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  • Tropical storm plus oil slick equals more fear and uncertainty

    The disaster thousands of feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico may be exacerbated by a different type of calamity in the coming week -- a tropical storm -- that could push the oil farther along Florida's pristine Panhandle beaches.

    Tropical Storm Alex -- the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season -- formed in the Caribbean on Saturday. Alex had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was about 250 miles away from Chetumal, Mexico. It was moving toward Belize and over the Yucatan Peninsula.

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  • Obama (again) touts Wall Street package

    President Obama again promoted a new package of Wall Street regulations in his Saturday radio address, telling listeners that "we are on the cusp of enacting the toughest financial reforms since the Great Depression."

    Taping the address Friday just hours after House and Senate negotiators put together a final bill, Obama said the new plan would "empower our people with consumer protections" and prevent the kind of financial meltdown that gutted the economy in 2008.

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  • Computers Learn to Listen, and Some Talk Back

    “Hi, thanks for coming,” the medical assistant says, greeting a mother with her 5-year-old son. “Are you here for your child or yourself?”

    The boy, the mother replies. He has diarrhea.

    “Oh no, sorry to hear that,” she says, looking down at the boy.

    The assistant asks the mother about other symptoms, including fever (“slight”) and abdominal pain (“He hasn’t been complaining”).

    She turns again to the boy. “Has your tummy been hurting?” Yes, he replies.

    After a few more questions, the assistant declares herself “not that concerned at this point.” She schedules an appointment with a doctor in a couple of days. The mother leads her son from the room, holding his hand. But he keeps looking back at the assistant, fascinated, as if reluctant to leave.

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  • BlackBerry's Retreat Leaves A Sour Taste For RIM

    Research In Motion delivered a quarter that showed buckling market share and disappointing sales as the smart phone marker feels the heat from Apple and Google.

    Investors didn't take the news well, with shares of Research In Motion ( RIMM - news - people ) tumbling 9.5%, or $5.59, to $52.97, in afternoon trading on Friday.

    "RIM is losing market share," says Andy Hargreaves, analyst at Pacific Crest Securities. "Their devices lack an effective browser, especially compared to what Apple ( AAPL - news - people ) and Google ( GOOG - news - people ) have, and they lack an attractive app environment, and that's what people want now. Email is still a valuable piece, but it's only one piece and if you don't have the whole pie you won't be able to capture any of that high-end share."

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  • Toyota Stops Selling Lexus HS250h for Fuel Leak Risk

    Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, halted sales of a hybrid Lexus model because too much fuel spilled in crash tests conducted by the government safety agency, the company said today.

    Toyota, which paid a record $16.4 million U.S. fine this year for not complying with auto-safety regulations, said in a letter to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today that about 17,000 of the HS250h sedans for the 2010 model year are being recalled.

    “We’re working intently to duplicate the noncompliance that NHTSA identified,” Brian Lyons, a spokesman for Toyota’s U.S. unit based in Torrance, California, said in an interview.

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  • Tail Troubles Keep The Dreamliner Down

    Boeing's 787 Dreamliner program is again on hold due to a quality problem found in a portion of the tail. The company has already built five of the jetliners, and the problem appears to be found in a portion of the horizontal stabilizer built by Italian manufacturer Alenia.

    Boeing's 787 Dreamliner program, already plagued by numerous delays, has been again put on hold due to a quality problem found in a portion of the tail.

    The company has already built five of the jetliners, and the problem appears to be found in a portion of the horizontal stabilizer built by Italian manufacturer Alenia. Boeing ( BA - news - people ) stated that the planes "have issues with improperly installed shims and the torque of associated fasteners."

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  • China to Create More Channels for Yuan Use, Central Bankers Say

    China must create more channels for investors and companies to use the yuan if it wants to internationalize the currency and put it on a par with the yen and the euro, central bank officials and economists told a forum in Shanghai yesterday.

    The world’s biggest holder of foreign-exchange reserves also needs to loosen controls on the use of the yuan for investment and trade outside China, Xie Duo, director of the financial market department of the People’s Bank of China, and Li Daokui, an adviser to the central bank, said.

    China, the world’s third-largest economy, is seeking to reduce its reliance on the U.S. dollar and promote the yuan as a global currency. The central bank this week expanded the use of the yuan for cross-border trade settlement to 18 more provinces, allowing companies based in areas including Beijing and the export hubs of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to use the currency to pay for goods and services.

