News : Tibet endures record snowfalls

Tibet has suffered its heaviest snowfall on record, according to Chinese state media.

Seven people have been killed and more than 100,000 head of livestock have perished since the snow storm began on Sunday (Oct. 26). Meterologists said it was unusual to have such severe storms this early in the season.

Helen Long reports.

News : Obama 24-hour media blitz

Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama dominated the airwaves in the United States with an uprecedented 30-minute campaign commerical and simultaneous appearances during the late night news cycle.

The latest Reuters/C-Span/Zogby poll gives the Democratic candidate a 7-point lead over Republican rival John McCain with 4 days to go before the elections.Pavithra George reports.

News : Obama boosts Daily Show to new record

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" pulled in its biggest audience ever Wednesday night.

The 11 p.m. episode, which featured an appearance by presidential candidate Barack Obama, averaged 3.6 million total viewers, beating by 600,000 viewers the previous record set October 8 when his wife Michelle Obama appeared on the show.

At 11:30 p.m., "Colbert Report" also had its most-watched episode ever, drawing 2.4 million viewers.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

News : Financial crisis spells business for lending sites

By Carey Gillam

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - One woman wants to pay off medical bills. An Ohio couple wants $5,000 to start a home business. An Illinois college student needs help with tuition.

With bank loans drying up amid financial turmoil around the world, these would-be borrowers aren't looking to traditional channels for money. They have turned to the fast-growing online industry of peer-to-peer lending, in which online companies like Lending Club, Prosper and Loanio connect people who need money with those who have it.

Through this peer-to-peer arrangement, borrowers get the money they want, typically at lower rates than through a credit card or bank, while individuals lending the money collect higher interest rate returns than they might find in more traditional investments.

Twelve traditional banks turned down Tim Murphy's request for a $25,000 loan to start a gourmet popcorn shop in an Atlanta suburb, but he found 97 different individuals willing to share in lending him the full amount through Lending Club.

Murphy's 1,600-square-foot store now offers a dozen varieties of popcorn, including parmesean and garlic, ranch-flavored and nacho cheese.

"It's growing, slowly, but growing, said Murphy.

While demand for peer-to-peer loans is on the increase as traditional banks tighten their lending, the model is not without its problems.

Prosper earlier this month stopped signing up new lenders while the Securities and Exchange Commission evaluates its regulatory filings, a process that could take up to six months.

The amount of new lending on Prosper each month was already declining from a peak in May and average interest rates were increasing.

With the U.S. economy sliding toward recession, lenders are becoming leery of tying their money up in a peer-to-peer loan that typically runs three years and borrowers who could default.

BETTER THAN STOCKS

Nevertheless, the model is still enticing for some investors and the peer-to-peer sites say they are here to stay.

Eric Di Benedetto of San Francisco said he and a partner have loaned nearly $1 million to hundreds of borrowers, and so far have found much better returns -- averaging above 12 percent -- than they could have garnered elsewhere.

"The stock market hasn't really done well over the last few years," said 43-year-old Di Benedetto. "We were looking for something that was relatively safe while returning double-digit returns. Banks have made a business of this for hundreds of years."

Sheryl Garrett a financial planner based in suburban Kansas City, Missouri, has advised some of her clients to invest their money in peer-to-peer lenders.

"All the stars are in alignment when credit is tight and investment opportunities have dried up," she said. "This is a way for borrowers to get the capital they need to keep our economy going, but also provide the investor, the lender, an opportunity to work in something they feel a lot more comfortable about than the stock market."

And a new company, Loanio, entered the market on October 1, aiming at borrowers who have been turned away from other lending sites because of poor credit.

More than 1,000 people signed up to participate within Loanio's first week, according to CEO Michael Solomon. The company encourages borrowers to use friends and family as co-signers and verifies a borrower's financial footing for a fee, Solomon said.

"A lot of traditional lending channels have been drying up," said Solomon, who is hoping the approaching Christmas shopping season will boost borrowing interest. "This is a nice complement."

PERFECT STORM

Lending Club, based in Sunnyvale, California, limits itself to borrowers with good credit histories and brags of a default rate of less than 2 percent. It has started a secondary market where lenders can cash out of their loans early, after seeking regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"The social lending industry is here to stay," said Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche, who cites the upheaval in financial markets as "the perfect storm" for his business, which has done about $20 million in loans in 18 months.

"Because of the credit crunch, borrowers have much less of an opportunity to get a good rate if they get a loan at all, and for lenders the average interest rate is 12 to 13 percent, a double-digit net return, which is a lot better than the stock market," Laplanche said.

Prosper is similarly registering with the Securities and Exchange commission to set up a secondary market, halting activity on its site pending SEC review.

Prosper generates revenue by collecting a one-time 2 to 3 percent fee on funded loans from borrowers, and assessing a 1 percent annual loan servicing fee on lenders. Lenders bid to fulfill borrower loan requests by offering the lowest interest rate they are willing to accept.

Another company that sees a niche in the credit crunch is Virgin Money, a unit of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which is expanding into the United States.

Virgin Money USA, which focused on handling transactions for borrowers and lenders who already know each other, now offers mortgages in the United States as traditional banks back away.

"What we've seen in the last few months is greater interest among both borrowers and lenders in looking for alternatives. Part of it is by necessity and part of it is by choice," said Asheesh Advani, chief executive of Virgin Money USA.

