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Microsoft will stop packaging its Teams videoconferencing app with its Office software after the practice attracted antitrust scrutiny...

New pro sports teams bring more than a rooting interest to American cities — they also sparked a spike in flu deaths, according to a new study. Flu mortality jumped as much as nearly 25% in cities that picked up new sports franchises in baseball, basketball, football or hockey, economists at the West Virginia University found. “It’s important for sports fans to realize that there is some additional risk that they’re taking, now that we’re all acutely aware of airborne virus transmission or respiratory virus transmission…when they decide to go to a sporting event,” Brad Humphreys, a WVU economics professor...

NYC Mayor says a ‘vaccination team’ will come to your house, give you the booster shot and $100

Back in February, The Blaze reported on Obama’s “Truth Teams,” described on the official site as “a network of [President Obama's] supporters who are committed to responding to unfounded attacks and defending the President’s record.” “When you’re faced with someone who misrepresents the truth, you can find all the facts you need right here—along with ways to share the message with whoever needs to hear it,” the site continues. (Related: Obama Campaign Launches ‘Truth Teams’) However, after consistent ridicule (particularly over the “Attack Watch” section of the site), the Truth Teams started flying lower on the political radar. Now, it...

SPANISH SOCCER GIANT FC Barcelona has had a disappointing season, failing to repeat as Champions League winner and facing an all but certain second-place finish in La Liga. But the team's underachieving results are not from a lack of spending. For the second straight year, Barcelona is paying its players the highest average salary in the world at $8.7 million. The findings were revealed in the second annual ESPN The Magazine/SportingIntelligence Global Salary Survey. Full results will be released in conjunction with The Magazine's Money Issue, on sale May 4. The poll encompassed 278 teams, 14 leagues, 10 countries, seven...

As Major League Baseball continues to discuss possible realignment, one idea that has come up is going to a league with 15 teams per league, reports ESPN's Buster Olney. Currently, the National League has 16 teams and the AL 14 for scheduling purposes. Should baseball go to two 15-team leagues, that would likely require interleague play every day of the season. Given baseball likes to treat interleague play as an event, that could dilute the appeal of interleague play to the point it would no longer be a moneymaker. However, there is still real resistance to the idea which has...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration said on Tuesday it has started deploying special law enforcement and intelligence teams to interrogate suspected militants held in the United States and abroad. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the formation of the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) in August and gave the reins to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, replacing the Central Intelligence Agency that did have the lead role in intelligence interrogations. "The HIG actually has deployed some teams already, both domestically and overseas, to conduct interrogations or to support interrogations that were underway," a senior Obama administration official said. Officials...

SNIPPET: "The North African terror group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has threatened to attack this summer's World Cup games in South Africa. "How amazing could the match United States vs. Britain be when broadcasted live on air at a stadium packed with spectators when the sound of an explosion rumbles through the stands, the whole stadium is turned upside down and the number of dead bodies are in their dozens and hundreds, Allah willing," reads a statement the group published in a recent issue of the Jihadi online magazine Mushtaqun Lel Jannah (Longing to Paradise)." SNIPPET: "In addition...

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2009 – From the use of newspapers and pamphlets to stoke the American Revolution to embedded journalists in the War in Iraq, the media has played a major role in every American conflict. A story often lost in the mix is that of military journalists -- men and women in uniform whose weapon of choice isn’t an M4 carbine with a laser sight, but a D3 with a 17-to-200mm lens. Members of the Air Force’s Combat Camera team spoke in a July 7 “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable about their role in documenting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan....

CAMP WESSAM, Iraq — Far to the southeast of the primary U.S. Marine Corps presence in Iraq’s Al Anbar province lies Camp Wessam, home of the 14th Iraqi Army Division and their U.S. Marine Corps advisors, Military Transition Team 14. MiTT-14 has supported the 14th division since April by advising them on tactical and logistical decision making. Among the Iraqi soldiers, U.S. Marine advisors and the U.S. Army support element that inhabit the joint Iraqi Army-Coalition base, three Marines from 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward) have found themselves operating far from the rest of 2nd MLG (Fwd) and supporting a...

AL FALLUJAH, Iraq (Oct. 9, 2007) -- There’s less violence on Fallujah’s streets these days, but there are still some insurgents bold enough to try to sneak weapons through one of the city’s numerous checkpoints. As the threat remains, so do the Marines who regulate inbound traffic by searching for contraband on possible smugglers. Due to the sensitivities of Arabic culture, this task, at times, requires a woman’s touch. In order to search women, Combat Logistics Battalion 8, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), provides a temporary Female Search Team upon the request of 2nd Marine Division’s Regimental Combat Team 6....

