US sniper shot at Koran in Iraq

An American sniper has been sent home from Iraq for using a copy of the Koran for target practice at a shooting range near Baghdad, the US military says.
The Muslim holy book was found riddled with bullet holes last week by Iraqi police, who also discovered offensive graffiti inside its cover.
A US military spokesman said the soldier had been removed from his unit, sent home, and would be disciplined.
He was unnamed, but was reportedly a staff sergeant in a sniper section.
US military spokesman Colonel Bill Buckner said the incident was "both serious and deeply troubling", but stressed it was an "isolated incident and a result of one soldier's actions".
The US army's commander in Baghdad, Major-General Jeffery Hammond, made a personal apology to local Sunni Arab leaders in Radwaniya, CNN reported.
On arrival, he was met by hundreds of protesting tribesmen.
"In the most humble manner, I look into your eyes today and I say, please forgive me and my soldiers," Gen Hammond said, according to CNN.
The military presented the elders with a new copy of the Koran.
An Iraqi community leader said Sunni Arab tribal units who fought alongside US forces had threatened to quit, but that the US apology had assuaged their anger.

Spartan

the Spartans were "an armed camp," "brutal," "culturally stagnant," "economically stagnant," "politically stagnant," and other fun things. The reality, of course, lies somewhere behind the value judgements. Greek history does, after all, come down to us through the eyes of the other major city-state in Greece, Athens, a bitter enemy and rival of Sparta. The single, overwhelming fact of Spartan history is the Messenean War. In the eighth century BC, Sparta, like all her neighbors, was a monarchy with a limited oligarchy. In 725, however, needing land to feed a dramatically growing population, the Spartans marched over the Taygetus mountains and annexed all the territory of their neighbor, Messenia. The Messenians occupied a fertile plain and the Spartans found themselves with more than enough land to support themselves and their newly conquered people. However, like all conquered people, the Messenians did not appreciate the loss of their independence. With the help of the city-state of Argos, the Messenians revolted in 640 BC. But Spartan society itself changed. The military and the city-state became the center of Spartan existence. The state determined whether children, both male and female, were strong when they were born; weakling infants were left in the hills to die of exposure. Exposing weak or sickly children was a common practice in the Greek world, but Sparta institutionalized it as a state activity rather than a domestic activity. At the age of seven, every male Spartan was sent to military and athletic school. These schools taught toughness, discipline, endurance of pain (often severe pain), and survival skills. At twenty, after thirteen years of training, the Spartan became a soldier. The Spartan soldier spent his life with his fellow soldiers; he lived in barracks and ate all his meals with his fellow soldiers Military service ended at the age of sixty. The life of a Spartan male was a life of discipline, self-denial, and simplicity. The Spartans viewed themselves as the true inheritors of the Greek tradition. They did not surround themselves with luxuries, expensive foods, or opportunities for leisure. And this, I think, is the key to understanding the Spartans. While the Athenians and many others thought the Spartans were insane, the life of the Spartans seemed to hark back to a more basic way of life. Discipline, simplicity, and self-denial always remained ideals in the Greek and Roman worlds; civilization was often seen as bringing disorder, ennervation, weakness, and a decline in moral values. The Spartan, however, could point to Spartan society and argue that moral values and human courage and strength was as great as it was before civilization. Spartan society, then, exercised a profound pull on the surrounding city-states who admired the simplicity, discipline, and order of Spartan life.The ideology of Sparta was oriented around the state. The individual lived (and died) for the state. Their lives were designed to serve the state from their beginning to the age of sixty. The combination of this ideology, the education of Spartan males.

Yahoo tries to conceal lawsuit documents

Yahoo and shareholders suing the company don't see eye to eye about how public some documents involved in the case should be. The documents involve details of a severance plan Yahoo adopted after Microsoft launched its attempt to acquire the Internet company in February. Yahoo wants to keep the documents redacted, but Joel Friedlander, the attorney representing the shareholders, accused Yahoo of trying "to whitewash embarrassing documents" so they couldn't be used to undermine its effort to fend off activist investor Carl Icahn's attempt to oust Yahoo's board, according to The Associated Press.
Also included in the documents are notes from a conversation between Jerry Yang and Steve Ballmer, the respective chief executives of Yahoo and Microsoft, and of comments top executives made about the severance plan, the AP said. The information was gathered during the discovery phase of the lawsuit.
A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday on the matter for the Delaware case.
The severance plan was one sticking point in discussions between Yahoo and Microsoft, a source familiar with the negotiations said.

