely a belief that the company's GSM network simply isn't equipped to handle the traffic devices like the iPhone have created. The new location of the antenna on the Iphone 5 makes call clarity and networking traffic much better. You should see a real improvement in the Iphone’s network and call clarity.
Data
Data rates on the Verizon iPhone 4 we tested were dramatically slower than those on its AT&T counterpart. How much slower? Well, even though network speeds fluctuate based on many factors, we didn't see the Verizon device peak much beyond 1.4 Mbps on downloads (and even that high was rare), and it barely hit 0.5 Mbps on upstream. Verizon speeds were more consistent, but the irrefutable fact is that AT&T's network is much, much faster, at least in our neck of the woods. This should still be true for the iPhone 5.
Software
Even though the Verizon iPhone is running iOS 4.2.6, there aren't many significant or noticeable changes save for one new addition: Personal Hotspot. It's a hotspot app that lives in your system preferences, allowing you to connect wirelessly to other devices (over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) to the phone's 3G service.
Battery Life
“On a day of extremely heavy use (lots and lots of phone calls, browsing, email, Twitter, text messaging) we saw well over 24 hours on a single charge.” People jumping from the Iphone 4 should be extremely pleased with this number. The iPhone battery has always killed the Smartphone industry. Its modified lithium-polymer design makes its much more advanced from the iPhone 4.
Pricing
Everyone’s favorite category. How much dough are you willing to shell for the best Smartphone in America? AT&T's tiered plans mean you can pay much less if you don't use much mobile data. If you're willing to live with a 200MB data budget, you can drop down to a $15 a month data plan, which puts you at $74 a month or $888 yearly, and if you further drop texting from that you're down to just $55 per month or $660 yearly.Verizon's unlimited data plans will eventually go away in favor of tiered plans, so if you're looking to get in, you'd better act fast. Compared to AT&T, that's actually a good deal, since AT&T caps its data plans. AT&T offers 2GB of data for $25 a month and the same optional additional $20 surcharge for tethering, and the cheapest combination of voice and unlimited texting plans also offers 450 minutes for $59 a month, so in the end you're spending the same $90 a month or $1,080 yearly for less data, and the same $70 a month or $840 yearly if you drop the texting plan. That means you're looking at $29.99 a month for unlimited data, with an optional additional $20 a month charge for 2GB of tethering data. You'll also need a Nationwide voice plan, of course -- the cheapest with unlimited texting is the $59 plan that offers 450 minutes a month, so you're looking at a minimum of $90 a month (or $1,080 yearly) to keep your Verizon iPhone 4 happy and completely functional. (If you drop the texting it's $70 a month, or $840.)
Jeremy’s Wrap Up
While the Iphone 4 isn't all rainbows and flowers (the data speed issues or the voice / data considerations could be a deal breaker for some), the Iphone 5 will tweak the major problems of the Iphone 4 and it does kind of feel like Apple and Verizon did the impossible: they made the best Smartphone in America just a little bit better
Apple's iPhone 5 Carried by Sprint, T-Mobile: Report
Apple’s next iPhone could feature only incremental upgrades, but appear on a broader set of carriers, according to a new research note from Jefferies & Co.
“We believe the likelihood of the iPhone 5 launch in September including LTE [Long-Term Evolution] is now remote,” Peter Misek wrote in the co-authored research note, issued May 13. “According to our industry checks, the device should be called iPhone 4S and include minor cosmetic changes, better cameras, A5 dual-core processor, and HSPA+ [Evolved High-Speed Packet Access] support.”
The note also claims, based on “industry checks,” that Sprint, T-Mobile and China Mobile will be announced as new iPhone carriers in time for the holiday season: “On Apple’s last earnings call, management responded to a question about launching the CDMA [Code Division Multiple Access] iPhone at other carriers as ‘we are constantly looking and adding where it makes sense, and you can keep confidence that we’ll continue to do that.’”
AT&T and Verizon currently offer the iPhone in the United States. Despite AT&T’s plans to acquire T-Mobile for $39 billion in cash and stock, however, the smaller carrier has been denying imminent support for the iPhone.
“T-Mobile USA remains an independent company,” read a note posted on T-Mobile’s corporate Website in March. “The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting-edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and, coming soon, our new Sidekick 4G.”
