GAO reveals $1.6 billion spent on public relations by the Bush administration in 2003-2005

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 A new 154-page Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says seven federal departments together spent US$1.6 billion on 343 contracts with public relations firms, advertising agencies, and media organizations, as well as individuals involved in such activities. Congressional Democrats requested the report after several incidents surfaced in which journalists or commentators were […]

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Google News seeks patent for search system that returns ‘quality’ links

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Google News submitted patent applications both in the United States and world-wide in September 2003 for a system of ranking search returns. The patent protection filings seek to control Google’s approach that filters headlines through a complicated algorithm, including the quality of the news organization. How much of this system is […]

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Landfill named after comedian John Cleese

Monday, May 21, 2007 In an unofficial move by contractor, Roy Harding, a rubbish tip has been named after comedian John Cleese, dubbed “Mt. Cleese” in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The naming came after Mr Cleese visited Palmerston North last year and described it as a great place to go to commit suicide, claiming it […]

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NASA says Martian soil could sustain life

Thursday, June 26, 2008 The scientists behind the Mars Phoenix Lander project announced that the soil on Mars was more alkaline than expected and could sustain life. Scientists at NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration claimed that they were “flabbergasted” by their discovery on the possibility that life could grow on Martian soil. […]

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Drunk woman hits police car in Sydney

Tuesday, June 27, 2006 A woman with a blood alcohol reading of 0.14 has been arrested and charged after crashing into a police car in Kings Cross, a suburb of Eastern Sydney early this morning. Police officials claim the 27 year old woman was driving a Volkswagen the wrong way down a one way street […]

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Truckload of trouble for Thai Rak Thai

Friday, July 7, 2006 Yesterday saw Thailand’s Attorney General file charges of election fraud with the country’s Constitutional court. According to Sondhi Limthongkul’s ThaiDay, the action seeking the dissolution of five parties was delivered by truck and consisted of over 120,000 pages of legal citations. Both the Thai Rak Thai party making up the caretaker […]

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