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  • Forecaster: Storm Likely To Cause Threat To BP Oil Collection Efforts

    A cluster of thunderstorms in the south Caribbean will likely become the first named tropical storm of the Atlantic basin hurricane season and could pose a danger to BP PLC's (BP, BP.LN) efforts to collect oil spewing from the Macondo well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a forecaster said Friday.

    "I cannot emphasize enough that this storm will pose a serious threat," to BP's operations at the Macondo well, said Jim Rouiller, a senior energy meteorologist with Planalytics.

    The National Hurricane Center gives the low pressure area centered between the northeast coast of Honduras and Grand Cayman a high chance, 70%, of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours.

    The system is likely to become a tropical depression before it reaches the Yucatan Peninsula in a couple of days. An Air Force reconnaissance plane is scheduled to investigate this disturbance later Friday to determine if a tropical cyclone has formed.

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  • Ivory Coast 3, Korea DPR 0 - Brazil tied Portugal, 0-0

    Nelspruit, South Africa- Yaya Toure and Romaric scored in the first half and Ivory Coast defeated North Korea, 3-0, on Friday at Mbombela Stadium in Group G, but was still eliminated from the FIFA World Cup.

    Toure and Romaric scored in the first 20 minutes and Salomon Kalou added Ivory Coast's third goal in the 82nd minute, but the African side ended third in the "Group of Death" behind Brazil and Portugal.

    Brazil tied Portugal, 0-0, in Friday's other Group G match. Brazil finished atop the group with seven points, Portugal was second with five and Ivory Coast had four. North Korea was also eliminated.

    Ivory Coast entered the match needing a win, a Portugal loss and to overturn a huge gap in goal differential, but failed to build on its early start and also failed to get help from Brazil.

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  • Obama stresses no discord with Petraeus on board

    No more discord in the Afghanistan war command, President Barack Obama vows. With Gen. David Petraeus in charge, the president said Thursday he's assembled the team that will take the U.S. through the months ahead — by all expectations the make-or-break stage of the conflict.

    "I am going to be insisting on a unity of purpose on the part of all branches of the U.S. government," the president said. "Our team is going to be moving forward in synch."

    Obama said he does not anticipate further firings beyond Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top war commander hired a year ago to turn around a war then sliding into quagmire. He was fired Wednesday for sniping at civilian war bosses in a magazine article.

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  • The long run is over: Isner wins marathon

    Elizabeth Windsor decided to take in some tennis at Wimbledon yesterday. Although tickets are scarcer than elephants cavorting at Piccadilly Circus, she managed to cop a couple, and in the front row of Centre Court, no less.

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    When she walked in, people began to cheer and clap and point cameras at her. She looked a sprightly, likable 84, and she is used to this kind of attention because in her day job, she is Queen Elizabeth II.

    Her Majesty last had an urge to see tennis at Wimbledon in 1977, 33 years ago. Her father, King George VI-to-be, actually played Wimbledon. It was doubles in 1926, an embarrassing hackerly performance prompting his wife to veto any repeats.

    As far as tennis goes these days, Her Majesty’s domain is down to one body. It belongs to a prickly Scotsman, Andy Murray. Last year, the queen sent Murray a good-luck note, and yesterday wished him well in person in a chat that followed his batting-practice victory over Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

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  • G-20 Protesters Expand Rallies as Toronto Braces for Summit

    Protesters and community groups aim to intensify their demonstrations in Toronto today as businesses in the downtown of Canada’s largest city start to close ahead of this weekend’s Group of 20 summit.

    “There’s going to be a rally, a march, a block party and a tent city that’s going to go overnight,” Syed Hussan, spokesman for the Toronto Community Mobilization Network, said in an interview.

    The network, which has been behind protests for the past week including yesterday’s downtown march of 1,200 people in support of indigenous groups’ rights, is planning a “feminist picnic” and a “Free the Streets” march this afternoon, a day before the start of the G-20 gathering.

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  • G-20 leaders facing worries about rising deficits

    World leaders who addressed a severe economic crisis with an unprecedented show of strength last year are finding it harder to maintain their solidarity in the face of new challenges.

    Despite U.S. appeals to refrain from removing stimulus measures too quickly, country after country is rushing to slash spending and raise taxes to avoid suffering the same fate as Greece, which found itself on the brink of bankruptcy last month.

    After maintaining remarkable unity at three previous summits, the leaders of the world's major economies will come to Canada facing a good deal of tension over the best approaches to take to make sure that the global economy continues to emerge from the worst recession in decades.

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  • Robot nudge foils Gulf oil collection for a day

    One nudge by a deep-sea robot, and BP had to back off its most effective method so far for containing the Gulf of Mexico oil leak.