(Reporting by Carey Gillam; Editing by Eddie Evans)

News : Nintendo sees overseas DSi launch by next summer

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co Ltd will likely launch a new model of its top-selling handheld player, the DS, in overseas markets by the summer of 2009, President Satoru Iwata said.

Nintendo will start selling the DSi, which can take pictures, play music and is slimmer than the current model, in Japan on Saturday for 18,900 yen ($192), in a move to revive slowing domestic sales ahead of the critical holiday season.

"Specific plans will be unveiled by our local subsidiaries, but an autumn or year-end launch would probably be too late," Iwata told a meeting with analysts and reporters on Friday.

Nintendo previously said it planned an overseas DSi launch in 2009.

DS sales in the April-September fiscal first half grew 3 percent from a year earlier to 13.73 million units worldwide, beating Sony Corp's PlayStation Portable by 2-to-1.

But in Japan, Nintendo saw its DS sales fall 64 percent in the same period, raising concerns that the market-leading handheld machine may be losing momentum in Nintendo's home market.

The DS and Wii console, which has outstripped both Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 in global sales, have been Nintendo's twin growth engines in recent years.

Nintendo said it has shipped 200,000 units of the DSi for sales in the three-day weekend from Saturday, and plans to ship an additional 100,000 units in the week starting November 4.

Iwata said he continues to see robust demand for its game hardware and software despite the global economic slowdown, reiterating his comments at its earnings news conference on Thursday.

"With the business environment having changed this much, we of course need to stay alert. But so far I haven't seen even the slightest sign that overseas DS and Wii demand is being affected by the economy," Iwata said.

Shares in Nintendo closed unchanged at 30,600 yen, while the benchmark Nikkei average lost 5 percent.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

News : Indian is the best at chess

Indian Viswanathan Anand retains the World Chess Championship title, after beating Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik.

Anand took another draw in the 11th game against Kramnik to win the championship and 1.5 million euros prize money.

As Anand led with 6.5 points to Kramnik's 4.5 points, the Russian would not have been able to overtake him in a final 12th game.

Joanna Partridge reports.

News : Tivo, Netflix partner on Web streaming

By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Netflix Inc said on Wednesday it reached a deal with TiVo Inc to further deliver on its goal of offering Netflix's Web streaming service directly to televisions through many devices.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it calls for Netflix to provide subscribers of its online DVD rental service and many of the 800,000 broadband-connected Tivo subscribers with the ability to stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix's "Watch Instantly" service to TVs free of charge.

TiVo, maker of the popular digital video recorder, and Netflix said late on Wednesday they were initiating a test of the new capability in several thousand U.S. households and expect it will be broadly available in early December.

Netflix's "Watch Instantly" Web streaming service, with a library of more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes, is offered free to its more than 8 million subscribers.

The company is moving aggressively to extend that streaming service from the PC to TV while facing challenges from the likes of Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc.

Netflix recently struck a deal for Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Blu-ray DVD devices to play video streamed from Netflix and a similar deal with Blu-ray DVD player maker LG Electronics. It also has deals to stream movies to Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 videogame consoles and to a $100 set-top box made by Roku Inc.

In recent years, TiVo has developed add-on features to help differentiate its DVRs from that of cable and satellite TV providers that often offer basic DVRs at cheaper prices.

It allows users to rent videos from Amazon and watch them on TVs, and this past summer began enabling some customers to watch online videos from Google Inc's YouTube on their televisions.

"The YouTube service on Tivo is extremely popular," said Tara Maitra, vice president and general manager of content services at TiVO, who said over 65 percent of its broadband-connected subscribers were taking advantage of the broadband features.

"I think everyone's trying to figure out the right business model, and they want to get their content on as many platforms as available," she said.

(Reporting by Sue Zeidler)

News : The creep of nanotech

UK businesses that are using nanotechnology to fight bird flu, diagnose asthma instantly and identify cancer cells have been recognized with Innovation Awards.

Over 100 international delegates attended the third annual UK NanoForum in London on October 28.

Britain is keen to bolster its position in the study and development of nanotechnology, effectively the science of the super-small.

Reuters Technology Correspondent Matt Cowan reports.

News : Looking for a Halloween scare? Try the newest videogames

By John Gaudiosi

RALEIGH, NC (Reuters) - Looking for more than ghosts and ghouls to liven up Halloween? The latest videogames are offering plenty of scary options and new terror is waiting just around the corner.

Whether it is aliens, zombies or other monsters, new videogames aim to terrify players and keep them on edge like the best horror flick or psychological thriller.

Electronic Arts has launched a new space horror story with "Dead Space" on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Set aboard an abandoned mining spaceship, the USG Ishimura, gamers must use an assortment of weapons to destroy the horrific alien Necromorphs that have killed the crew.

"We have to constantly come up with new ways to scare the player and keep them guessing," said Glen Schofield, executive producer of "Dead Space" at Electronic Arts.

"It takes thousands of iterations and trial and error, but the rewards of seeing gamers totally freak out because of what we've put in the game are totally worth it."

Early next month the latest PC and Xbox 360 game from Valve Software, "Left 4 Dead," will offer four players an interactive terror ride through a town overrun by monsters.

"Your mission is to escape the city and the only way to get out alive is to work with your three teammates," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director of Valve Software.