That statement made it seem as if T-Mobile customers hungry for an iPhone would need to wait at least a year, until AT&T finishes digesting their carrier. AT&T’s deal is a positive for Apple, at least according to a March 21 research note from Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White: “The company would gain access to T-Mobile’s 34 million subscriber base, versus the 96 million subscribers at AT&T in 4Q10.”
Meanwhile, Sprint remains close-lipped about any potential iPhone deal. When asked about that possibility during the carrier’s most recent earnings call, CEO Dan Hesse suggested he was unable to comment on “potential discussions” with any suppliers, before joking: “What is it, like the fifty-fifth time I’ve been asked that?”
Nonetheless, the presence of the iPhone on Verizon and some combination of T-Mobile and AT&T would make Sprint the odd person out in the domestic smartphone market. Although Sprint offers a line of 4G smartphones with some unique aesthetics and features, the iPhone has proven a massive bestseller—something that no carrier could easily pass up, even if it’s devoted substantial marketing resources and political capital to establishing its own line of products.
Anonymous sources speaking to Reuters April 20 suggested that Apple will ship the iPhone 5 (or iPhone 4S) in September, meaning that production for the device will ramp up sometime in either July or August. Sources have also hinted to other publications that the smartphone will hit store shelves sometime closer to the end of 2011.
Current rumors suggest the next iPhone will include the A5 processor, more powerful cameras and, perhaps, NFC (near-field communication) technology, which would allow the smartphone to act as an electronic wallet. All those features would give Apple the capability to compete more heartily against the higher-end Android smartphones, whose hardware and software are becoming increasingly robust. As with all Apple rumors, however, multiple grains of salt should be taken until the company makes an actual announcement.
“We believe the likelihood of the iPhone 5 launch in September including LTE [Long-Term Evolution] is now remote,” Peter Misek wrote in the co-authored research note, issued May 13. “According to our industry checks, the device should be called iPhone 4S and include minor cosmetic changes, better cameras, A5 dual-core processor, and HSPA+ [Evolved High-Speed Packet Access] support.”
The note also claims, based on “industry checks,” that Sprint, T-Mobile and China Mobile will be announced as new iPhone carriers in time for the holiday season: “On Apple’s last earnings call, management responded to a question about launching the CDMA [Code Division Multiple Access] iPhone at other carriers as ‘we are constantly looking and adding where it makes sense, and you can keep confidence that we’ll continue to do that.’”
AT&T and Verizon currently offer the iPhone in the United States. Despite AT&T’s plans to acquire T-Mobile for $39 billion in cash and stock, however, the smaller carrier has been denying imminent support for the iPhone.
“T-Mobile USA remains an independent company,” read a note posted on T-Mobile’s corporate Website in March. “The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting-edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and, coming soon, our new Sidekick 4G.”
That statement made it seem as if T-Mobile customers hungry for an iPhone would need to wait at least a year, until AT&T finishes digesting their carrier. AT&T’s deal is a positive for Apple, at least according to a March 21 research note from Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White: “The company would gain access to T-Mobile’s 34 million subscriber base, versus the 96 million subscribers at AT&T in 4Q10.”
Meanwhile, Sprint remains close-lipped about any potential iPhone deal. When asked about that possibility during the carrier’s most recent earnings call, CEO Dan Hesse suggested he was unable to comment on “potential discussions” with any suppliers, before joking: “What is it, like the fifty-fifth time I’ve been asked that?”
Nonetheless, the presence of the iPhone on Verizon and some combination of T-Mobile and AT&T would make Sprint the odd person out in the domestic smartphone market. Although Sprint offers a line of 4G smartphones with some unique aesthetics and features, the iPhone has proven a massive bestseller—something that no carrier could easily pass up, even if it’s devoted substantial marketing resources and political capital to establishing its own line of products.
Anonymous sources speaking to Reuters April 20 suggested that Apple will ship the iPhone 5 (or iPhone 4S) in September, meaning that production for the device will ramp up sometime in either July or August. Sources have also hinted to other publications that the smartphone will hit store shelves sometime closer to the end of 2011.
Current rumors suggest the next iPhone will include the A5 processor, more powerful cameras and, perhaps, NFC (near-field communication) technology, which would allow the smartphone to act as an electronic wallet. All those features would give Apple the capability to compete more heartily against the higher-end Android smartphones, whose hardware and software are becoming increasingly robust. As with all Apple rumors, however, multiple grains of salt should be taken until the company makes an actual announcement.
