Artificial Intelligence

A new Inversion (albeit brief) gameplay clip was released today, showing off some of the game's gravity manipulation and, of course, gunfights. Last we heard about Namco's third-person shooter, it had been pushed back to June, so the latest sign of life is a welcome update. Something about this game certainly reminds us of similar titles, including the mother of current-gen TPS, Gears of War. The gravity manipulation aspect, on the other...  

Netscribes (India) Pvt. Ltd. launches a report on the Mobile Commerce Market in India 2012 covering a market with strong growth potential. It is a part of Netscribes’ Telecommunication SeriesKolkata, West Bengal -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/15/2012 -- Mobile Commerce is the activity of commencing commercial transactions between both B2C and B2B entities via mobile devices. Indian retail market has experienced high growth over the last decade with a...  

The challenge called out by science fiction writer Verner Vinge as the technological singularity, namely that any one future technology change could be so fundamental across all aspects of life that it is hard to write plausible science fiction, is impacting how we think about our modern world as well. Any next node that has sufficient transformative power (e.g.; like the internet) could change things so fundamentally, globally, multi...  

If the contents of our brains get uploaded into a computer, then surely someone is going to have to pay to keep it all working. That'll be you. But what if you can't pay? And what about all that copyrighted content?What if we manage to hit The Singularity - that oft-receding target by which your brain's contents can be uploaded to a computer system in the event of (or ahead of) your death? Wouldn't that be cool? Well, maybe. But more...  

Great Barrier Reef, 2010. After a dangerous dive to save his wife while exploring an 18th century merchant ship wreckage, Jay Fennel, a rugged and attractive marine archaeologist lies brain dead in a Boston hospital. Jay's dream-like coma takes us...  

Vancouver, BC?s West of Hell is releasing a third track for preview streaming, titled "Singularity," with PureGrainAudio.com today. You can listen to the track now at this location. "Singularity" is the sixth track on the band?s upcoming full-length, "Spiral Empire," set to hit stores on May 8th, 2012. The following press release was issued about t... Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com  

The Guardian explains that Singularity University, the brain child of Peter Diamandis, the founder and chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation – is on a mission to seek technological solutions to the world’s great challenges. The co-founder of the Singularity University, Peter Diamandis, gives us our instructions for the day. Your task, he says, is [...]  

The launch of the upgraded HD series and H100 Bakkie by Hyundai Commercial Vehicles in South Africa is another step in the exponential growth of this division of Hyundai Automotive SA – and is representative of the global rapid expansion of Hyundai’s ...  

*It’s yet another atemporal / historical / futuristic Bollywood time travel and/or reincarnation flick. What gives with this sudden trend? http://www.apunkachoice.com/content/article/sid100009154-first_trailer_bipasha_basu_and_josh_hartnetts_epic_love_saga_singularity/ “Premise of the film: Great Barrier Reef, 2020. (((  

I want to set up a personal web space - a blog, some articles and vanity e-mail address type of affair. Unfortunately, I've spent too long using software instead of making it and all my web design and programming knowledge is a hopelessly outdated. What does a person need to know these days if they want to register a domain and set up a not overly complex web page and blog with a service provider who is slightly more scrupulous than the...  

Earlier today I posted about how self-publishing was affecting the modern science fiction genre. As it happens, independent publishing is not just for self-published e-books; io9 has discovered a Kickstarter project called “Save the Scifi!" by publisher Singularity & Co., aimed at purchasing publishing rights to out-of-print classic SF titles, scanning them, and publishing them [...]  

Mentions Leo Widrich, Buffer Co-Founder to me. The reason for this is that “Buffer helps users be active on Social Media more sustainably and as a result they post more frequently and at better times” explains Leo to me. Altogether they can now help ...  

Recently known as the "Singularity guy", inventor and futurist, Ray Kurzweil, tells the story of his chance encounter with Stevie Wonder on the set of a daytime talk show. Ray would explain to Stevie that he was working on an invention for the blind.  

business models can no longer be treated as stone tablets divined by wise men on mountains to last for eternity. They have become increasingly perishable. Saul entreats us to “think big, start small, scale fast.” Sounds like good advice. Greg Satell is ...  

