AP – A federal judge in Southern California has declared the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional because the ban violates the First Amendment rights of gays and lesbians.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AFP – A Florida pastor put on hold plans to burn hundreds of Korans and said he would cancel the event if a controversial mosque project near Ground Zero in New York is relocated.
To read/view the full story Click Here
A U.S. pastor who called off a Quran burning said he was “rethinking our position” after a proposed meeting over an Islamic center near New York’s ground zero went unconfirmed.
To read/view the full story Click Here
Reuters – Essentially the first feature-length YouTube video, “The Virginity Hit” updates the horny-teenager movie to the Internet era.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – The government may resume funding of embryonic stem cell research for now, an appeals court said Thursday, but the short-term approval may be of little help to research scientists caught in a legal battle that has just begun.
To read/view the full story Click Here
The 33 miners trapped inside a Chilean mine have shown their families a glimpse of what their routines are like, thanks to a video they made.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – An anti-Islamic preacher backed off and then threatened to reconsider burning the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, angrily accusing a Muslim leader of lying to him Thursday with a promise to move an Islamic center and mosque away from New York’s ground zero. The imam planning the center denied there was ever such a deal.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – U.S. Web surfers are spending more time socializing on Facebook than searching with Google, according to new data from researchers at comScore Inc.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – One hundred sixty-three couples in Taiwan were married in a mass ceremony at 9:09 a.m. on the ninth day of the ninth month of the 99th year since the founding of their republic.
To read/view the full story Click Here
U.S. Marines boarded and seized control Thursday of a German-owned vessel that had been captured by pirates the day before off the coast of Somalia, the U.S. Fifth Fleet said.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – A Colorado wildfire that already has destroyed 170 homes showed no signs of relenting Thursday as wind gusts of up to 60 mph threatened to drive the flames from the foothills to the west and into the heart of Boulder, where some residents were warned to be ready to flee.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – The U.S. military almost launched fighter jets and discussed a possible shoot-down when an errant Navy drone briefly veered into restricted airspace near the nation’s capital last month, a senior military official said Thursday.
To read/view the full story Click Here
Reuters – Twelve U.S. soldiers have been charged with gruesome crimes in Afghanistan ranging from murdering civilians to keeping body parts as war trophies — revelations that the Pentagon said on Thursday damaged America’s image around the world.
To read/view the full story Click Here
A Florida pastor who called off a Quran burning said late Thursday he was “rethinking our position” after a proposed meeting over the location of an Islamic center near New York’s ground zero went unconfirmed.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – The only other time Mikhail Youzhny reached the U.S. Open semifinals, in 2006, he got there by upsetting Rafael Nadal.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – Donald Trump offered Thursday to buy out a major investor in the real estate partnership that controls the site near ground zero where a Muslim group wants to build a 13-story Islamic center and mosque.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – President Barack Obama’s top health official on Thursday warned the insurance industry that the administration won’t tolerate blaming premium hikes on the new health overhaul law.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – North Korean children are already singing the praises of the young man in line to become the reclusive nation’s next leader, analysts say, but the rest of the world doesn’t even know the age, or, until recently, how to spell the name of Kim Jong Il’s youngest son.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AFP – New Tottenham midfielder Rafael van der Vaart says there will be no hard feelings when he comes up against World Cup final referee Howard Webb on Saturday.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – In a skirmish between two Internet heavy hitters with a tangled relationship, eBay Inc. has convinced a court that it was wronged by antitakeover moves adopted by Craigslist after eBay started encroaching on its online classifieds turf in the U.S.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – U.S. Marine commandos stormed a pirate-held cargo ship off the Somalia coast Thursday, reclaiming control and taking nine prisoners without firing a shot in the first such boarding raid by the international anti-piracy flotilla, U.S. Navy officials said.
To read/view the full story Click Here
AFP – About 57,000 seemingly legitimate websites booby-trapped by hackers spring up on the Internet each week, computer security researchers at PandaLabs said.
To read/view the full story Click Here
Ben Patterson – Just the other day, I got bitten by one of those hard plastic clamshell cases that retailers still seem to love. Even with a pair of heavy-duty scissors, it took me several minutes to pry the stubborn thing open, and as I sawed away, a jagged piece of plastic tore at my finger and gave me a good scratch. At least I didn’t bleed on my newly purchased USB hard drive (this time).
To read/view the full story Click Here
AP – As co-president at Oracle Corp., ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd will have to adapt to a new role playing second fiddle to one of Silicon Valley’s most domineering bosses — Larry Ellison.
To read/view the full story Click Here
