Filed under: Etc., JapanEver roll through some sleepy burg and notice the townsfolk have painted each fire hydrant, recycling bin or park bench as its own work of art? That's one thing... but how about a whole country? Only in Japan, where the same famously zany locals fascinated with sailor costumes and neon lights on dump trucks have done it yet again. Only this time, their attention has shifted to manhole covers. Yes, manhole covers.We don't k
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NEW YORK/VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian fund manager Sonja Kohn did not receive any kickbacks from Bernard Madoff to steer Bank Medici customer funds to the swindler's investment business, a Medici lawyer said on Friday.

NEW YORK/VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian fund manager Sonja Kohn did not receive any kickbacks from Bernard Madoff to steer Bank Medici customer funds to the swindler's investment business, a Medici lawyer said on Friday.

After a few weeks of hard work on the set of How Do You Know? Reese Witherspoon treated herself to a shopping trip in LA yesterday. She headed back to her car with a few new bags of goodies - shop her look here. Perhaps she stocked up for some Fourth of July fun this weekend whether she spends it on Martha's Vineyard with Jake, home in California, or at one of the other glamorous spots across the US. View 10 Photos ?

Somehow New York Times columnist Paul Krugman seems a terrible subject for a song.Yet, Loudon Wainwright III, who admits to being a Times fan, performed "The Krugman Blues" in New York's Madison Square Park a few weeks ago:I read the New York Times, that's where I get the news. Paul Krugman's on the Op Ed page, that's where I get the blues.  In Wainwright's view, given the current state of the economy, "I guess that I identify with that pissed of
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Doctors in Germany have determined that John Demjanjuk, a retired autoworker accused of being an Nazi extermination camp guard, is fit to stand trial.

As a lot of e-commerce businesses and Twitter users are noticing, the entire Authorize.Net infrastructure crashed a few hours ago. For anyone who makes a purchase online, this is huge; Authorize.Net is the largest service for accepting credit cards and e-checks through the web. This means that millions of web-based transactions and purchases have come to a halt. Luckily, Authorize.Net understands the usefulness of social media in situations lik
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For a complete collection of Twitter resources, check out The Twitter Guide Book, Mashable’s hub for all things Twitter. - Most Twitter users probably follow under a thousand other people, but that’s enough to make it hard to keep track of the real-time stream. I actually started having trouble keeping up when I hit about 50 follows — and depending on how prolific the people you’re following are, you could be dealing with
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For all the talk of petitions and boycotts over Left 4 Dead 2's sooner-than-expected release, the game doesn't seem to be suffering much. A Valve representative tells Eurogamer that pre-orders for the sequel are currently double that of the original's pre-order figures from the same time last year . Although that sounds impressive, it's possible to see some spin in there -- Left 4 Dead didn't really have its big coming-out party until E3 2008, w
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Detectives said the alleged gunman had argued with members of a family attending a memorial service at a northeast Harris County funeral home before fatally shooting a 38-year-old man.

Military helicopter also crashes, killing 26; Napolitano in capital for talks U.S. missiles struck a training facility operated by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and a militant communication center Friday, killing 17 people and wounding 27 others, intelligence officials said.

E! Online - After Robert Pattinson confirmed he was signed on for the fourth Twilight installment, Breaking Dawn, back in Cannes, we've all been dying for more juicy deets on the hypersexualized film. (More on exactly how much naughtier the flick will be, next week.)

Filed under: Software, Freeware, Friday FavoriteWhen I consider what should really be system software, I always think of three little beauties that belong on every Mac: Alarm Clock 2, AppTrap and TimeMachineEditor. They are all one-trick-ponies, take up little space, are free for the downloading, and Apple should buy them up for Snow Leopard.Alarm Clock 2, currently up to version 2.4.5, sits nicely on your menubar ready to awaken you with your fa
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Scientists have confirmed for the first time that Australia was once home to a dinosaur that was big, fast and terrifying, and they've named it like something from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Meet the Australovenator.

Barack Obama dolls have hit Moscow shelves and a bar is handing out half-price cocktails to anyone who says the magic words "Yes we can" in anticipation of the American president's arrival here Monday for a summit.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says the U.S. president is wrong to suggest he remains mired in a Cold War mindset.

Nigeria's state oil company says that Nigeria, Algeria and Niger have signed an agreement to create a $10 billion trans-Saharan gas pipeline to ship gas to Europe.

Syria's leader praised President Barack Obama's outreach for dialogue and invited him to visit Damascus in remarks released Friday just days after the United States said it plans to return its ambassador to Syria after a four year absence.