Singularity First Look For more videos log on to www.lehren.tv Facebook www.facebook.com Twitter: twitter.com Catch bollywood bong Bipasha Basu on her Hollywood debut 'Singularity'. From: lehrentv Views: 13 1 ratings Time: 01:51 More in Entertainment  

Forrest’s success story is definitely awe-inspiring! In October 2007, it first began as a group fitness training experiment with just him, his wife, and his two friends where he set up workout equipment in his 2-car 400-square feet garage.  

Showtime: Singularity (2012)Wired (blog)(<—))) After a dangerous dive to save his wife Laura (Neve Campbell) trapped while exploring a colonial British merchant ship wreckage, Jay Fennel (Josh Hartnett), a rugged and attractive marine archaeologist lies brain dead in a Boston hospital.and more »  

has announced the addition of the "Mobile Commerce Market in India 2012" report to their offering. Mobile Commerce is the activity of commencing commercial transactions between both B2C and B2B entities via mobile devices. Indian retail market has ...  

Netscribes (India) Pvt. Ltd. launches a report on the Mobile Commerce Market in India 2012 covering a market with strong growth potential. It is a part of Netscribes’ Telecommunication Series. Mumbai, India, March 31, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Mobile Commerce is ...  

This is the first corporate donation for Singularity and the organization’s first solar installationDallas, TX (PRWEB) April 23, 2012 Green Mountain Energy Company proudly presented a $10,000 check to Singularity Solar Energy, helping the new non-profit make its first solar installation through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity. The donation is made possible through the Green Mountain ...  

Computer hackers, Defense Department top brass, and Fortune 500 execs are all in the same classroom this week at NASA's Mountain View research center. They're getting a crash course in some cutting-edge technologies that may change how we live in the not ...  

historic church and help it grow in new ways. "There were nights when I came home and cried because of all the opposition and all I wanted to do was serve God. I was being sifted," Jenkins explained during the first day of the conference. "The enemy wanted ...  

Screw trilogies, our news show is now officially a series. Today we’re launching episode four of Accelerated Tech News, the weekly video show that gives you a fast paced recap of the top stories from Singularity Hub. Available to watch for ...  

The major cataclysm that struck my inbox was, of course, that silly incident with a cracker. I still get hate mail from Catholics, and intermittently still receive politely horrified regular mail from little old Catholic ladies who want to pray for me. But the second biggest outrage I ever perpetrated may not have caught the [...]...  

The mere notion of restricting birth control in this country is outrageous. Conservative politicians have failed to examine all sides of the issue – as many politicians do. The repercussions of limiting access to birth control are exponential, not just ...  

Scholarships are available to select female catalysts chosen to attend Singularity University. By Susan Fonseca (Founding Member, Singularity University & Founder, Women@TheFrontier) Singularity University (SU), a Silicon Valley organization located at NASA Ames in California seeks next-generation rock-stars to join this summer's Graduate Studies Program 2012 (GSP12) this June 16 to August 26, 2012 in ...  

The result will be a kind of immortality, so the theory goes, as aged organs and body parts are replaced by machine parts and human brains are kept alive and enhanced through computer downloads and add-ons. Singularity University is a new institution of ...  

Egypt's expanding population is good news for the country's property market, agents have explained. 440,000 new properties have to be built each year to meet demand for housing, according to Orascom Housing Communities. With more and more young couples ...  

It's been said that 90% of those consumers that are out there using their mobile devices are also conducting local searches. Why? It is because 9 out of those 10 consumers have a need. That's why mobile plus local search equals exponential ...  

Singularity HubTalking With the Founders of Vergence Labs: First Steps Towards Merging Man ...Singularity HubVergence Labs, recently accepted into Stanford's prestigious StartX program, is looking to create commercially available devices which will bridge the space between augmented reality, biometric data, computer vision, and digital information in the next ...  

Only this time, it won’t just be staff that has access to these heads of companies, all members will be able to ask them questions. This Tuesday afternoon is the Google+ Hangout with Sim Kai, head of Ctrl Works in Singapore. As Peter Murray ...  

And it's really not that surprising, therefore, that some of its wealthiest and most successful inhabitants have bought into the Singularity University's guiding ethos and spirit ... which can then print a pair of shoes. Or a house. Or dinner.  