"The game adjusts to how the team is playing and the cinematic effects and story line dynamically change based on how well the players are working together."

Zombies have been cannon fodder for games since the very first "Resident Evil" on PlayStation. Capcom is bringing the latest game in the best-selling franchise out next March. Set in Africa, players explore the roots of the virus that has wreaked havoc in the previous games.

"'Resident Evil's' rich story is reminiscent of many of the modern-day psychological thrillers, while integrating elements of the slasher sub-genre, as well as elements of the supernatural and a rich helping of action." said Mike Webster, director of marketing.

Atari Inc is bringing the latest installment of one of the original horror franchises, "Alone in the Dark: Inferno," to PS3 this month. Set in New York City's Central Park, developer Eden Games immerses the gamer in the tale of horror.

"There are no menu screens or inventories because once we have the player's full attention it's much easier to manipulate their emotions," said Nour Polloni, producer of the game.

When it comes to pure psychological horror, few game experiences compare to Konami's "Silent Hill" franchise. The game goes beyond frightening creatures to get inside the head of the player.

"Whenever they're feeling particularly on edge or at ease, we toss in a fright to keep them on edge, or betray their assumed safety," said Tomm Hulett, producer of "Silent Hill: Homecoming."

Nintendo's Wii takes a more campy approach to terror. Sega's "House of the Dead 2 & 3 Returns" and "House of the Dead Overkill" offer zombies and assorted nasties as target practice. Capcom takes advantage of Wii's motion-sensor controllers with "Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop", which puts the player inside a mall overrun by undead.

"With horror games, we give those fans more control of the situation," said Colin Ferris, product manager at Capcom. "It's one thing to watch an actor walk into the lair of a horrible creature, but it's a much more enhanced experience when you are that character and have no other choice but to proceed.

News : Touchscreens heat up enthusiasm for gadgets

By S. John Tilak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More and more shoppers are willing to spend on gadgets with a touchscreen -- even if it means they lose on extra features and better quality.

Touchscreen technology has been sweeping consumer electronics, leaving few devices untouched, and even digital cameras are affected.

Commonly found in monitors in airports, banks and other public places, the technology is now a staple in consumer products, thanks to Apple Inc's popular iPhone and phones by companies such as Palm Inc.

Joining them are computer desktops, calculators, MP3 players and watches that let users control functions by tapping, sliding or dragging a finger.

Earlier this year, Hewlett-Packard Co, the world's biggest computer maker, launched touchscreen PCs, signaling the trend was spreading to computers. Swiss watchmaker Tissot even has a "T-Touch" line of touchscreen watches.

Customers want touchscreen devices because they are well designed, are "cool" and have no buttons.

"Touch, being one of the five human senses, is a very intuitive way of how you interact with devices," said Francis Lee, chief executive of Synaptics, whose touchscreen technology is used in devices from Research In Motion's new BlackBerry Storm to Apple's iPhone.

In New York, taxis have touchscreen television sets that come with the message: "Touch, don't press."

Global touch-screen module revenue is forecast to grow to $6.4 billion by 2013, rising at a compound annual growth rate of 13.7 percent from 2008, according to market researcher iSuppli.

NO MORE 'TOUCH-ME-NOT'

"There's one you can touch with your finger. Where is it?" asked one eager shopper visiting a Manhattan retailer.

He found what he was looking for -- a sleek, red Nikon camera with touchscreen technology. After fiddling with it for a few minutes, he left as fast as he came in, perhaps turned off by the device's $329.99 price tag.

Sony has a wide range of touchscreen cameras and demand for them encouraged Nikon to launch the CoolPix S60.

But the technology has its drawbacks. Touchscreens often fall short in terms of functionality and picture quality, compared with devices that are similarly priced.

But many customers do not seem to care. Circuit City Stores Inc sales executive Danielle Brannigan said customers first walk into the store to get a camera without knowing it has a touchscreen feature.

"Then they go 'Whoo. Touchscreen.' They get excited like little kids and the first thing they say is, 'We wanna have this one,'" she said.

Customers who already own touchscreen devices are often the ones who come looking for another.

Vinh Nguyen, a student from California visiting New York City, said he was shopping for a touchscreen camera for his girlfriend because she would have only a touchscreen device.

She already owns an iPhone, a HP TouchSmart and a Nintendo DS with the technology.

Synaptics' Lee said there is the same rush for digital cameras as for other appliances introducing touchscreen technology, helped by LCD screens on the devices.

The only device that might remain unaffected could be television. For many couch potatoes, a remote control is all the "cool" technology they want.

(Additional reporting by Bijoy Koyitty in Bangalore; Editing by Andre Grenon)

News : Social networking sites good for businesses

LONDON (Reuters) - Good news for workers addicted to Facebook, Bebo and MySpace -- a British think-tank says bosses should not stop their staff using social networking sites because they could actually benefit their firms.

The report by Demos said encouraging employees to use networking technologies to build relationships and closer links with colleagues and customers could help businesses rather than damage them.

Author Peter Bradwell said that while companies were using specific systems to share information, online social networking sites could also play a role, helping with productivity, innovation and democratic working.

However, he said there should be practical guidelines to limit non-work usage.

"Bans on Facebook or YouTube are in any case almost impossible to enforce; firms may as well try to put a time limit on the numbers of minutes allowed each day for gossiping," he wrote.

