The news, Saturday 12/22/01

[VWguy]

U.S. Airstrikes Hit Suspected Taliban Convoy

WASHINGTON -- U.S. helicopter gunships and fighter jets attacked a large convoy of Taliban leaders and the command compound it was leaving in eastern Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday.

The Pentagon strongly denied a report from the region that the convoy was actually made up of tribal elders.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...2201mili.story

Pfizer to Settle Suit Over Diabetes Drug Rezulin

Pfizer Inc. agreed Friday to settle a lawsuit over the diabetes drug Rezulin after a jury earlier in the day awarded $43 million to a Texas woman who said it destroyed her liver. The settlement was the first of what could become a series of payouts involving the drug that has been blamed for 63 deaths and dozens of other serious liver failures worldwide.

People familiar with the settlement said the company would pay more than $30 million to Margarita Sanchez, 63, who has been on a transplant waiting list since her liver failed after she took Rezulin for two months in 1999. The payment is expected to influence the course of thousands of other lawsuits over the drug, which was pulled from the market in March 2000.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-122201pfizer.story

Sony turns courts on PS mod-chip makers

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCCE) this week won a High Court injunction against Channel Technology, a UK manufacturer of Playstation mod-chips.

This prevents the company from "advertising, selling or promoting of mod-chips and requires the handing over of information about the source of the chips to SCEE".

Mod- chips, among other things, enable punters to play pirated Playstation software, and Sony says it will take action against manufacturers and distributors across Europe.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/23492.html

Xerox wins Palm handwriting case

Xerox has established in court that it is the inventor of handwriting technology used in Palm devices. The next step is to establish damages which, considering the numbers of Palms sold, will run into several million dollars. And that's if the court works out the fees on a royalty basis.

Palm and majority shareholder 3Com could be in for an even bigger caning if the court rules that they wilfully infringed Xerox's intellectual property. The judiciary has the power to ratchet payments by three times as a penalty.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/23481.html

VIA goes faster with C3

VIA has launched a 933MHz version of the VIA C3, the fastest version yet of its low-cost, low-power CPU.

The 933MHz is the third speed grade of VIA's so-called Ezra core. It's produced on a 0.13micron assembly line and has the smallest die size of any PC CPU, VIA claims.

The C3 is aimed at the value-end of the market - it's positioned on price and performance well below Pentium 4 and Athlon lines, and somewhat below the Duron and Celerons.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/3/23469.html

Terror Victims' Families File Claims

The Justice Department on Friday began accepting claims for a new fund aimed at compensating the families for economic losses, and for pain and suffering. The first partial checks could be issued by New Year's, but the forms made available in New York and Arlington, Va., don't make the process easy, applicants said. Some applicants also questioned the fairness of how the money will be distributed.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41445,00.html

FBI Urges Consumers, Companies to Take Additional Steps to Safeguard Windows XP

WASHINGTON — The FBI's top cyber-security unit warned consumers and corporations Friday night to take new steps beyond those recommended by Microsoft Corp. to protect against hackers who might try to attack major flaws discovered in the newest version of Windows software.

The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center said that, in addition to installing a free software fix offered by Microsoft on the company's Web site, consumers and corporations using Windows XP should disable the product's "universal plug and play" features affected by the glitches.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41427,00.html

Microsoft Asks Judge to Delay Remedy Proceedings

WASHINGTON — Microsoft Corp. Friday asked a federal judge for a four-month delay of hearings on what antitrust remedy should be imposed on the company.

The software giant told U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in a filing that it needed the delay because the states rejecting a proposed settlement of the case are seeking a "dramatic expansion" of possible sanctions.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41411,00.html

Navy now says whale deaths tied to sonar test

Dec. 22 — Backing away from an earlier denial, the U.S. Navy has found that its sonar tests likely caused 16 whales to beach themselves in the Bahamas last year. In a joint report with the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Navy said it would work to decrease the risk of such sonar tests to whales — as long as it does not “jeopardize national security.”
http://www.msnbc.com/news/676818.asp#BODY

More later

[VWguy]

Perhaps not.
Welcome back Walktalker!

[walktalker]

Originally posted by VWguy
Perhaps not.
Welcome back Walktalker!

Thanks for the job, VW guy !!

(I'm just darn too slow lol )