To buy the complete report or to get a free sample, please contact: Newswire Today - PRZOOM / PRTODAY disclaims any content contained in this article. If you need/wish to contact the company who published the current release, you will need to contact them ...  

All this blending of the physical and virtual worlds is exciting to behold, and just the tip of the iceberg that awaits everyone (but especially Singularity Hub Members) in the near future. You definitely don’t want to miss out. Anyone can ...  

(Reuters) - ATLANTA - When he entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination in May 2011, Newt Gingrich was the prosperous head of a small empire commonly known as Newt Inc, which included both for-profit consultancies and nonprofit foundations. Altogether, these entwined ventures pulled in more than $110 million over the past decade. Now the vestiges of this empire are mired in debt, as is Gingrich's campaign fund. A bankruptcy...  

VIENNA/DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief held extensive and useful talks in Iran on Monday and expects them to have a positive impact on a six-power meeting with Tehran later this week, Iranian media said, but there was no sign of a breakthrough deal.  

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The launch of a privately owned Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was delayed on Saturday when a computer detected a possible problem with one of the rocket's engines, a Space Exploration Technologies official said.  

CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO will hand over the lead role in combat operations to Afghan forces across the country by mid-2013, alliance leaders said on Sunday as they charted a path out of a war that has lost public support and strained budgets in Western nations.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. banking reforms could not have prevented JPMorgan Chase & Co's trading losses, and those involved in the activities that went awry should be held accountable, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said in an interview aired on Sunday.  

LONDON (Reuters) - Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production has trumped Royal Dutch Shell's bid for Mozambique-focused explorer Cove Energy by offering 1.22 billion pounds ($1.9 billion), highlighting international interest in East African gas finds.  

NEW YORK (Reuters) - China can now bypass Wall Street when buying U.S. government debt and go straight to the U.S. Treasury, in what is the Treasury's first-ever direct relationship with a foreign government, according to documents viewed by Reuters.  

(Reuters) - Google said on Saturday that Chinese authorities have approved its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings, the last regulatory hurdle to a deal that would allow the world's No. 1 Internet search engine to develop its own line of smart phones.  

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The selloff in Facebook's shares deepened on Tuesday, as investors continued to question the stock's valuation after Reuters reported that underwriters cut their revenue forecasts for the company before the IPO. [ID:nL4E8GM35V]  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Friday it believes China spent up to $180 billion on its military buildup last year, a far higher figure than acknowledged by Beijing, and it accused "Chinese actors" of being the world's biggest perpetrators of economic espionage.  

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is worried his nephew will be subjected to a revenge show trial by Chinese officials and will work to publicize his plight from New York, a supporter said on Wednesday after meeting Chen.  

TANGERANG, Indonesia (Reuters) - There are many ways to describe Indonesia's Aburizal Bakrie: multi-millionaire businessman, global mining tycoon, heavyweight contender for the presidency in 2014. One description that does not spring to mind is man of the common people.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A passenger who claimed to have a surgically implanted device prompted a US Airways jetliner to divert to Maine on Tuesday in a security scare that followed a recently foiled bomb plot targeting U.S.-bound aircraft, government officials said.  

VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog director said on Tuesday he expected to sign a deal with Iran soon to unblock an investigation into suspected work on atom bombs, potentially brightening prospects for big-power talks with Tehran to stop a drift toward conflict.  

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Details of Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg's surprise wedding trickled out on Sunday, but mysteries remained, not least whether there was a prenuptial agreement in place that could affect Zuckerberg's large stake in the company.  

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians queued patiently to vote on Wednesday, eager to pick their leader for the first time in a national history dating to the pharaohs, with Islamists and secular-minded rivals who served under deposed President Hosni Mubarak heading the field.  

LONDON/ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek savers may be gripped by a "great fear that could develop into panic" in the words of President Karolos Papoulias, but many Greeks shifted their money to safer havens in Britain, Switzerland, Germany and Nordic countries long ago.  

BOSTON (Reuters) - Fidelity Investments said it was working with "thousands" of brokerage clients affected by trading issues that have engulfed Facebook Inc's much-anticipated initial public offering, according to a source familiar with the situation.  

GENEVA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - A United Nations investigation said Syrian government forces and rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad had both committed serious human rights abuses despite an attempted ceasefire in the conflict and opposition activists reported fighting in several regions on Thursday.  