"The answer is not to close down staff access to social network platforms, nor is it investing blindly in collaborative platforms.

"Rather, we argue that we need to understand how, once we accept the implications of social networks, we can manage the new challenges and trade-offs."

His research concluded that trying to control the use of sites such as Facebook, which alone boasts more than 100 million users worldwide, could even harm organizations.

"Smart" businesses recognized that social networking could not easily be separated from "professional" networking, he argued.

"In today's difficult business environment, the instinctive reaction can be to batten down the hatches and return to the traditional 'command and control' techniques that enable managers to closely monitor and measure productivity," he said.

"Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counterintuitive, but it appears to create business more capable of maintaining stability."

Robert Ainger, Corporate Director of Orange Business which co-produced the report, said it would be wrong of businesses to ignore the importance of networking in the current economic climate.

"The report points out that the value of networking within an economic downturn is perhaps more important than ever and I believe it could mean the difference between a business collapsing or capitalizing on the tricky conditions," he said.

(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by Paul Casciato)

News : Yahoo, AOL in due diligence on combination

By Anupreeta Das

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc and Time Warner Inc's AOL unit are looking at each other's books to figure out how much money they could make together and where costs can be saved, a person familiar with the talks said on Wednesday, indicating a merger may finally be on the way.

While noting a deal was not imminent, the source said the two companies have engaged in "meaningful" due diligence about a possible combination for the past couple of weeks.

Talks are focused on how to integrate AOL's content and advertising business into Yahoo, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly because the discussions are confidential.

Yahoo and Time Warner began talks several months ago, when the Internet company was looking for an alternative growth strategy to fend off a $47.5 billion takeover bid from Microsoft Corp.

Yahoo had repeatedly rejected Microsoft, which finally withdrew its $33-per-share proposal in June after Yahoo cut a search advertising partnership with Google Inc.

But the Google deal, also part of Yahoo's alternative strategy, is mired in the regulatory process because critics have said it is anti-competitive. Meanwhile, Yahoo shares have plunged to around $12.

Time Warner shares are down about 45 percent from year-earlier levels, while Yahoo shares have fallen about 63 percent, as fears of an economic recession curbed corporate spending on advertising while Google continued to dominate in the Web search market.

Under the deal Yahoo and Time Warner have discussed, Yahoo would fold AOL's content and advertising business into its own operations, and Time Warner would get a stake in the combined company.

Executives and advisers from both sides met last week as part of the due diligence process, the source said. Both sides are being cautious because any potential deal carries "a lot of risk," the source said, without providing further details.

Integration concerns would likely revolve around how to fold AOL's advertising network into Yahoo's operations, choosing whether to keep separate portals and email services, and squeezing out cost savings by reducing duplication, one former AOL executive said on condition of anonymity.

Yahoo and Time Warner declined comment. News of the due diligence was first reported by the AllThingsDigital blog.

Shares of Yahoo were up 4 cents at $12.40 in late trading, while Time Warner shares were down 15 cents or 1.5 percent at

$9.95.

(Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Brian Moss)

News : Japan unveils maid robot

A Japanese robot research centre have created a robot that can do household chores.

Japanese scientists have created a robot that mops up, does the laundry and even cleans the kitchen. The 'Assistant Robot' is the brain child of Tokyo University's Information and Robot Technology (IRT) Research Initiative system research centre and a slew of japanese companies including Toyota Corp, Sega, Panasonic and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The robot can "see" three dimensional objects and locate them as well as recognising when a job has not been completed properly and move to complete it. Laundry is said to be one of its favourite chores. It can find a dirty shirt, throw it into a washing machine and push the buttons to wash and rinse and spin dry clothes. But those who think this might be the answer to their cleaning woes can't rejoice just yet. The research centre says it will be another decade or two before the robot can be mass-produced.

News : Spanish royals visit Peru

King Juan Carlos of Spain addresses Peru's congress, condemning a recent terrorist attack that left 12 soldiers and 14 others dead.

Peru's Congress honoured Spain's King Juan Carlos on Monday (October 27), awarding him the medal of honour, the Major Cross, on the second day of his state visit to the Andean nation. The trip marks the royal couple's third visit to the Andean country since they were crowned in 1975 following the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

Penny Tweedie reports.

Nws : Microsoft to rent Web "cloud" computing space

By Daisuke Wakabayashi

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp took the wraps off a new computing service that allows companies to use its data centers to run their Web applications in a bid to become a player in the "cloud computing" trend.

Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, said on Monday it will start previewing "Windows Azure," a platform that allows third-party developers to host, manage, calculate and store data for applications running on the Internet.

"It's a transformation of our software. It's a transformation of our strategy," Ozzie said at the Professional Developer's Conference, Microsoft's annual gathering of third-party engineers to detail the company's future plans.

Ozzie, who replaced Bill Gates as Microsoft's top software guru in 2006, is spearheading the company's push into cloud computing, a trend that taps into computing power in distant data centers and delivers applications over the Internet.

Traditionally, software has run on a single computer's hard drive, but as Internet connections became faster and more reliable, companies started to deliver software as an online service by using the computing power of the "cloud," a network of powerful computer servers accessed over the Web.

The success of Web-based companies such as Google Inc and Salesforce.com Inc in creating online applications competitive with Microsoft has forced the company to embrace a new way of delivering and supporting software.

