National / International News

How global gambling fuels match-fixing

The Federal Communications Commission will hold the first in a series of field hearings on phone outages during natural disasters on Tuesday. The hearing, in New York and New Jersey, will focus on the blow Hurricane Sandy inflicted on communications networks. 

Sandy knocked out about a quarter of the cellphone towers in the hardest-hit states. Andrew Adam Newman lives in New York’s Greenwich Village. He just had time to post a horrifying video and pictures of rising water on his Facebook page before his phone went dead. Most of his neighbors were in the same boat.  Newman says many of them wandered around like zombies, trying to get a signal.

“I saw people walking around the neighborhood just staring at their phones," he says. "They looked like people who get metal detectors out and walk all over a football field looking for a nickel.”

Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge, a non profit in Washington, says it doesn’t have to be this way. He wants the FCC to force cellphone companies to sometimes share their networks.

“These providers are used to competing with each other," he explains. "So the answer in this case may be, OK, when an emergency comes down, you’re all going to have to work together whether you like it or not.”

The FCC is expected to consider that issue at the hearing. And also look at how well cellphone companies prepared for Hurricane Sandy.

Acting legend Robert De Niro is the latest Hollywood star to have his hands and feet cast in cement in front of the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.

When President Obama has trouble saving a document to his network drive, well let's just say, he doesn't call Todd Park. Park is the Chief Technology Officer of the United States, and his job is -- shall we say -- a bit more large scale:

"The U.S. Chief Technology Officer is a position that President Obama created when he came to office. It's really about creating and executing projects," explains Park. "One of the initiatives is something called the Open Data Initiatives program. This is a program that essentially seeks to liberate data, in machine readable form, from the vaults of the government as fuel for entrepreneurship, innovation and scientific discovery."

To help tackle the job of releasing all this new information as well as other big projects, the government launched a program last summer to bring in a group of techies from the business world as so-called Innovation Fellows.

"We have been tremendously excited by the success of round one of Presidential Innovation Fellows program, and so we are very excited today to be launching round two," says Park. "We've actually identified a set of game-changing projects to apply technology to do massive public good. We are going to market with those projects and then seeking the best people on the planet to come and serve in government working on those projects."

Park's team will be accepting applications for the next six weeks. You can read more about the Presidental Innovation Fellows program here.

Questions are raised over the drive to bring in single rooms as the norm across hospitals in Scotland.

Hopes rise that a high school which closed last year following fears over asbestos could reopen after a report found it was "essentially uncontaminated".

There are growing calls for Syria's leaders to face war crimes charges for the assaults against rebel targets and civilian areas. If that happens, veterans of past war crimes prosecutions say, Syrians will have one big advantage: the widespread gathering of evidence across the country.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Labor organizations say the Family and Medical Leave Act is too restrictive and that workers often have to choose between their family and their livelihood. Now, there are calls for Congress to expand the law and provide paid leave.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Life in Puerto Rico is tougher than ever. The U.S. territory — popularly known as "the island of enchantment" — faces a decaying economy and escalating violent crime rate. Many residents are leaving the island in record numbers and embracing the mainland as home.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Looking back at 25 years of Comic Relief

In Chicago, one mother has lost four children to gunfire — the first was murdered about 18 years ago. The last of the siblings was buried Monday. Shirley Chambers says something must be done, but she's not sure new gun restrictions or more police on the streets will make a difference.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Lenny Henry speaks about his involvement in Comic Relief, from the campaign's beginnings in 1988, its work across the UK and in the world's poorest countries, and its 25th anniversary show next month.

Plans to cut about 150 jobs and close a range of services are announced by Liverpool City Council as it tries to save £32m from next year's budget.

The US and South Korea warn North Korea of "consequences" if it carries out a third nuclear test, as Lee Myung-bak suggests more than one test could take place.

MPs accuse the Ministry of Defence of a "rushed and flawed" decision to switch fighter aircraft for the Royal Navy's new carriers.

A couple whose three-year-old daughter was killed when a wall collapsed will have their campaign raised in Parliament to get builders licensed to carry out work.

The traditional Academy Awards Nominees luncheon has been held in Hollywood, with more than 160 Oscar contenders including Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain and 9-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis.

How Team Sky took on the world

A blast that killed 37 people at the Mexico City headquarters of state oil company Pemex was caused by a build-up of gas, the attorney general says

British retail sales rose in January thanks to tablet computers and smart phones, says the British Retail Consortium.