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland is drawing up plans for emergency measures including capital controls in case the euro collapses although it does not expect to need them and will continue to defend a cap on the franc in the meantime, the head of the central bank said.  

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt resumed its first free presidential election on Thursday after a first day of voting that passed off mostly calmly, apart from a stone-throwing attack on candidate Ahmed Shafiq, who was premier for a few days before Hosni Mubarak fell.  

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood said on Friday its candidate was leading the early count in Egypt's first free presidential election that exposed a rift in the nation between supporters of Islamists and backers of men who served deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak.  

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders, advised by senior officials to prepare contingency plans in case Greece decides to quit the single currency, urged the country to stay the course on austerity and complete the reforms demanded under its bailout program.  

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders, advised by senior officials to prepare contingency plans in case Greece decides to quit the single currency, urged the country to stay the course on austerity and complete the reforms demanded under its bailout program.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday he will nominate Allison Macfarlane, an expert in nuclear waste, as the nation's top nuclear safety cop, seeking to turn the page on a period of bitter acrimony at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's three wives were fiercely loyal to him and gave little away when they were interrogated after the al Qaeda chief was killed in a U.S. raid over a year ago, a Pakistani intelligence agent who questioned them said.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate panel voted on Thursday to authorize $631.4 billion in defense spending for the 2013 fiscal year, blocking plans to cut the Air Force and ordering offsetting reductions in Pentagon civilian personnel to stay within the president's budget limits.  

BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Lebanon said on Friday that a group of Lebanese Shi'ites kidnapped in Syria had been freed and were safe in Turkey, but produced no sign of the hostages at the centre of a kidnap drama heightening tensions over the conflict in neighboring Syria.  

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man who confessed to strangling Etan Patz faced arraignment for murder on Friday, exactly 33 years after the 6-year-old boy vanished from his New York neighborhood and soon changed the way the nation responds to missing children.  

Santa Fe, New Mexico (Reuters) - A wildfire burned out of control for a fourth day in the steep mountains of southwestern New Mexico on Saturday, one of several blazes that have consumed more than 200 square miles (520 square km) of rugged land in six U.S. states.  

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians must choose between a Muslim Brother or an ex-military man in a presidential run-off that highlights the stark rifts in a nation united in euphoria when Hosni Mubarak fell 15 months ago, first-round results indicated on Friday.  

CHICAGO/DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - After weeks of painting Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney as a job-slashing corporate raider, President Barack Obama and his re-election campaign are broadening their attack to include Romney's record as Massachusetts governor, arguing his policies hurt the state.  

BEIJING (Reuters) - The brother of blind activist Chen Guangcheng has gone missing, a lawyer said on Saturday, days after he fled his village in northeastern China to seek help for his son who has been detained in a case that has become a rallying point among rights activists.  

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iran and world powers agreed to meet again in Moscow next month for more talks to try to end the long-running dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme, but there was scant progress to resolve the main sticking points between the two sides.  

CAIRO (Reuters) - The two apparent survivors in Egypt's presidential race tried to gather support on Sunday from voters dismayed at what many see as a painful second-round choice between an Islamist apparatchik and a throwback to Hosni Mubarak's era.  

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Diminished winds helped fire crews take the offensive on Sunday against an 11-day-old blaze burning out of control through the rugged high country of New Mexico's Gila National Forest, but nearly 300 homes in the area remained under evacuation.  

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - A growing chorus of world leaders on Friday pushed for a shift toward more pro-growth policies to help ease a European crisis that threatens to oust Greece from the euro zone and reverberate throughout the global economy.  

TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp is nearing a deal to buy U.S. grains merchant Gavilon for about $3.5 billion excluding debt and could announce the transaction as early as Tuesday afternoon in Tokyo, according to people familiar with the matter.  

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Peace envoy Kofi Annan expressed "grave concern" to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday and Western nations threw out its envoys to protest against a massacre of 108 civilians, many of them children, in the town of Houla.  

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Supreme Court will rule on Wednesday on whether to allow WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crimes, the latest chapter in the saga of the self-styled Internet whistleblower and bane of Washington.  

NEW YORK/BANGALORE (Reuters) - The crippled law firm Dewey & Leboeuf LLP filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday night and will seek approval to liquidate its business after failing to find a merger partner, marking the biggest collapse of a law firm in U.S. history.  

