Why the world is arguing over who runs the internet

The ethos of freedom from control that underpins the web is facing its first serious test, says Wendy M. Grossman WHO runs the internet? For the past 30 years, pretty much no one. Some governments might call this a bug, but to the engineers who designed the protocols, standards, naming and numbering systems...

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Greece extends debt buyback to Tuesday

ATHENS: Greece announced it had extended until Tuesday a debt buyback offer, the success of which is key for it to receive bailout funding from the EU and IMF without which it could soon go bankrupt."We have decided to extend the invitation to offer designated securities for exchange to 11 December 2012," the head of Greece's PDMA debt management agency, Stelios Papadopoulos, said in a...

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Five lies your TV salesperson will tell you

Using the time-honored tactics of obfuscation, misdirection, and a little bit of fear, the people who try to sell you TVs can hit you with some heavy-duty lies. Now this isn't to say that all TV sales people are bad, nor that any necessarily do this out of malice (there's plenty of misinformation out there confused as truth). But when it's your dollar on the line, being prepared with some facts can...

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Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity

When researchers sent plants to the International Space Station in 2010, the flora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of these small, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were the subject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in a weightless environment.Gravity is an important influence on root growth, but the scientists found that their space plants didn't...

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Fiscal Cliff Talks: Boehner, Obama Meet Face-to-Face

For the first time in more than three weeks, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met face-to-face today at the White House to talk about avoiding the fiscal cliff.White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest would offer no details saying only, "The lines of communication remain open."Erskine Bowles, the co-creator of a debt reducing plan, who was pessimistic...

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Sweet scent doubles as repellent for flower eaters

A FLOWER'S delicate fragrance is not just a come-hither call to insect pollinators. Some scent molecules act as deterrents to drive away blossom-munching predators. Ian Baldwin of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in...

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HPB introduces first centre for promoting healthy lifestyles

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Health Promotion Board on Sunday introduced its first Healthy Lifestyle Centre (HLC) - aimed at making it easier to deliver healthy lifestyle messages to residents at the community level.Launched at Hong Kah North, the concept will be piloted in all 18 constituencies of the South-West district over the next three years before going islandwide. South West CDC Mayor...

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Did Twitter's founder reveal its would-be Instagram killer?

Photos tweeted today by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey may have been generated using the service's rumored photo filters.(Credit:Jack Dorsey)Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey may have dropped the first public proof that Twitter is getting ready to release its own photo filtering feature, a tool it hopes could help in its increasingly tense battle with Instagram.A report published today by All Things...

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Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity

When researchers sent plants to the International Space Station in 2010, the flora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of these small, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were the subject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in a weightless environment.Gravity is an important influence on root growth, but the scientists found that their space plants didn't...

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Gay Marriage: Will Justices Follow Popular Opinion?

The Supreme Court's announcement that it would hear two cases challenging laws prohibiting same-sex marriage has reinvigorated one of the most hotly contentious social debates in American history, a debate that has been fueled by a dramatic change in attitudes.With some states taking significant steps towards legalizing gay marriage, the hearings come at a critical moment.This...

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