Obama, McCain appeal to youth

MANCHESTER, N.H. - It has the feel and look of a transformative moment, this tidal wave of young voters buoying the disparate campaigns of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.
The shouts and wild applause, and willingness to knock on doors and work on telephone banks late in the evening transformed the Iowa caucuses.

Israel Struck by Rockets Fired From Lebanon

JERUSALEM, Jan. 8–Two Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon struck a northern Israeli town overnight causing no injuries, an Israeli police spokesman said, the first such attacks by Lebanese militants in six months.
The attack came on the day before President Bush is scheduled to arrive in Israel in support of ongoing peace talks between Israeli and […]

Avon to cut 2,400 in restructuring plan

NEW YORK - Avon Products Inc. on Tuesday said it will cut 2,400 jobs as part of its multiyear restructuring plan, which will cost more than originally expected and ultimately save the beauty-products maker $430 million annually.
The restructuring plan will cost $530 million, up from a previous estimate of $500 million, of which $460 million […]

Eutelsat, Viasat to work together on providing internet services

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - Viasat Inc said it has agreed with Eutelsat Communications, Loral Space & Communications Corp and Telesat to work together to expand broadband internet services via satellite.
ViaSat and Eutelsat are cooperating around ViaSat’s Ka-band SurfBeam networking system and a common wholesale business model to offer service through ISPs, telecommunication companies, and direct-to-home […]

ArcelorMittal signs Mauritanian iron ore deal

BRUSSELS, Jan 8 (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, said on Tuesday it had signed a deal with Mauritania’s Societe Nationale Industrielle et Miniere (SNIM) to develop an iron ore mining project.
“Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, SNIM and ArcelorMittal will jointly develop a large iron ore mining project, using the […]

Matsushita and Google in internet TV pact

Matsushita Electric Industrial said it would start selling internet-connected televisions in the US that can access Google’s YouTube, marking the first partnership between a Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer and the world’s leading search engine.
The move is part of a broader push by Japan’s consumer goods manufacturers to “add value” to their products, in the face […]

Blu-ray supporters scent victory

The backers of the Blu-ray high definition DVD system are predicting victory in the format wars with HD DVD.
The two rival camps have divided consumers since the two incompatible systems were launched.
But Blu-ray supporters are touting the decision by Warner Bros to shift allegiance as a tipping point.

Copying CDs could be made legal

Copying music from a CD to a home computer could be made legal under new proposals from the UK government.
Millions of people already “rip” discs to their computers and move the files to MP3 players, although the process is technically against copyright law.
Intellectual property minister Lord Triesman said the law should be changed so it […]

SanDisk ups ante with 32GB flash player

SanDisk today announced at CES a refresh to its Clip and View media player lines, but the updates don’t bring much in the way of new features. Instead, they stress massive capacity boosts, with the View surging to a maximum capacity of 32GB of flash memory. The storage capacity of flash-based devices is now large […]

Intel responds to EU antitrust charges

On Monday, Intel submitted a formal, written response to the Statement of Objections that the European Commission sent to the company this past July. The contents of Intel’s response have yet to leak out, but the company has confirmed that it has also requested a hearing before the EC in order to orally refute the […]