CAIRO (Reuters) - Demonstrators furious that Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister made it into the run-off for Egypt's presidential election set ablaze his campaign headquarters on Monday, witnesses said, underscoring the divisive outcome of the country's historic vote.  

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin steered Dmitry Medvedev into the chairmanship of Russia's ruling party on Saturday and demanded reforms to the flagging organization he will rely on to keep his grip on the country's far-flung regions.  

DOUMA, Syria (Reuters) - A roadside bomb exploded on Sunday about 150 meters (yards) from a United Nations convoy carrying the head of a Syria ceasefire monitoring mission and a senior U.N. official in the town of Douma, a Reuters witness said.  

(Reuters) - Central banks and companies risk making a grave error if they do not brace for a possible Greek exit from the euro zone, Belgium's foreign minister said on Friday, rattling markets already alarmed by Spain's deteriorating finances.  

Harvard And MIT Join Forces To Become Juggernaut Of Free Online Education ... Without Knowledge Graph Google search results are keyword-based and direct us to websites that contain our keyword or related keywords.  

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission will set out its economic strategy for the euro zone on Wednesday, spelling out measures to balance growth with unpopular fiscal consolidation that will be particularly pointed for Spain and Italy.  

TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd on Tuesday warned it could report an operating loss and said it had engaged bankers to help it review its business, the latest in a string of dismal messages from the once-dominant BlackBerry maker.  

ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - At least 22 al Qaeda-linked militants and 12 Yemeni soldiers were killed in clashes and air strikes overnight during a U.S.-backed offensive against insurgents in the south of the country, officials said on Saturday.  

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New Jersey man was in custody on Thursday in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz from his New York City neighborhood, a case that drew national attention to the plight of missing children, authorities said.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits dipped last week and factory activity grew but at a slower pace in May, indicating the economy was plodding along despite growing headwinds from Europe.  

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden faced accusations of corruption and other wrongdoing long before he was captured by Pakistani intelligence agents and then jailed for 33 years for treason.  

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has significantly stepped up its output of low-enriched uranium and total production in the last five years would be enough for at least five nuclear weapons if refined much further, a U.S. security institute said.  

KABUL (Reuters) - People in Afghanistan were surprisingly optimistic on Tuesday about NATO's plan to pull combat troops out of their war-ravaged nation by the end of 2014, but warned Western leaders to stick to aid and security promises.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supreme Court on Thursday made it harder for home buyers to sue mortgage lenders for certain overcharges at settlement, limiting the reach of a provision of a 1974 federal law on real estate settlement procedures.  

LONDON (Reuters) - Tony Blair's decision to openly court Rupert Murdoch to win power and ensure favorable coverage during his decade-long tenure as British prime minister will come under scrutiny when he faces a media inquiry on Monday.  

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Bankia said on Saturday that it could sell its stakes in Spanish companies in future, a day after it asked the state for a 19 billion euro ($23.77 billion) bailout, the biggest ever bank rescue in the country.  

Corsan chief-executive Paul Breuls has told ScreenDaily that Roland Joffé’s big budget romantic time travel drama Singularity starring Josh Hartnett, Neve Campbell and Bipasha Basu will now  be “positioned” for the autumn festivals.  

Athens (Reuters) - "Gentlemen, we are finished," said the patrician President, calling an abrupt halt to two hours of baiting and cat-calling between furious Greek politicians. "I'm starting to get upset myself now. We are finished."  

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German police said they detained 400 anti-capitalist protesters in Frankfurt on Friday for defying a ban on demonstrations against austerity policies implemented to tackle the intensifying euro zone debt crisis.  

(Reuters) - Claims by four of Wall Street's main market makers against Nasdaq over Facebook's botched IPO are likely to exceed $100 million, as they and other traders continue to deal with thousands of problems with customer orders.  

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Named for the crash site of an airforce plane shot down during the Six Day War in 1967, Givat HaMatos may yet prove the place where Palestinian hopes of a creating a capital in Jerusalem also plunge to earth.  

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's conservatives have regained an opinion poll lead that would allow the formation of a pro-bailout government committed to keeping the country in the euro zone, a batch of new surveys showed on Saturday.  