"We are in the early days of a transformation to services across the industry," said Ozzie at the conference.

Microsoft has worked to add online services elements to most of its traditional software, which required the company to invest billions in building massive data centers with thousands of computer servers and data storage systems.

In an interview, Ozzie said Azure will be profitable when it launches and will eventually generate "a lot" of revenue. He did not offer specifics and said the platform will help its online offerings built on Azure be more profitable.

COMPUTING FOR RENT

Now, Microsoft wants to let other companies rent out its computing power so third-party developers can run applications over the Internet without the need for hefty investments in data centers. It also allows companies the flexibility to increase or decrease computing needs according to demand.

Similar to how its Windows operating system became the main platform for programs on personal computers, Microsoft aims to be the platform of choice for Web applications.

"It's one of these times that the battleship turns around for Microsoft," said Neil MacDonald, a vice president at research firm Gartner. "This is the direction that the industry is heading toward."

Amazon.com Inc and Salesforce are already in the market with computing services for Web developers, but Microsoft has a few advantages. It has deeper pockets, longer relationships with third-party developers and more expertise in building a software platform.

"I'd like to tip my hat to Jeff Bezos and Amazon," said Ozzie, referring to Amazon's chief executive. "Across the industry, all of us will stand on their shoulders."

Microsoft said Windows Azure differs from rival cloud computing offerings because it balances the work load required to run an online service over multiple machines in various locations on its own without a need for developers to provision the program to do so.

It allows the developer to focus purely on writing an online application versus worrying about data center failures, power outages or other potential problems.

Research firm IDC expects spending on cloud computing services to grow nearly threefold to about $42 billion by 2012. Spending growth on cloud computing will also accelerate over the next few years, making up as much as 25 percent of the increase in 2012.

Developers can write applications on Windows Azure using the tools and programing languages necessary to write software to run on top of the current Windows operating system.

Microsoft did not announce any details on pricing, saying it would depend on the level of usage -- usually, a per-hour rate -- and the level of service required. Ozzie said Windows Azure will be priced competitively with "the marketplace."

Dell Inc said Microsoft has picked its computer servers for the company's data centers running Azure.

Shares of Microsoft closed down 78 cents, or 3.55 percent, to $21.18 on the Nasdaq.

(Editing by Brian Moss, Phil Berlowitz)

News : Google looking to invest in energy sector

(Reuters) - Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc is increasingly looking at the energy sector as a potential business opportunity, the New York Times reported.

Engineers at Google are hoping to soon unveil tools that could help consumers make better decisions about their energy use, the paper said.

To support these efforts, Google has hired engineers who are conducting research in renewable energy, former government energy officials, scientists and even a former NASA astronaut, whose experience with electronic gadgets is being put to use to develop energy tools for consumers, the Times said.

It added that the company's philanthropic unit, Google.org is considering large investments in projects that generate electricity from renewable sources.

"We want to make money, and we want to have impact," Dan Reicher, director for climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org told the Times.

But with a recession looming and oil prices dropping, investors might pressure Google to curtail its clean energy ambitions, the paper said.

Calls to Google seeking comment were not immediately returned.

(Reporting by Shradhha Sharma in Bangalore)

News : Tech giants agree on free speech principals

(Reuters) - Google Inc, Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc are expected to announce on Tuesday that they have agreed to a common set of principals on how to do business in nations that restrict free speech and expression, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The move by the Internet media and technology giants comes in the wake of criticism that they have helped enable censorship in those countries, the paper said.

Under the new principles, which were crafted over two years, the companies will promise to protect the personal information of their users wherever they do business and to "narrowly interpret and implement government demands that compromise privacy," the Journal said.

They will also commit to scrutinizing a country's track record of jeopardizing personal information and freedom of expression before launching new businesses in a country and to discuss the risks widely with their executives and board members, the paper said.

The document was crafted by a group of participants including human rights groups like Human Rights First and Committee to Protect Journalists, the Journal said.

Nonprofit groups like the Center for Democracy and Technology and Business for Social Responsibility also participated. The companies have agreed to have their compliance with the new principles monitored by independent experts, the paper said.

The plan has yet to receive the support of Internet companies in China and other countries whose policies it implicitly attacks, the Journal said.

Microsoft, Yahoo and Google did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

(Reporting by Shradhha Sharma in Bangalore)

News : Raphael Madonna returns

Italian Renaissance painter Raphael's 'Madonna of the Goldfinch' will be reunited with the public having undergone 10 years of restoratory work.

The painting depicts the Virgin with two children symbolising the young Christ and John the Baptist. The goldfinch is a symbol of Christ's future passion.

The artwork is considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces of Italian Renaissance. Raphael painted the panel in around 1506, as a wedding present for a rich wool merchant.

Basmah Fahim reports.

News: Angelina Jolie in Afghan appeal

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and Oscar-nominated actress Angelina Jolie appeals for more support for Afghan refugees returning home.

On her three-day visit, Jolie travelled to Nangahar province as well as the Lower Sheikh Mesri and Tangi settlement sites where recent returnees from Pakistan are living on desolate, desert land in tattered tents and makeshift shelters.

The actress spoke to children, men and women who are in the process of rebuilding their lives.

The Goodwill Ambassador is calling for more international commitment to solve this problem. Through her visit, she hopes to increase awareness of the refugee issue ahead of an international conference on return and reintegration to be held in Kabul next month.

