JAPAN’S economy is likely to shrink 3.3 per cent this fiscal year, its worst contraction since World War II, the Cabinet announced yesterday as it submitted a massive supplementary budget to finance a new stimulus package. “Exports and production are falling drastically, while employment conditions are rapidly worsening. Financing for businesses is also severe, and .
By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer NEW YORK – The latest J.R.R. Tolkien project lasted six years, more than half as long as the author needed to complete his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Getting permission to release a book in electronic form can be as hard — or harder — than writing it. “The .
By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO – Sun Microsystems Inc.’s loss ballooned in the latest quarter as restructuring charges and a 20 percent drop in sales compounded the financial woes Oracle Corp. is set to inherit by acquiring Sun for $7.4 billion. Sun, a server and software maker whose wobbly performance for most .
By LOU KESTEN, Associated Press Writer Nintendo has owned the portable video-game market — first with the Game Boy, now with the DS — for so long that most of us gave up hope of ever seeing a viable competitor. But it’s become impossible to ignore the new kid on the block: Apple’s iPhone, whose .
By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Write NEW YORK – The publisher behind a video game based on one of the Iraq war’s fiercest battles has pulled the plug on the title, called “Six Days in Fallujah.” A spokeswoman for Japanese game company Konami Corp. confirmed Tuesday the company is no longer publishing the game, which .
SINGAPORE A FLEDGLING opposition party in Singapore yesterday announced the appointment of British-trained economist Kenneth Jeyaretnam, son of late pro-democracy icon JB Jeyaretnam, as its new leader. The Reform Party said Jeyaretnam was appointed secretary-general at a meeting of its central executive committee Sunday. Jeyaratnam, 50, earlier said he had joined the party founded by .
By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES – A judge has ordered Britney Spears’ former manager and an attorney to stay away from the pop singer for the next three years. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aviva K. Bobb issued her ruling Tuesday after hearing testimony and arguments in recent weeks from the men .
By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES – Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick will be taking on new roles: parents of twin girls. The “Sex and the City” star and her actor-husband are expecting twins through a surrogate pregnancy, representatives for the couple said Tuesday. Parker, 44, and Broderick, 47, “are happily anticipating .
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer NEW YORK – The debate over torture is getting personal for two of cable TV’s prime-time hosts. After Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity made a seemingly impromptu offer last week to undergo waterboarding as a benefit for charity, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann leapt at it. He offered $1,000 to the .
LOS ANGELES – A spokesman says Farrah Fawcett’s condition is unchanged as the actress battles cancer. Earlier this month, the 62-year-old “Charlie’s Angels” star was treated at a hospital for internal bleeding that her physician said wasn’t directly related to her anal and liver cancer. Spokesman Arnold Robinson said Tuesday that Fawcett is at her .