AMNews: LG Supports Meego, Wii Successor May Have Touch Screen, HP Veer Launch Party
With Nokia dumping Meego for Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform, the Linux-based mobile operating system has garnered support from mobile phone marker LG. After being deserted by Nokia, chip maker Intel formed a consortium with Asian companies to develop a handset version of the Meego operating system
A hacker named Tinkode has claimed responsibility for hacking into the servers of the European Space Agency. To establish his claim, the hacker has posted sensitive usernames and passwords of email accounts belonging to the people associated with the agency along with explicit details of root servers.
Adding to the rumours about the successor to Nintendo's Wii console at the E3 conference, new reports claim that the console’s controller will feature a six-inch screen. According to an article on IGN, the upcoming new Wii console, which is codenamed Project Cafe, the controller will feature a six inch screen that will allow users to stream games from the consoles to the controller.
In an attempt to strengthen its position in the large-scale distributed computing market Oracle has come up with its own Coherence data grid software. According to the company, the new software will be far less complicated than a majority of the other products floating around on the market, but will not be as efficient.
Hewlett Packard might launch the upcoming webOS based Veer Smartphone device on the AT&T network at a launch party scheduled for May 2nd. According to an article on Pre-Central, the company has posted an invitation on its website, inviting people to register for a May 2nd HP Veer Launch Party Event.
Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2011/04/19/breakfirst-lg-supports-meego-wii-successor-may-have-touch-screen-hp-veer-launch-party/#ixzz1MTsowZFQ
A hacker named Tinkode has claimed responsibility for hacking into the servers of the European Space Agency. To establish his claim, the hacker has posted sensitive usernames and passwords of email accounts belonging to the people associated with the agency along with explicit details of root servers.
Adding to the rumours about the successor to Nintendo's Wii console at the E3 conference, new reports claim that the console’s controller will feature a six-inch screen. According to an article on IGN, the upcoming new Wii console, which is codenamed Project Cafe, the controller will feature a six inch screen that will allow users to stream games from the consoles to the controller.
In an attempt to strengthen its position in the large-scale distributed computing market Oracle has come up with its own Coherence data grid software. According to the company, the new software will be far less complicated than a majority of the other products floating around on the market, but will not be as efficient.
Hewlett Packard might launch the upcoming webOS based Veer Smartphone device on the AT&T network at a launch party scheduled for May 2nd. According to an article on Pre-Central, the company has posted an invitation on its website, inviting people to register for a May 2nd HP Veer Launch Party Event.
Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2011/04/19/breakfirst-lg-supports-meego-wii-successor-may-have-touch-screen-hp-veer-launch-party/#ixzz1MTsowZFQ
How Google Chromebook Will Feel for Music Fans
As it tends to do around this time of year, Google is making waves this week with its Google I/O developers’ conference in San Francisco, where it announced not only the innovative WebGL-enabled music video we profiled Wednesday, but — more importantly for the future of computing — its Chromebook series of netbooks, which sit somewhere between the tablet and the laptop and are designed from the ground up for cloud computing.
Perhaps Larry Ellison wasn’t wrong about “thin clients” — just 15 years too early about the tipping point when processing power and data storage would retreat from the personal computer at the edge of the network, migrating back to big, centralized mainframes like the one pictured above.
Google envisions schools and businesses snapping up Chromebooks (initially from Acer and Samsung) at bulk rates for deployment across student populaces or roving sales forces. But as happened with the personal computer, plenty of “regular” people will surely buy these devices over the coming years too, as their data and software continue to migrate to the cloud where they can be accessed by multiple personal devices.
After all, if all your music and apps are stored online, why would you carry around a laptop, with its expensive memory, operating system, and other accouterments more suited for downloading email in 1996 than for listening to Spotify as one edits a Google Doc and plays the web app version of Angry Birds?
As music fans make the transition from iTunes-style music collecting to the cloud — not only on these recently-announced Chromebooks, but also on smartphones, tablets, and other computer-like devices that are not computers — they’re in for some big changes:
The main allure of cloud music is its elimination of bloated client-side software like iTunes, which duplicates music files all over your hard drive, eats up RAM, and requires wires to transfer music to devices. Instead, your computing devices will function more as input points for uploading songs, bookmarking them on music services such as YouTube, tagging them as favorites within a music service, adding them to your personal collection, or making playlists out of them in order to find them more easily within a large subscription library.
