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A new Virginia Department of Transportation study shows accidents increased by nearly a third where red light cameras were used. The Virginia Transportation Research Council today released a report expanding upon earlier research into the safety effects of red light cameras in Virginia. The new study, funded by the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, provided a city-by-city assessment that showed significant increases in the number of injuries and accidents at intersections employing photo enforcement. The change in the frequency of injury accidents varied widely among jurisdictions -- down 5 percent in one but up between 6...

US software behemoth Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it would soon open an office in Canada, lamenting tough immigration rules in the United States that make it difficult to hire foreign staff. "It is about recruiting the best and brightest, and right now, the majority are coming from overseas," Marc Seaman, a spokesman for the world's biggest software company, told The Globe and Mail newspaper. "The United States has immigration quotas and some limitations for bringing in people from outside the country," he said. "That challenge is an opportunity for Canada, in the sense that this will bring the top software...

It looks like it's a triumph for Steve Jobs, after all: despite all the problems caused by a registration logjam for the iPhone, Apple reckons it will be able to announce a million sales by Thursday. That will probably be the moment to reveal the Euro iPhone deal, say sources. The "Euro iPhone deal" is this (from a newswireless.net store June 29, here): A new 3G (European) version of the iPhone will be launched Monday in the UK by Apple - in a join promotion with Vodafone, T-Mobile of Germany, and Carphone Warehouse. It should answer the disappointment with the...

FRANKFURT — Deutsche Telekom's (DT) mobile phone unit T-Mobile clinched a deal to bring Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone handset to Germany, according to a report in a German daily. Without citing sources, Rheinische Post said in a preview of a story to be published on Wednesday that T-Mobile is expected to sell the iPhone exclusively with a T-Mobile contract for around 450 euros ($612) starting Nov 1. Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile were not immediately available for comment. The iPhone, which comes with an in-built iPod, Web browser and e-mail software, went on sale in the United States on Friday. In...

Average paid weekday circulation of the nation's 20 largest newspapers for the six-month period ending in March, as reported Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The percentage changes are from the comparable year-ago period. 1. USA Today, 2,278,022, up 0.2 percent 2. The Wall Street Journal, 2,062,312, up 0.6 percent 3. The New York Times, 1,120,420, down 1.9 percent 4. Los Angeles Times, 815,723, down 4.2 percent 5. New York Post, 724,748, up 7.6 percent 6. New York Daily News, 718,174, up 1.4 percent 7. The Washington Post, 699,130, down 3.5 percent 8. Chicago Tribune, 566,827, down 2.1 percent...

What a story from the Hamilton County courts building today; court records show a man charged with molesting a teen, is actually a woman! In court today, Prosecutors revealed that Alexander Cross is actually a woman. Her given name is Elaine Cross, she legally changed it to Alexander. How did prosecutors find out Cross was a woman? After she had been in the Hamilton County jail for 10 days in January, someone noticed she was actually a female while she was taking a shower. She was immediately moved to female isolation. According to news reports, Cross was charged with performing...

A catfight at The New York Times Friday still has staffers in shock. The dustup between two female editors in the Styles department disrupted work on the Thursday and Sunday Styles sections as co-workers froze at the fracas. Fashion editor Anita LeClerc was the aggressor and her superior, deputy editor Mary Ann Giordano, the victim, sources say. The two had exchanged words just moments before, allegedly over turf, and LeClerc began stomping around the office, muttering loudly to herself. But when Giordano, a talented import from the Metro section, came over in a conciliatory way and tried to smooth things...

China plans to mount a head-on challenge to the dominance of Boeing and Airbus in the global market for big passenger jets by setting up a state-owned company to build the aircraft. A statement on the government’s website issued late on Sunday said the state council – the cabinet – had taken an “important strategic decision” to begin research and development to enter the market.

SURPRISE, Ariz., Feb. 13 — The chairman of the local Republican Party here in the most populous county in Arizona has in his possession a bright yellow button with a black line slashed through the name McCain. “I don’t wear it out very often,” said the chairman, Lyle Tuttle of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, in a slightly sheepish coda to a 20-minute vituperation about the state’s senior senator, served up from his living room chair. A vocal slice of the state’s most conservative Republicans, reflecting concerns about Mr. McCain held by some conservatives nationwide, are agitating against him in...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Vice President Dick Cheney said that Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton will not win the White House in 2008 and would not make a good president if she does. Cheney, who in October had called Hillary Clinton a "formidable candidate" who "could win" the race to replace US President George W. Bush, told CNN television "I don't" think she would make a good leader. Asked why, Cheney replied: "Because she's a Democrat. I don't agree with her philosophically and from a policy standpoint." Asked whether she would be president, the vice president replied: "I don't," but declined...