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati has received confirmation from Turkey that Lebanese hostages who had been kidnapped in Syria have been released and were on their way to Beirut, his office said on Friday.  

YANGON (Reuters) - Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will travel outside Myanmar for the first time in 24 years next week to deliver a speech at an international forum in Thailand, her party said on Thursday.  

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - European officials are working on contingency plans in case Greece bombs out of the euro zone, the EU's trade commissioner said on Friday, while Berlin said it was prepared for all eventualities.  

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday staunchly defended his foreign policy record against Republican election-year criticism that he has overseen a decline in American power in the world.  

Meet robots that fight fires, climb ladders, search for bombs, and race across the battlefield. The technological singularity is near, say military strategists.  

PETRACHIOAIA, Romania (Reuters) - Five years after joining the European Union, this town 13 miles outside of Romania's capital is still waiting for the jump in living standards its politicians said membership would bring.  

SANAA (Reuters) - A U.S. military instructor helping train Yemeni coastguards was shot and seriously wounded in an attack by unidentified assailants in the Red Sea city of Hudaida on Sunday, a Yemeni security source said.  

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Beryl closed in on the southeastern U.S. coast on Sunday as Memorial Day weekend beachgoers braced for heavy rains and dangerous surf stretching from northeast Florida to South Carolina.  

PARIS (Reuters) - The United States and Japan are leading a fragile developed world recovery that could be blown off course if Europe fails to contain the damage from its problem debtor states, the OECD said on Tuesday.  

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Bankia SA is set to ask the state for a more than 15 billion euros ($19 billion) bailout on Friday, marking another rise in the cost of a drawn-out rescue of the country's fourth-biggest bank.  

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hurricane Bud, the first Pacific hurricane in the 2012 season, strengthened into a major Category 3 storm on Thursday as it headed toward Mexico's coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.  

(Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp has put 504,000 acres in the DJ Basin in Wyoming and Colorado up for sale, as the U.S. energy company scrambles to raise cash to close a $9 billion to $10 billion funding shortfall.  

(Reuters) - Two top U.S. financial regulators said the issues around the initial public offering of Facebook should be reviewed, putting fresh pressure on the company, its embattled lead underwriter and the Nasdaq.  

(Reuters) - Investors are bracing for Facebook's Wall Street debut on Friday after the world's No.1 online social network raised about $16 billion in one of the biggest initial public offerings in U.S. history.  

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan on Sunday blocked access to Twitter in response to "blasphemous" material posted by users on the microblogging and social networking website, a senior government official said.  

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Returning from an annual European trade show last month on a flight packed with successful Irish retailers, Ian Martin felt his country's battered economy might finally be turning around.  

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian police killed two people on Tuesday when they opened fire on a crowd who came out to welcome United Nations observers in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, a rebel official said.  

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Bundesbank said on Wednesday the situation in Greece was "extremely worrying" and it was jeopardizing any further financial aid by threatening not to implement agreed reforms.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. spring home-selling season got off to a strong start in April, with rising sales and prices providing evidence that a housing market recovery was gaining some traction.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said on Monday that he would resign, following a year of intense criticism over his abrasive management style.  

KABUL (Reuters) - With most foreign combat troops set to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014, Iran is using the media in the war-ravaged nation to gain influence, a worrying issue for Washington.  

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Beryl gained strength as it closed in on the southeastern coast on Sunday, dumping rain and whipping up heavy surf from northeastern Florida to South Carolina.  

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people has died, his brother said on Sunday.  

ROME (Reuters) - A bomb exploded in front of a school in southern Italy on Saturday, killing a 16 year-old girl and wounding at least six others, two seriously, authorities said on Saturday.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House efforts to soft-pedal the danger from a new "underwear bomb" plot emanating from Yemen may have inadvertently broken the news they needed most to contain.  

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The lawmakers are investigating a billing dispute of at least $750 million between the main supplier of food to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and the Pentagon.  

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Sunday that military action against Iran over its nuclear program was being considered in some Western countries.  

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A car bomb that rocked the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday killed nine people and wounded about 100, the official SANA news agency said.  

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Talks resumed on Thursday between Iran and world powers about a nuclear programme that the West suspects is aimed at nuclear bomb research.  

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home prices edged higher for the second month in a row in March, suggesting prices are stabilizing as the housing recovery gains momentum.