Your media and playback software will reside on a server far, far away, whether it’s administered by Google, Amazon, Apple, or whoever. Say goodbye to knowing where your music actually lives — the future of music collecting lies in access, not storage.
Perhaps Larry Ellison wasn’t wrong about “thin clients” — just 15 years too early about the tipping point when processing power and data storage would retreat from the personal computer at the edge of the network, migrating back to big, centralized mainframes like the one pictured above.
Google envisions schools and businesses snapping up Chromebooks (initially from Acer and Samsung) at bulk rates for deployment across student populaces or roving sales forces. But as happened with the personal computer, plenty of “regular” people will surely buy these devices over the coming years too, as their data and software continue to migrate to the cloud where they can be accessed by multiple personal devices.
After all, if all your music and apps are stored online, why would you carry around a laptop, with its expensive memory, operating system, and other accouterments more suited for downloading email in 1996 than for listening to Spotify as one edits a Google Doc and plays the web app version of Angry Birds?
As music fans make the transition from iTunes-style music collecting to the cloud — not only on these recently-announced Chromebooks, but also on smartphones, tablets, and other computer-like devices that are not computers — they’re in for some big changes:
The main allure of cloud music is its elimination of bloated client-side software like iTunes, which duplicates music files all over your hard drive, eats up RAM, and requires wires to transfer music to devices. Instead, your computing devices will function more as input points for uploading songs, bookmarking them on music services such as YouTube, tagging them as favorites within a music service, adding them to your personal collection, or making playlists out of them in order to find them more easily within a large subscription library.
Your media and playback software will reside on a server far, far away, whether it’s administered by Google, Amazon, Apple, or whoever. Say goodbye to knowing where your music actually lives — the future of music collecting lies in access, not storage.
Latest iPhone 5 leak suggests flash and camera lens will be divorced
New leaks suggest that Apple's fifth generation iPhone or iPhone 5 will be positioning the flash and camera lens further apart than they are in the current version.
According to Apple.pro, a website that has posted numerous Apple-related hardware leaks in the past, including the tiny touchscreen that last year became the centerpiece of the new iPod Nano, the rear camera of iPhone 5 may not have the accompanying LED flash to its right, as does iPhone 4.
Incidentally, Gadgets DNA (via MacRumors) also reported that a certain Guangdong, China-based Kulcase is listing an alleged "Newest design crystal case for Apple iPhone 5g" on the company's Alibaba.com site. The case suggests that iPhone 5 will have its rear camera flash moved to the opposite corner from the camera.
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/145849/20110515/latest-iphone-5-leak-suggests-flash-camera-lens-divorced-rumors.htm#ixzz1MPBuDl9b
According to Apple.pro, a website that has posted numerous Apple-related hardware leaks in the past, including the tiny touchscreen that last year became the centerpiece of the new iPod Nano, the rear camera of iPhone 5 may not have the accompanying LED flash to its right, as does iPhone 4.
Incidentally, Gadgets DNA (via MacRumors) also reported that a certain Guangdong, China-based Kulcase is listing an alleged "Newest design crystal case for Apple iPhone 5g" on the company's Alibaba.com site. The case suggests that iPhone 5 will have its rear camera flash moved to the opposite corner from the camera.
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/145849/20110515/latest-iphone-5-leak-suggests-flash-camera-lens-divorced-rumors.htm#ixzz1MPBuDl9b
NASA clears Endeavour, plans launch for Monday
NASA's next-to-last space shuttle flight is set to blast off Monday morning, now that mission managers gave the green light Saturday for Endeavour's final voyage.
Forecasters put the odds of good weather at 70%.
Endeavour will fly to the International Space Station under the command of astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The Arizona Democrat, who is recuperating from an assassination attempt, will be at Cape Canaveral, Fla., for the second launch attempt.
Late last month, an electrical problem in Endeavour's engine compartment halted the launch. Only one other shuttle mission remains: Atlantis will soar for the last time in July.
Aid to terrorists
3 charged with funding Taliban
A Miami imam and two of his sons were arrested Saturday on charges that they gave about $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban, officials said.
The indictment lists about $50,000 in transactions. The money was used to buy guns, support militants' families and promote the cause of the Pakistani Taliban, the indictment charges. It also alleges the imam owns a madrassa, or religious school, in northwest Pakistan that shelters members of the Taliban and trains children to become militants.
If convicted, the men -- all U.S. citizens -- could get 15 years in prison for each of the four counts listed in the indictment. Their mosques are not suspected of wrongdoing.
