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| Angelina Jolie in Bosnia to campaign against war rape Friday, Mar 28, 2014 12:19 PM PDT  By Maja Zuvela SREBRENICA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Actress Angelina Jolie was brought to tears while talking to rape victims of the Bosnian war during a visit on Friday to promote a campaign to end sexual violence against women in war. Jolie was accompanied by British Foreign Secretary William Hague, with whom she will co-host a global conference in London in June on preventing rape being used a tactic in war. Witnesses said Jolie cried while listening to victims in the town of Srebrenica. "Our tradition is not to talk about the rape," said Munira Subasic, the head of the association of Srebrenica mothers. Full Story | Top |
| Amazon.com says not planning free TV service Friday, Mar 28, 2014 11:02 AM PDT  By Deepa Seetharaman SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has no plan to offer a free streaming TV service, a spokeswoman said on Friday following a report that the online retailer might turn up the heat against Netflix and Hulu. Speculation about Amazon's plans for its TV service, including the possibility that it could launch its own streaming device, has increased ahead of a news conference in New York next week. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the online retailer was considering a free, add-supported streaming TV and music service. Amazon spokeswoman Sally Fouts said no such plan was in the works. Full Story | Top |
| Londoners fall in love with cat cafe Friday, Mar 28, 2014 10:50 AM PDT  Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium on the fringe of London's financial district is cashing in on an idea first popularised in Japan to allow stressed-out workers to wind down by stroking a cat while sipping a cappuccino or latte - or tea, if you prefer. If you're lucky one of them will fall asleep on your lap," said Anna Kogan, an investment banker who is co-owner of Dinah's along with Australian Lauren Pears. Cat lovers stormed the cafe's online booking system within hours of its launch, making more than 3,000 bookings and causing the system to temporarily crash. Full Story | Top |
| TV stations' test finds channel-sharing technically viable Friday, Mar 28, 2014 07:44 AM PDT Two television stations in Los Angeles that tested sharing radio frequencies found it technically viable, they said on Friday in a report to federal regulators who see the practice as one way to free up more airwaves for wireless broadband. Supported by the wireless industry group CTIA, public broadcasting station KLCS and multilingual station KJLA tried channel-sharing, in which they tested how many broadcasting streams can be combined onto one radio-frequency channel, possibly allowing the stations to give up some of the airwaves they now occupy. The experiment, approved last month by the Federal Communications Commission, "clearly proved channel sharing is feasible, and is a technically viable option for broadcasters with minimal impact for viewers," the CTIA and the stations said in the report. Channel sharing has been supported by the FCC as a potential way to clear up more airwaves, or spectrum, for a spectrum auction currently scheduled for 2015. Full Story | Top |
| Judge rejects ABC News bid to throw out 'pink slime' lawsuit Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:15 PM PDT  ABC News has failed to persuade a South Dakota state judge to dismiss a $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit by a meat processor complaining about a series of reports that referred to its signature product as "pink slime." Judge Cheryle Gering of the Union County Circuit Court ruled on Thursday that Beef Products Inc may pursue most of its case against ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co, and others including news anchor Diane Sawyer and reporter Jim Avila. BPI claimed that ABC harmed its reputation and cost sales by mischaracterizing its "lean finely textured beef" as "pink slime" in reports aired in March and April 2012. "For example, the use of the term 'pink slime' with a food product can be reasonably interpreted as implying that the food product is not meat and is not fit to eat, which are objective facts which can be proven," the judge wrote. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. warns of increasing militant links between Iraq, Syria Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:31 PM PDT By Mirjam Donath UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations on Thursday warned about Islamist militant networks increasingly forging links across the border of Syria and Iraq, which is fueling sectarian tensions in a region that has suffered from years of bloodshed. Violence in Iraq reached new highs in 2013, when nearly 8,000 civilians were killed. Its political elite remains deeply divided along sectarian lines, as it has been since after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq 11 years ago this month. "The ongoing conflict in Syria has added a regional dimension to sectarian tensions and is affording terrorist networks the occasion to forge links across the border and expand their support base," U.N. special envoy to Iraq Nickolay Mladenov told the 15-nation Security Council. Full Story | Top |
| Time Warner Cable rates targeted by 'professional' hagglers Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 02:27 PM PDT  Time Warner Cable customers looking to lower their bills would be able to hire "professional negotiators," to squeeze discounts out of the cable provider under a trial service being offered by Yipit, a New York-based daily deals startup. Yipit sent out an email on Thursday to a small group of people on its distribution list directing them to a link to submit their Time Warner Cable account information. Then Yipit said it would have employees who are "professional negotiators" try to haggle for better rates with the cable company. The service is being tested as consumers are being hit with cable bills rising faster than the rate of inflation and as cable companies find it harder to hold onto customers who are defecting to newer entrants such as Verizon FiOS. Full Story | Top |
| Pledge to return Nazi-looted art welcomed, but with skepticism Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 01:10 PM PDT  The legal custodian of Cornelius Gurlitt, who inherited the paintings drawings and sculptures from his father, said on Wednesday his client would return all works looted by the Nazis to their owners or owners' descendants. But the lawyer representing the heirs of Alfred Flechtheim, a Jewish art patron and collector who lost everything to the Nazis, questioned whether Gurlitt was in a position to make such a promise given that the art has been confiscated by the authorities. "Gurlitt can make an announcement that he wants to return the art works but the prosecutor has to agree." Gurlitt's trove, which includes Modernist and Renaissance masterpieces valued at about 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion), according to media reports, was discovered when authorities raided his Munich apartment in February 2012 investigating possible tax evasion. He inherited the collection from his father, who took orders from Hitler to buy and sell so-called 'degenerate art' to fund Nazi activities during World War Two. Full Story | Top |
| Comcast's Cohen to testify on Time Warner Cable merger Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 01:04 PM PDT  By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Comcast Corp's Executive Vice President David Cohen will testify at a hearing in the U.S. Senate on April 9 about his company's plans to buy Time Warner Cable Inc, a Comcast spokeswoman said on Thursday. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold the first congressional hearing on the proposed $45.2 billion merger between Comcast, the No. 1 U.S. cable operator, and its biggest rival, No. 2 cable services provider Time Warner Cable. Cohen is Comcast's top lobbyist and helped orchestrate the cable company's landmark acquisition of NBC Universal in 2011. Comcast's proposed merger is subject to approval by the Justice Department, the antitrust regulator, and the Federal Communications Commission, which reviews whether deals are in the public interest. Full Story | Top |
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