News : Humans made fire 790,000 years ago

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A new study shows that humans had the ability to make fire nearly 790,000 years ago, a skill that helped them migrate from Africa to Europe.

By analyzing flints at an archaeological site on the bank of the river Jordan, researchers at Israel's Hebrew University discovered that early civilizations had learned to light fires, a turning point that allowed them to venture into unknown lands.

A previous study of the site published in 2004 showed that man had been able to control fire -- for example transferring it by means of burning branches -- in that early time period. But researchers now say that ancient man could actually start fire, rather than relying on natural phenomena such as lightning.

That independence helped promoted migration northward, they say.

The new study, published in a recent edition of Quaternary Science Reviews, mapped 12 archaeological layers at Gesher Benot Yaaqov in northern Israel.

"The new data shows there was a continued, controlled use of fire through many civilizations and that they were not dependent on natural fires," archaeologist Nira Alperson-Afil said on Sunday.

While they did not find remnants of ancient matches or lighters, Alperson-Afil said the patterns of burned flint found in the same place throughout 12 civilizations was evidence of fire-making ability, though the methods used were unclear.

And because the site is located in the Jordan valley -- a key route between Africa and Europe -- it provides evidence of the human migration, she said.

"Once they mastered fire to protect themselves from predators and provide warmth and light, they were secure enough to move into and populate unfamiliar territory," Alperson-Afil said.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; editing by Alastair Macdonald)

News : Lawmaker questions Google-backed spectrum plan

By Kim Dixon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. lawmaker on Friday joined a growing chorus asking the head of the Federal Communications Commission to explain his plan to open unused airwaves for wireless devices, an approach backed by Google Inc.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has scheduled a November 4 vote by the commission on his plan to allow unlicensed use of parts of the spectrum called "white spaces." These unused pockets of the spectrum will become available when U.S. broadcasters are required to move completely to digital television next year.

Google, Motorola Inc and Microsoft Corp are among the companies that want the unused spectrum for a new generation of wireless devices.

Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the House of Representatives House Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a list of questions to Martin, including whether an FCC engineering report was peer reviewed, and how the agency would deal with interference from broadcast signals if it occurs.

"Why did the Commission decline to adopt a licensed approach to some of all of this spectrum?" Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, wrote, reflecting the concerns of the broadcasters and other opponents of the plan.

Executives from News Corp. Walt Disney's ABC, CBS Corp and General Electric's NBC signed a letter protesting the proposal earlier this week.

Dingell asked for responses from Martin by next Friday, four days ahead of the FCC's scheduled vote.

Big sports leagues, such as Major League Baseball and NASCAR, said in a regulatory filing that the current proposal is a "huge leap backward" in sports broadcasting, threatening to disrupt events because of possible interference issues.

Martin's plan is backed by several consumer groups, which say it will help expand cheaper broader to high-cost areas like rural communities.

News : Is surfing the Internet altering your brain?

By Belinda Goldsmith

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The Internet is not just changing the way people live but altering the way our brains work with a neuroscientist arguing this is an evolutionary change which will put the tech-savvy at the top of the new social order.

Gary Small, a neuroscientist at UCLA in California who specializes in brain function, has found through studies that Internet searching and text messaging has made brains more adept at filtering information and making snap decisions.

But while technology can accelerate learning and boost creativity it can have drawbacks as it can create Internet addicts whose only friends are virtual and has sparked a dramatic rise in Attention Deficit Disorder diagnoses.

Small, however, argues that the people who will come out on top in the next generation will be those with a mixture of technological and social skills.

"We're seeing an evolutionary change. The people in the next generation who are really going to have the edge are the ones who master the technological skills and also face-to-face skills," Small told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"They will know when the best response to an email or Instant Message is to talk rather than sit and continue to email."

In his newly released fourth book "iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind," Small looks at how technology has altered the way young minds develop, function and interpret information.

Small, the director of the Memory & Aging Research Center at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior and the Center on Aging at UCLA, said the brain was very sensitive to the changes in the environment such as those brought by technology.

He said a study of 24 adults as they used the Web found that experienced Internet users showed double the activity in areas of the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning as Internet beginners.

"The brain is very specialized in its circuitry and if you repeat mental tasks over and over it will strengthen certain neural circuits and ignore others," said Small.

"We are changing the environment. The average young person now spends nine hours a day exposing their brain to technology. Evolution is an advancement from moment to moment and what we are seeing is technology affecting our evolution."

Small said this multi-tasking could cause problems.

He said the tech-savvy generation, whom he calls "digital natives," are always scanning for the next bit of new information which can create stress and even damage neural networks.

"There is also the big problem of neglecting human contact skills and losing the ability to read emotional expressions and body language," he said.

"But you can take steps to address this. It means taking time to cut back on technology, like having a family dinner, to find a balance. It is important to understand how technology is affecting our lives and our brains and take control of it."

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

News : Aquarium shark attack

A frightened shark grazes a British tourist on the head in Australia.

During a dive experience at a Sydney marine park, a grey nurse shark injured a British tourist.

Grey nurse sharks are considered to be fairly docile creatures and are classified as an endangered species.

Basmah Fahim reports.

