UbuneBlog

THE United Nations on Wednesday sought US$51 million (S$66 million) to meet the urgent needs of more than one million people affected by recent monsoon floods in Sri Lanka. The UN issued the appeal as its deputy emergency relief coordinator, Catherine Bragg, arrived on the island for a three-day mission to meet with victims and […]

Toshiba and Tokyo Electric Power will team up with the Japanese government to build one of the world’s largest solar power stations in Bulgaria, according to a report. The plant will be built in the eastern city of Yambol by March 2012 at a cost of more than 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion), Japan’s Nikkei […]

CLEVELAND – From the streets to the studios. Ted Williams, whose deep, velvety radio voice and touching story prompted an outpouring of sympathy and job offers from across the country, has become an overnight sensation. He’s America’s hottest — and most improbable — star. On Thursday, Williams, who was living in a tent near a […]

Sales of existing homes jumped in December, marking the fifth month of gains in the past six months, based on an industry report released Thursday. Previously-owned home sales climbed 12.3% in December to an annual rate of 5.28 million, from 4.70 million in November, according to the National Association of Realtors. That puts sales at […]

Sgt. Vanessa Jones and her teammates filed through the countryside with a squad of U.S. infantrymen and Afghan troops. They pushed through tall grass and leaped over canals, spilling into fields of sunflowers and the emerald spikes of marijuana plants rustling above their helmets. Then they waited, tucked into a ridge of dirt, while fellow […]

China is on track to launch its second lunar satellite by year’s end, as the country pursues its plans for a manned mission to the moon by 2020, state media said Friday. Preparations for the launch of the Chang’e-2 probe, which will go into orbit within 15 kilometres (nine miles) of the moon, are going […]

The United States and China have agreed export deals worth $US45 billion on the margins of President Hu Jintao’s US state visit, a senior Washington official said on Wednesday. “We will be announcing that $45 billion of US export deals have been concluded, supporting 235,000 US jobs,” the official said. The total includes deals worth […]

The work of calculating the value of pi to five trillion digits has been certified by the Guinness Book of Records as the most accurate in the world, a Japanese man involved in the achievement said Wednesday. The accreditation went to Shigeru Kondo, a 55-year-old company employee of Iida, Nagano Prefecture, who calculated the value, […]

Animal loving heiress Paris Hilton rescued 20 rabbits from a pet store after she learned they were set to become snake food. The 29-year-old star posted a twitpic portrait of herself and her new pets, with the caption, “Feeding my bunnies a late night snack.” Asked how long she had had the animals for, she […]

A FRENCHMAN who lost all his limbs in an electrical accident successfully swam across the Channel on Saturday, a challenge he has been preparing for two years, his support team said. Philippe Croizon, 42, set off from Folkestone in southern England just before 8am and arrived on the French coast near Wissant just before 9.30pm, […]