Marco Simoncelli Killed in Racing Accident: A Fan’s Reaction

Race marshal gather around the motorcycle of Italy's rider Marco Simoncelli, unseen in photo, after a crash at the Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix in Sepang, Malaysia, Sunday. Just minutes into the Malaysian MotoGP on Sunday, October 23, 2011, Marco Simoncelli lost control of his bike and swerved across the track, right into the path of fellow riders Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi. Edwards and Rossi were unable to avoid hitting Simoncelli. While Rossi clipped Simoncelli's Honda, Edwards had a direct hit. Simoncelli's helmet came off as he fell between the two bikes. Rossi and Edwards got their bikes off the track and appeared fine, though Edwards did suffer a dislocated shoulder, but Simoncelli was down on the track and not moving. To...

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Google considers funding bid for Yahoo

GOOGLE is considering providing financing for an acquisition of Yahoo! Inc by another company or a group of bidders, according to a source. The company may opt not to take part in an offer and has not engaged in serious discussions with potential partners, said the source. Google, which is under regulatory scrutiny from governments around the world, may lend its financial support to preserve Yahoo as a rival and bolster competition in the Internet industry, according to Greg Sterling, an analyst at US-based Opus Research. Sterling said: "If competition is diminished or marginalized, then all the arguments about Google being a monopoly ring more true." Google, which has US$42.6 billion in cash and short-term investments, is considering...

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Google Earth reveals ancient stories

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," science fiction author Arthur Clarke once suggested. A "kite" structure seen from the air used in prehistory to trap game in the Arabian desert. Say a magic carpet and a genie's lamp, the stuff of Arabian Nights, which made the Arab desert famous for fables and legends? Well, how about Google Earth instead? Like a friendly genie, that modern technology has started answering archeologist's wishes with its worldwide catalog of satellite views of the Earth. A pair of studies in the Journal of Archaelogical Science this year suggest these views are revealing a vast and ancient story, one only starting to emerge from the fabled desert of Arabia. "(W)e are on the...

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Scientist: Satellite must have crashed into Asia

BERLIN (AP) — A defunct German research satellite crashed into the Earth somewhere in Southeast Asia on Sunday, U.S. scientist said — but no one is still quite sure where. Undated artist rendering provided by EADS Astrium shows the scientific satellite ROSAT. Andreas Schuetz, a spokesman for the German Aerospace Center, said Saturday Oct. 22, 2011 the best estimate is still that the ROSAT scientific research satellite will impact sometime between late Saturday and Sunday 1200 GMT. Photo: EADS Astrium / AP Most parts of the minivan-sized ROSAT research satellite were expected to burn up as they hit the atmosphere at speeds up to 280 mph (450 kph), but up to 30 fragments weighing a total of 1.87 tons (1.7 metric tons) could have crashed,...

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