Yahoo up after Microsoft nudge

Shares of Yahoo received a boost in morning trading, following Microsoft's announcement over the weekend that the two companies have re-entered talks. Yahoo climbed as high as $28.33 a share in early morning trading, before settling back a bit to $27.93 per share, up nearly 1 percent, as the morning progressed. Yahoo, on Friday, closed at $27.66 a share. On Sunday, Microsoft announced a proposal that calls for a transaction, but would not involve the acquisition of all of Yahoo's assets. That said, Microsoft further noted that it "reserves the right to reconsider" tossing in a new bid, depending on how discussions go with the Yahoo, Yahoo shareholders, and third parties, and within its own company ranks. Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal considers a Microsoft-Yahoo combination imminent, valuing Yahoo's search business at $21 billion, its display advertising at $14 billion, and its international investments at $9.25 billion.

Georgia law aims to lure video game makers

Earlier this week, the state's Republican governor, Sonny Purdue, signed into law a proposal to offer greater tax incentives not only to game producers, but also to music video, movie, and TV production projects. "The new incentives will put Georgia among the top five states in the U.S., in terms of financial competitiveness for entertainment projects," Ken Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said in a statement. "We expect to see an increase in the number of industry jobs and overall economic impact for the state in the coming years." said the Govenor. Under the 2008 Entertainment Industry Investment Act, eligible companies that spent at least $500,000 on production costs in the state would be eligible for a 20 percent tax credit on that investment, up from the 9 percent that was previously on the books. The companies can qualify for an extra 10 percent tax credit, too, but only if they agree to embed promotional ads and animated Georgia logos in their content.
According to a statement from Peach State, the entertainment industry has contributed more than $1.17 billion to Georgia's economy since 2005, when the first wave of tax credits took effect

Lockheed gets greenlight for GPS III satellites

GPS, the heart of the Global Positioning System really is the network of satellites orbiting the globe and relaying signals to your Garmin. That network is now due for an upgrade, starting in the middle of the next decade.Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin announced that it had been awarded a $1.4 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force to build the next-generation system, known as GPS III. The goal is to deliver better accuracy and availability for both civilian and military users of the navigation technology (which, after all, was born as a military innovation).

Cable hedges its wireless bets

It's mobile or bust for cable operators that seem to be trying anything and everything to get into the wireless market.
One of the biggest shifts over the next decade in the cable market is likely to be a move toward wireless services. As cable operators face stiff competition from phone companies, cable operators large and small are looking for ways to take their services mobile.
Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast, the largest cable operator in the U.S., talked up his company's investment in a new joint venture to blanket the country with 4G, or fourth-generation, wireless at the industry's trade show in New Orleans this week.
Earlier this month, Comcast and Time Warner joined forces with Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to form a company that will build the next-generation wireless network using a technology called WiMax. Comcast is fronting $1.05 billion as part of the deal, and Time Warner Cable is putting in $500 million to help make the new network a reality.

Cable hedges its wireless bets

It's mobile or bust for cable operators that seem to be trying anything and everything to get into the wireless market.
One of the biggest shifts over the next decade in the cable market is likely to be a move toward wireless services. As cable operators face stiff competition from phone companies, cable operators large and small are looking for ways to take their services mobile.
Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast, the largest cable operator in the U.S., talked up his company's investment in a new joint venture to blanket the country with 4G, or fourth-generation, wireless at the industry's trade show in New Orleans this week.
Earlier this month, Comcast and Time Warner joined forces with Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to form a company that will build the next-generation wireless network using a technology called WiMax. Comcast is fronting $1.05 billion as part of the deal, and Time Warner Cable is putting in $500 million to help make the new network a reality.

The Wii is still sold out

Wii console is still in short supply, a year and a half after its release. If you're like us, you figured that after the holiday season the overwhelming demand for the Nintendo Wii would finally let up and you'd finally be able to buy the console easily online and in stores.extra production should help the shortage, but who knows if its enough to handle demand. And while Nintendo claims it is doing everything it can, that's a little hard to swallow now that the company has had plenty of time to ramp up production. For what it's worth, other consoles are readily available online, with both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 available

Prosecutors face big hurdles in R. Kelly trial

If prosecutors can prove a videotape features R. Kelly and an underage girl, the R&B superstar's child pornography trial could end with him receiving a lengthy prison sentence.But prosecutors will run into defense challenges at every turn. Kelly, 41, denies he's the man on the tape. The 23-year-old woman prosecutors say was a minor at the time of the taping denies she's the girl on the tape. Prosecutors intend to eliminate a reasonable doubt about those challenges may become clearer Tuesday as opening statements begin in a trial that has been delayed repeatedly since the tape was mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002. The newspaper turned it over to authorities, and Kelly was indicted later that year.Prosecutors say the tape was made between January 1, 1998, and November 1, 2000. Kelly is accused of videotaping himself around 10 years ago having sex with a girl as young as 13 years old.

The singer, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 15 years if convicted