This bit of art is guaranteed to raise a giggle at a Mayfair gallery exhibition. German artist Sandro Porcu, 40, has installed the tickling bed, complete with revolving ostrich feathers, for members of the public to try out. The work, called Bed, was an instant hit when it went on display at the Alexia Goethe gallery in Dover Street last night. It is part of the Story exhibition, which also features sculptures, film and photography on the theme of telling stories. A gallery spokesman said: "Every work in this show inspires a multitude of stories involving the personalties and memories...

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VINITA PARK, Mo., Oct. 28 — Democrats are pushing into high gear this weekend a sharply expanded campaign to get their voters to the polls, even as some party leaders expressed anxiety that Republicans would again out-organize them in the approximately 20 House and 3 Senate races that both sides agree will determine the outcome of the midterm elections. After two national elections in which Republicans’ sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation helped them triumph over their opponents, Democrats have invested heavily in catching up. The success of that effort could becrucial to their hopes on Nov. 7. Notwithstanding polls that show broad...

The Supreme Court said Friday it would intervene in a patent dispute between giants Microsoft Corp. and AT&T Corp. over Windows programs distributed overseas. An appeals court ruled that Microsoft had infringed on an AT&T patent for a type of speech-coding technology. Microsoft lawyers claimed the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in favor of AT&T "threatens to impose massive liability on U.S. software companies" and could prompt companies to move their research facilities out of the country. Solicitor General Paul Clement, invited by the court to offer his views, urged justices to take the...

24 minutes ago: WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Friday that Arizona may require voters to provide photo IDs when they cast their ballots next month. The justices cautioned that they were not issuing a ruling on the constitutionality of Arizona's law. "As we have noted, the facts in these cases are hotly contested," the court said in an unsigned five-page order. The ruling merely allows the Nov. 7 election to proceed with the photo ID law in place. Federal courts still will have to resolve a lawsuit contending that the law will disenfranchise numerous voters, particularly the elderly and...

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Barbra Streisand opened her first U.S. tour in 12 years on Wednesday with a show that ridiculed her political nemesis, President George W. Bush. Before a capacity crowd of some 16,000 people at South Philadelphia's Wachovia Center, Streisand gave assured renditions of standards from her long career as a singer and actress including "Funny Girl," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Love Soft as an Easy Chair," and "Somewhere." The show also featured a skit where an actor playing Bush uttered such lines as, "I'm concerned about the national debt, so I'm selling Canada," and "If I cared...

At least liberals are finally exhibiting a moral compass about something. I am sure that they'd be equally outraged if Rep. Mark Foley were a Democrat. The object lesson of Foley's inappropriate e-mails to male pages is that when a Republican congressman is caught in a sex scandal, he immediately resigns and crawls off into a hole in abject embarrassment. Democrats get snippy. Foley didn't claim he was the victim of a “witch hunt.” He didn't whine that he was a put-upon “gay American.” He didn't stay in Congress and haughtily rebuke his critics. He didn't run for re-election. He...

Toyota trounces U.S. automakers GM and Chrysler in September sales TOM KRISHER DETROIT (AP) - Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) trounced the domestic automakers in the U.S. marketplace last month, posting a 25 per cent year-over-year sales increase. General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) and DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE:DCX) each saw their sales slip by a few percentage points, while Ford Motor Co.'s (NYSE:F) sales gained 4.7 per cent. GM's sales fell 3.1 per cent last month, but the largest North American automaker put a positive spin on the decline, attributing it to a reduction in low-margin sales to rental companies. The company's car...

Couric Slipping Away: ABC 'World News' 2X Audience of Couric 'CBS Evening News on Wednesday in NYC and Los Aangeles ... In Chicago, ABC Pulled 4X Couric Audience; ABC Over CBS 3X in Philly....

NBC PLANS MADONNA CRUCIFIXION IN TV CONCERT Mon Sep 18 2006 18:38:19 ET NBC has given the green light to include Madonna-on-the-Cross footage in an upcoming November Sweeps concert special! In the show, Madonna, wearing a gittered crown of thorns, descends on a suspended mirrored, disco ball-type cross singing her hit 'Live To Tell.' NBC suit Kevin Reilly said Madonna considered the crucifixion a highlight of her show. "We viewed it and didn't see it as being inappropriate," NBC explained. Developing...