Assault investigation
IMF leader removed from plane
The leader of the International Monetary Fund, who is a possible candidate for president of France, was pulled from an airplane moments before he was to fly to Paris and was questioned by police Saturday in connection with the sexual assault of a hotel maid, police said.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, was taken off the Air France flight at Kennedy airport by officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and turned over to police Saturday, a New York police spokesman said. No charges have been filed.
A spokesman for the IMF in Washington had no immediate comment.
Strauss-Kahn was investigated briefly in 2008 over whether he had an improper relationship with a female employee.
Strauss-Kahn, rejected by the French Socialists as their presidential candidate in 2006, gained international recognition as France's finance minister in 1997-99.
Strauss-Kahn is not a formally declared candidate for the French presidency but has topped polls for months as a potential presidential contender. The arrest comes as a grave blow to what was widely believed to be his ambition to run against French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 election.
Deadly disease
Ebola kills girl in Uganda
A 12-year-old Ugandan girl died this month in a new outbreak of the Ebola virus, the health ministry said Saturday.
Health authorities isolated 33 people who had been in direct contact with the unnamed girl.
The African nation's first severe outbreak of Ebola was in 2000 in northern Uganda, where it killed 170 people and left more than 400 hospitalized. The second occurred four years ago in western Uganda and killed more than 20 and left dozens of others hospitalized.
Quick hit
Not in: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Saturday that he will not seek the Republican nomination for president.
Mideast unrest: Masked Palestinians whirling slingshots clashed with Israeli riot police in two Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem on Saturday after the shooting death of a teen who had cast stones. It was a sign of rising tensions on the eve of Palestinian commemorations of their uprooting during the 1948 creation of Israel.
Forecasters put the odds of good weather at 70%.
Endeavour will fly to the International Space Station under the command of astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The Arizona Democrat, who is recuperating from an assassination attempt, will be at Cape Canaveral, Fla., for the second launch attempt.
Late last month, an electrical problem in Endeavour's engine compartment halted the launch. Only one other shuttle mission remains: Atlantis will soar for the last time in July.
Aid to terrorists
3 charged with funding Taliban
A Miami imam and two of his sons were arrested Saturday on charges that they gave about $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban, officials said.
The indictment lists about $50,000 in transactions. The money was used to buy guns, support militants' families and promote the cause of the Pakistani Taliban, the indictment charges. It also alleges the imam owns a madrassa, or religious school, in northwest Pakistan that shelters members of the Taliban and trains children to become militants.
If convicted, the men -- all U.S. citizens -- could get 15 years in prison for each of the four counts listed in the indictment. Their mosques are not suspected of wrongdoing.
Assault investigation
IMF leader removed from plane
The leader of the International Monetary Fund, who is a possible candidate for president of France, was pulled from an airplane moments before he was to fly to Paris and was questioned by police Saturday in connection with the sexual assault of a hotel maid, police said.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, was taken off the Air France flight at Kennedy airport by officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and turned over to police Saturday, a New York police spokesman said. No charges have been filed.
A spokesman for the IMF in Washington had no immediate comment.
Strauss-Kahn was investigated briefly in 2008 over whether he had an improper relationship with a female employee.
Strauss-Kahn, rejected by the French Socialists as their presidential candidate in 2006, gained international recognition as France's finance minister in 1997-99.
Strauss-Kahn is not a formally declared candidate for the French presidency but has topped polls for months as a potential presidential contender. The arrest comes as a grave blow to what was widely believed to be his ambition to run against French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 election.
Deadly disease
Ebola kills girl in Uganda
A 12-year-old Ugandan girl died this month in a new outbreak of the Ebola virus, the health ministry said Saturday.
Health authorities isolated 33 people who had been in direct contact with the unnamed girl.
The African nation's first severe outbreak of Ebola was in 2000 in northern Uganda, where it killed 170 people and left more than 400 hospitalized. The second occurred four years ago in western Uganda and killed more than 20 and left dozens of others hospitalized.
Quick hit
Not in: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Saturday that he will not seek the Republican nomination for president.
Mideast unrest: Masked Palestinians whirling slingshots clashed with Israeli riot police in two Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem on Saturday after the shooting death of a teen who had cast stones. It was a sign of rising tensions on the eve of Palestinian commemorations of their uprooting during the 1948 creation of Israel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