    After being removed for much of the day Wednesday, engineers using remote-controlled submarines repositioned a cap that had captured 700,000 gallons of oil in 24 hours before one of the robots bumped into it late in the morning.

    Bob Dudley, BP's new point man for the oil response, said crews had done the right thing to remove the cap because fluid seemed to be leaking and could have been a safety hazard. The logistics coordinator onboard the ship that has been siphoning the oil told The Associated Press that the system was working again but it would take a little time before for the system to "get ramped back up." He asked not to be identified by name because he was not authorized to provide the information.

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  • Google's YouTube wins Viacom copyright case

    Google has won a landmark ruling as a judge threw out a $1bn lawsuit brought by Viacom accusing the internet giant of allowing copyrighted material on its YouTube service without permission.

    Viacom had accused Google of "massive intentional copyright infringement".

    But the Manhattan judge said Google and YouTube could not be held liable merely for having a "general awareness" that videos might be posted illegally.

    Media conglomerate Viacom said it planned to appeal against the decision.

    Google called the ruling "an important victory".
    'Safe harbour'

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  • Michael Jackson tribute programs to air on TV, radio on one-year anniversary of pop star's death

    Just about everyone who ever met Michael Jackson will be on television tomorrow, as the anniversary of his death brings a blizzard of reports on either how it happened or what it has meant.

    Those who prefer to remember Jackson primarily for his music can turn on the radio, where several stations will go all-Michael.

    Jackson died a year ago tomorrow, at age 50, on the eve of a comeback tour. Those who will talk about him include his mother, Katherine, in a paid interview for "Dateline NBC."

    His brothers Jermaine and Tito will talk with Don Lemon on CNN, while ABC's "2-0/20" will look at unanswered questions about his death.

    The CBS "Early Show" will have artists like Marc Anthony and LL Cool J talk about Jackson, and TV Guide will show a new documentary, "Gone Too Soon."

    Here are some TV programs, all tomorrow unless noted:

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  • U.S. Predator Drones to Surveil Mexican Border

    The Homeland Security Department will use unmanned surveillance aircraft and other technological upgrades in its ongoing effort to protect the southern border of the United States.

    The department said Wednesday it has obtained Federal Aviation Administration permission to operate unmanned planes along the Texas border and throughout the Gulf Coast region. Customs and Border Protection will base a surveillance drone at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in Texas.

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  • At least 12 dead in train accident outside Barcelona

    At least 12 people were killed and several others injured when they were run over by a train in a town south of Barcelona, Spain, a spokesman for Catalonia Emergency Center said Thursday.

    At least 14 more were hurt, and three remained in critical condition, the spokesman said.

    The accident occurred Wednesday between 11:30 p.m. and midnight local time as a group tried to cross the tracks after getting off a local train that had stopped at the town of Castelldefels, authorities said.

    Many were headed to the Fiesta de San Juan, which celebrates the year's shortest night, on the beach at Castelldefels.

    Castelldefels mayor, Joan Sau, said about 30 people were crossing the tracks when a Barcelona-bound express train hit them.

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  • Prince Albert of Monaco Found His Couple

    Prince Albert of Monaco is finally tying the knot - and an old classmate from Amherst College couldn’t be happier.

    “Thank God,” said former state Sen. Warren Tolman, who has known the former playboy prince - and father of two illegitimate children - since their frat-boy days on the western Mass. campus.

    The palace in the tiny French principality announced yesterday that the 52-year-old royal is engaged to stunning South African former Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock, 32, whom he’s dated for several years.

    “Not only is Charlene beautiful and smart, she’s unflappable,” said Toland, an attorney at Holland & Knight. “But what really struck me is that she truly cares for him and has his best interests at heart. It’s about time.”

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  • James Mangold wrestles 'Knight and Day' to the screen

    Call it the wildest cross-genre experiment in the history of summer movies .

    The new Tom Cruise- Cameron Diaz film — perhaps the world's first screwball- comedy, action-romance, Hitchcock-homage, family- drama paranoid- thriller — went through so many script versions that even the writers who worked on earlier drafts may not recognize much about the final film. It has changed names (it was originally titled "Wichita," then "Trouble Man," then "Knight and Day"), stars ( Eva Mendes and Chris Tucker were supposed to play the leads before Cruise and Diaz signed on) and directors ("Shanghai Noon" director Tom Dey before James Mangold took over the reins).

    Hollywood development is typically a complicated equation. This looked like Fermat's Last Theorem.

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