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq, July 27, 2007 – Embedded provincial reconstruction teams, known as EPRTs, are helping teach Iraqi businessmen and local officials how to better function as part of a democratic government. These teams are embedded in U.S. brigades. They include about 10 people who work closely with a brigade's civil affairs team, engineers, and other staff sections to help improve Iraqi governance and economic development. "We have civilians, active-reserve and active-duty servicemembers with us," said Lou Lantner, a U.S. State Department public affairs officer who heads up the EPRT working with 10th Mountain Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team. "Together,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2006 -- To speed the development of Iraqi security forces, the United States is accelerating its use of military, police and border transition teams, a coalition spokesman in Baghdad said today. “Iraqis need capable and honest security forces that are loyal to all of their people,” Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said in a news conference with U.S. and Iraqi media. “They need forces that can run complex operations against terrorists and criminal elements. And the best way for Iraqi security forces to enhance these capabilities is through the mentorship and partnership...

Civilians line up at the point of entry in Rabea, Iraq, to have their paperwork reviewed by a customs agent to gain passage into Syria. The agents receive their training from U.S. Customs agents and embedded transition teams. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Shannon Crane Border Transition Teams Secure Relationships U.S. soldiers work side by side with Iraqis -- advising, coaching, teaching and mentoring them. By U.S. Army Sgt. Shannon Crane U.S. Central Command Public Affairs RABEA, Iraq, Nov. 20, 2006 -- It is early morning at the point of entry where two countries meet -- Iraq and Syria....

Transition Teams Teach and Mentor Iraqi Soldiers MiTTs advise, coach, teach, and mentor Iraqi soldiers and their leaders — to a level where they can work independently. By U.S. Army Sgt. Shannon Crane U.S. Central Command Public Affairs CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Nov. 20, 2006 -- Rome wasn’t built in a day...and neither was its army. Constructing, supplying and properly training a country’s fighting force is hardly an expeditious task. It is a process. And this process can be likened to a marathon...not a sprint. The same can be said for the Iraqi army. Over the past three years, it...

RABEA — It is early morning at the point of entry where two countries meet – Iraq and Syria. Two men in different uniforms stand near a sand-colored tower. They look off in the distance and wait for signs of activity, anticipating the mass of vehicles and pedestrians who will soon attempt to gain access to one of the neighboring nations.But at this time of day, the only thing crossing the border is the occasional gust of sand carried by the breeze. The two men, an American Soldier and an Iraqi Border Patrol agent, engage in friendly dialogue. Each makes...

Not surprising after one week, but this week's rankings were all over the map, starting at the top. The Steelers moved back to No. 1, while the Seahawks slipped two spots to No. 3. Four teams got first-place votes -- Steelers (2), Colts (2), Seahawks (1) and Ravens (1) -- and 16 teams received votes in the top 10. Five new teams (Jaguars, Ravens, Falcons, Bears and Chargers) entered the top five, with the Ravens jumping from No. 18 all the way to No. 6. The Panthers fell 10 spots from No. 2 to No. 12. An overreaction? Maybe, but...

FORT LEWIS, Wash. (Army News Service, Aug. 29, 2006) – A long wait is over for Stryker Mobile Gun System (MSG) crews of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. The 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry, received its complement of MGS vehicles last month after more than a year of waiting. They are the first vehicles to be fielded in the Army. “I think its going to give the infantry a whole new dimension of what they can do. Armor and infantry have kept each other at arm’s length for years and years," said Sgt. 1st Class David Cooper, an MGS platoon...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2006 – Coalition training teams with Iraqi military units, police battalions and border guard units are making a tremendous difference in the performance and professionalism of the Iraqi security forces, said the commander of the Iraq Assistance Group today. Army Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard told the Pentagon press corps in a video teleconference from Iraq that Iraqi forces are well-equipped, but they do need help in sustainment. Pittard confirmed that 100 members of an Iraqi battalion had refused to redeploy to Baghdad. The soldiers were part of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 10th Iraqi Army Division, in...

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas, Aug. 8, 2006 — “Toten! Let’s go find toten, Reina! Let’s go to work!” Reina, a pedigreed 4-year-old black and silver German shepherd puts her nose to the ground and whuffles the earth as her partner and owner, Tech. Sgt. Julie Davis, a personnelist assigned here, leads her in a grid search pattern, not for a missing person, but for traces of “toten” -- human remains. Reina, Spanish for queen, is a highly skilled Human Remains Detection dog. According to Greater Houston Search Dogs, a volunteer non-profit search dog organization, HRD dogs can detect the...