WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. death rate from cancer has continued a steady decline that began in the early 1990s but it will still kill a projected 565,650 Americans this year, the American Cancer Society said on Wednesday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will extend its prime-time ban on foreign cartoons by an hour and demand that local television stations seek approval from censors before broadcasting them, the country's media watchdog said in a circular.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Black Eyed Peas singer Will.i.am will make his feature acting debut in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," the "X-Men" spinoff starring Hugh Jackman.

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC Universal said Tuesday it will stream full episodes of old TV shows, including "The A-Team" and "Kojak," on its Web sites.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Beyonce Knowles has signed on to play blues singer Etta James in "Cadillac Records," a 1950s period film about the founder of Chicago's Chess Records and his lineup of stars.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Celebrity bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman is set to return to television after his reality TV show was pulled from the air three months ago in a controversy over his use of a racial slur, cable channel A&E said on Tuesday.

Our 9th daily Comments Competition winner is Falafulu Fisi, for his comment on our post Web 2.0 Meets Medicine. Falafulu told us that the "current state of the art in medicine 2.0 of today is the automated online CDSS (Clinical Decision Support Systems)", which he says is starting to do diagnosis via the Web. Congratulations Falafulu, you've won a $30 Amazon voucher, courtesy of our competition sponsors AdaptiveBlue and their Amazon WishList Widg
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In the midst of the current US economic slowdown it is clear that the good old days are over. At least for some chunk of 2008, more likely for the whole year, we are in for some gloomy times. Companies are being forced to cut costs and let people go. Some smart people aren't sitting around waiting to be downsized - instead they're jumping ship and hopping aboard another. Whether you are let go or you leave on your own, there is an impact. Of c
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Viacom has announced that their social networking platform Flux will officially support Google's OpenSocial.

President Bush is off in Africa this week enjoying plaudits from numerous African political leaders for his efforts to modernize and improve health and human rights situations there.Just as they've done with positive Iraq news, however, the Western press is burying the story when it comes to the Bush administration's achievements in Africa. Irish rock star and human rights activist Bob Geldof chided the media today for the situation: Mr. Geldof
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In the current Newsweek (the February 25 issue), columnist George Will wrote about George McGovern and the current delegate selection rules on the Democratic side. But what stuck out was Will's subhead on McGovern: "He thinks he could have won in 1972 with a running mate called 'the most trusted man in America' -- Walter Cronkite." Will reported: McGovern thinks he could have won with a running mate then called "the most trusted man in America"?W
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Michelle Obama proclaimed that ?for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country,? but instead of putting the burden on the Obama campaign to defend her admission of a lack of pride in her nation, NBC on Tuesday night framed its coverage around Cindy McCain's ?rhetoric? in issuing a ?political jab? over the remark and concern over whether that ?was a knock at Michelle Obama?? But at least NBC highlighted the comment from Monday. ABC'
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Let me get this straight: On September 11, 2001, terrorists brutally exterminated nearly 3,000 Americans, obliterated the landscape of lower Manhattan, and pummeled the headquarters of the United States's national defense. And since that same date nearly six-and-a-half years ago, pro-lifers have committed a grand total of zero murders, attempted murders, and bombings directed at abortion workers and clinics across the United States and Canada. S
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from Ethan Persoff's COMICS WITH PROBLEMS, scans of a midcentury slaughterhouse graphic novelette advocating against animal mistreatment. I mean, well, advocating against inadvertently bruising cows and pigs before you kill 'em for sweet delicious bacon and steaks. I'm so confused. Regarding the cell above: "Man, what an unfortunate and unintended history reference," says Ethan. Previously on Boing Boing: * About that ginormous beef recall...

Wired's Danger Room blog is running a contest to come up with a name for that weird military operation Mark blogged about last week -- in which the US government will attempt to shoot down a wayward satellite meandering around in the heavens. Poor li'l satellite. Link to the Wired contest. (thanks, Noah Shachtman)...

You can buy a $50 kit to build this beautiful LED persistence of vision wristwatch. (Or pay $189 for the fully-assembled, ready-to wear watch.) With two time display options (Binary and wave-it-in-the-air POV display) and a super-bright flashlight mode, this watch is sure to turn some heads. Buy as a chip only, a kit to assemble yourself, a preassembled board, or a complete watch. Link (Via Make)...

The second place winner in the "Greener Gadgets Competition" is Clay Moulton's LED lamp, which uses a gravity mechanism to generate electricity. To light the lamp, you lift the weight and let it slowly fall. A Virginia Tech student has created an LED floor lamp that is powered by gravity, using a weight slide similar to the concept of a grandfather clock. The lamp puts out the equivalent of a 40-Watt bulb, and lasts four hours per cycle. The mech
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Oxblood Ruffin shares word that Cult of the Dead Cow just launched a large-scale scanner project, Goolag.org: SECURITY ADVISORY: The following program may screw a large Internet search engine and make the Web a safer place. LUBBOCK, TX, February 20th ? Today CULT OF THE DEAD COW (cDc), the world?s most attractive hacker group, announced the release of Goolag Scanner, a Web auditing tool. Goolag Scanner enables everyone to audit his or her own We
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