News : Russian watchdog rejects Google bid for ad firm

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's anti-trust watchdog rejected on Thursday a $140 million bid by Google Inc. to buy the Begun advertising agency, claiming the deal would reduce competition in the online advertising market.

Russia's Federal Anti-monopoly Service, FAS, said it had blocked the deal because Google had not provided enough information that would allow FAS to properly assess its consequences and thus potentially hurt competition.

"Having reviewed the documents and information received relating to this deal, FAS on October 22, 2008, made a decision to refuse to satisfy the appeal," FAS said in a statement on its website www.fas.gov.ru.

FAS has been stepping up its presence over recent months as part of a plan to build the service up into one of the government's most powerful agencies.

Russia's anti-monopoly service has been under the spotlight since Vladimir Putin, Russia's powerful Prime Minister, demanded the anti-trust service become more active.

"We are very disappointed to hear that FAS has come to this decision since we strongly believe that this acquisition will enable us to significantly improve opportunities for Russian users, advertisers and publishers as well as the entire industry," said Google Russia PR director Alla Zabrovskaya.

"At this time, we are awaiting the FAS's decision. Once the review process is complete, we will decide on our next steps."

Google agreed to buy Begun from Rambler Media, the British-registered owner of Russia's Rambler Internet portal, in July this year for $140 million.

Begun is the largest contextual advertising network in the Russian sector of the Internet. It provides a service similar to Google's targeted text advertisement serving programme AdSense.

(Reporting by Alexander Gelogayev and Maria Kiselyova; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

News : Videogame makers bank on sequels

By John Gaudiosi

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Sequels may not always match up to the original in Hollywood but videogames can often get better the second or third time around.

Videogame producers are hoping it will hold true with the latest games that will hit store shelves soon including Insomniac Games' "Resistance 2" PlayStation 3 exclusive, Epic Games' "Gears of War 2" Xbox 360 exclusive, Microsoft's "Fable 2," and Bethesda Softworks' "Fallout 3."

"Developers can hit the ground running with sequels," said Ted Price, president and CEO of Insomniac Games. "The game's story and art style have a solid base, the tech and tools are stable and the basic gameplay mechanics have gone through plenty of tuning in the first game."

The second or third time around developers can devote more energy to building game assets instead of trying to get things up and running.

"It's certainly a liberating experience when you're no longer arguing over the main character's name, or waiting for basic systems to be implemented," said Price. "The end result is usually a game that's bigger, more polished and has more innovative features than the original game."

"Resistance 2," thrusts players into an alternate 1950s America invaded by aliens called Chimera. In addition to a single-player campaign, the game offers an eight-player cooperative campaign and online gameplay with battlefields filled with 60 players.

Aliens also feature in "Gears of War 2", which sends gamers into the depths of the planet Sera to tackle a race called the Locusts. The sequel offers a story that can be played with a friend. Online gameplay modes like "Horde" also pit up to five players against waves of heavily armed Locusts.

"We want casual gamers to play the game and be sucked into the universe and finish the game," said Cliff Bleszinski, lead games designer, Epic Games. "We want them to potentially finish with a friend and become a fan of the characters and the setting."

Attracting the mainstream audience was also a major goal of Peter Molyneux, creator of Microsoft's "Fable II" for Xbox 360. He's crafted a game that he believes will satisfy the 3 million gamers who bought the original, while opening up the fantasy role-playing adventure genre to anyone.

"We've designed this game to allow the player to do whatever they wish, including getting married and having kids, playing mini-games and creating a custom character that will evolve as you play," said Molyneux.

"Call of Duty: World at War," the latest game in the franchise focuses on the bloody Pacific Front and the Russian invasion of Nazi-occupied Berlin during the Second World War.

"The developer spent two years working on the technology behind this game, which includes four-player cooperative play and the introduction of new weapons like flame throwers and flame tanks," said Daniel Suarez, executive producer of the game at Activision

Gamers have been waiting 10 years for Bethesda Softworks' "Fallout 3," for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

"I think it's good for people to miss things," said Todd Howard, executive producer of the game. "Ten years between 'Fallout' is a bit long, but I think there's this nostalgia factor."

Fans of the post-Apocalyptic game, set in Washington, D.C., won't have to wait another decade for "Fallout 4." Howard said he believes three years is a good time frame between games.

News : Doing the Green Thing

Whatever your view of climate change, most would agree it's a serious topic but the newly relaunched 'Green Thing' site hopes to affect change through creativity.

The UK-based not for profit organization behind the 'Green Thing' aims to create a global movement of environmental advocates through unconventional means.

Reuters Technology Correspondent Matt Cowan reports.

News : Germany says full-body airport scanner "nonsense"

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will not participate in EU proposals for airports to use full-body scanner security checks, which have raised privacy issues, its interior ministry said on Friday.

"I can tell you in all clarity that we will not take part in this nonsense," a spokeswoman for the interior ministry told a regular news conference.

The executive European Commission proposed last month to add body scanners to a list of security measures that can be used at airports in the 27-country bloc.

EU lawmakers criticized the scanners in a resolution on Thursday, saying they were equivalent to "a virtual strip search" and raised serious human rights concerns. The lawmakers called for a detailed study of the technology before it is used.

The Commission says a number of EU states including the Netherlands already use body scanners and the EU executive wanted to harmonize conditions in which they can be operated.

The scanners do not exist at German airports and have sparked vivid criticism by politicians across the political spectrum.

