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Beyonce has landed herself in trouble with NASA after deciding to sample an audio clip taken from the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster on her new track ‘XO’. The song, which features on the singer’s eponymous new album, begins with a six-second clip taken from the accident, in which Steve Nesbitt – NASA’s public affairs officer at the time – states, “Flight controllers here are looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction.” The Challenger exploded shortly after lift off on its ’86 mission, killing all seven people on board. The Hollywood Reporter states that representatives from NASA...

CAMBRIDGE -- With its cute bunny ears, its whimsical pull-string charger, and its big plastic handle, the lime-green XO laptop doesn't look like a technology that will change education and computing worldwide.One Laptop Per Child unveiled its "$100 laptop."

MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif. (March 16, 2006) -- As the platoons form on an early Tuesday morning, a Marine lieutenant colonel stands up and walks towards the first platoon, time on deck is 9:30 a.m. The Marine comes to attention in front of the first member of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps; the student salutes and continues on to say his rank and name. Then the Marine starts to drill the student with questions about basic military knowledge. "Who is the Secretary of Defense? What is your fifth general order?" said the inspecting Marine, Lt. Col. Danny...

SBC and Verizon both win merger clearance By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington Published: October 31 2005 23:16 | Last updated: October 31 2005 23:16 SBC and Verizon on Monday successfully concluded their campaigns to win regulatory clearance for their two multi-billion dollar telecommunications deals. The Federal Communications Commission approved both companies’ merger plans without onerous conditions. The FCC, which has for months been evenly split between two Democratic and two Republican commissioners because of a Republican vacancy at the agency, voted unanimously to approve SBC’s $16bn takeover or AT&T and Verizon’s $8.5bn takeover of MCI following a weekend of internal...

The networking company is investigating whether a security breach has led to some of its source code appearing on the Internet. An unspecified amount of the proprietary source code that drives Cisco Systems' networking hardware has appeared on the Internet, the technology giant acknowledged early on Monday. While the company was investigating whether a breach had lead to the leak, a representative could not confirm whether that network intruders had made off with the software equivalent of the crown jewels: some 800 megabytes of the networking giant's source code. "Cisco is aware that a potential compromise of its proprietary information...

Yahoo! News   Sun, Jul 06, 2003 Global Crossing Wins Telemedia Talks Bid Tue Jul 1, 4:26 PM ET By NICK BAKER, Dow Jones Newswires NEW YORK - Bankrupt telecommunications company Global Crossing Ltd. on Tuesday won its bid to continue exclusive talks to be bought by Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte. Ltd. The decision, issued in court by Manhattan federal bankruptcy Judge Robert E. Gerber, represents a loss for XO Communications Inc. and other suitors who've been blocked by the court-mandated exclusivity period. The judge agreed to extend that period until Oct. 28. XO, which financier Carl Icahn bought out...

Yahoo! News   Sun, Jun 15, 2003 Thu Jun 12, 5:27 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Regional phone company XO Communications Inc. (OTC BB:XOCM.OB - news) on Thursday sweetened its bid to acquire Global Crossing (Other OTC:GBLXQ - news) and said it is willing to bid for either the debt or the assets to take control of the bankrupt high-speed communications network operator. XO, controlled by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, offered more than $700 million wholly in cash for Global Crossings assets or said it would buy any or all of its bank debt at $210 per $1,000 at...

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - XO Communications Inc., the telephone company controlled by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, said on Friday it has offered more than $700 million to acquire bankrupt high-speed communications company Global Crossing Ltd. Singapore Technologies Telemedia already has an agreement to pay $250 million for a 61.5-percent stake in Global Crossing, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2002 under a massive debt load, a glut of high-speed network capacity, and slim demand. The bankruptcy court must rule on the deal with Singapore Technologies before any new bids for Global Crossing can be considered. IDT Corp., a telecommunications...

July 11, 2002 N.C. Sen. Hopeful Defends Biz Ties ASSOCIATED PRESS RALEIGH, N.C.- Ever since he entered the race for Senate last year, Democrat Erskine Bowles has boldly promoted his business experience. Now his opponents, seeing political advantage in the scandals rocking corporate America, are trying to turn his Wall Street past against him. Democrats and Republicans alike are taking shots at Bowles for his membership on the board of directors at pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., which has come under scrutiny for accounting practices that inflated revenue. Bowles' opponents also are trying to tie him to the failed investments...