(Reporting by Kerstin Gehmlich; Editing by Matthew Jones)

News : Ancient temples discovered in Peru

Peruvian archaeologists confirm the discovery of two 3,000 year old temples.

Archaeologists believe the religious buildings - part of a large ceremonial complex - belonged to the pre-Columbian Cupisnique culture. Katharine Jackson reports.

News : Google's phone debuts

Customers line up in New York City to be the first to buy Google's new G1 phone.

It's been dubbed by some as the "iPhone killer." Some analysts expect as many as 400,000 G-1 phones will be sold in the United States by year end. Fred Katayama reports from New York.

SOUNDBITES:

Anna Lopez, G-1 buyer

Carmine Gialanella, G-1 buyer

Eric Holland, T-Mobile Times Square store manager

News : Microsoft blackouts

Microsoft blacks out screens to fight piracy in China.

Microsoft blackouts pirated software users' computers saying it's a "commitment to help protect its intellectual property" but internet users say it's a form of violation of people's rights.

Kitty Bu reports.

News : Chinese surfers see red over Microsoft black-outs

By Kitty Bu

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Internet users have expressed fury at Microsoft's launch of an anti-piracy tool targeting Chinese computer users to ensure they buy genuine software.

The "Windows Genuine Advantage" program, which turns the user's screen black if the installed software fails a validation test, is Microsoft's latest weapon in its war on piracy in China, where the vast majority of 200 million computer users are believed to be using counterfeit software, unwittingly or not.

"Why is Microsoft automatically connected with my computer? The computer is mine!" one angry blogger wrote on popular Chinese web portal Sina.com. "Microsoft has no right to control my hardware without my agreement."

Another blogger railed over the cost of authorized versions.

"If the price of genuine software was lower than the fake one, who would buy the fake one?" he wrote.

A visitor to a Beijing internet cafe said Microsoft was violating people's rights.

"If, when I'm programing, the computer screen goes black, that will probably cause some important information to be lost," he said. "Who will pay me for my loss then?"

Dong Zhengwei, 35, a Beijing lawyer, described Microsoft as the "biggest hacker in China with its intrusion into users' computer systems without their agreement or any judicial authority," the China Daily said.

"Microsoft's measure will cause serious functional damage to users' computers and, according to China's criminal law, the company can stand accused of breaching and hacking into computer systems," he was quoted as saying.

"I respect the right of Microsoft to protect its intellectual property, but it is taking on the wrong target with wrong measures. They should target producers and sellers of fake software, not users."

The software giant defended the program on its website as part of its "commitment to help protect its intellectual property and to help you avoid problems before they happen."

"The purpose ... is to help our customers to determine (if) genuine software is installed on their computers," Microsoft told Reuters.

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie)

News : Virtual heart serves real need

Th revolutionary 3D computer model allows medical students to learn about the intracies of the human heart without picking up a scalpel.

The virtual model, developed in London, will help improve training and ultimately lead to better care for cardiac patients, say its creators.

Matt Cowan reports.

News : Computer heart model recalls da Vinci's sketches

By Michael Kahn

LONDON (Reuters) - Five centuries after Leonardo da Vinci's intricate drawings transformed understanding of the human heart, a new computer model promises to do the same for modern-day cardiac care, experts say.

The model -- so realistic its four chambers beat in the same asymmetrical rhythm on screen as does a real heart in the human body -- is the work of three British doctors who say the creation will improve both training and care during surgery.

The three-dimensional model's intricate details coupled with life-like animation that doctors can easily manipulate make the cyber heart unique, said Sue Wright, an anesthesiologist at the Heart Hospital in London who helped design the heart.

"We can slice it, spin it around and look at it from any angle. We have reproduced the timing of the human heart beat to within 20 milliseconds," she said in an interview.

The new model will lead to better care, said Robert Anderson, a heart structure expert at University College London.

The Italian master's drawings showed the heart was a muscle with four chambers, he noted. They also suggested that arteries could clog up over a lifetime, posing a risk to health.

"At the time, da Vinci's sketches opened up a new approach to the understanding of cardiac structure," said Anderson, also a visiting professor at the Medical University of South Carolina. "The new model is just as important, since it sets a new paradigm for understanding cardiac structure."

The pharmaceutical industry is also eyeing virtual models of the human body as a quicker and more cost-effective way to predict how developmental drugs may work in different

parts of the body.

The three doctors at the Heart Hospital in London say they designed their virtual heart because they felt current two-dimensional models were not accurate enough.

These limitations make it harder to teach students how to perform a complicated ultrasound scan of the heart that entails guiding a probe down through the throat to the stomach.

"We were trying to teach people the anatomy of the heart using inaccurate models," Wright said.

During a recent demonstration, Wright showed how a few mouse clicks allows a doctor to examine the inside or outside walls and intricate structures of the heart, which pumps about five liters of blood per minute.

Recreating that kind of detail was not easy. It took four years of tapping the expertise of dozens of doctors who each specialized on different parts of the heart.

They also analyzed hundreds of previous models and enlisted a company known for its work on films to provide the technical know-how to translate the data they had gathered into a software program to power the virtual heart on screen.

"We based a lot of the model on surgical data and surgeons who have had their hands in the chest," Wright said.

(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Maggie Fox and Matthew Jones)