Door step news

Relatives of some of those killed in a major train crash in China are refusing to accept an offer of compensation from the government. The 915,000 yuan ($142,000; £87,000) total is double the initial offer made to the families of the 40 victims. There has been widespread anger at the official response to the disaster. The crash happened when one train came to a standstill on a viaduct near the eastern city of Wenzhou, and another ploughed into it. State media say that 10 families have accepted the compensation offer. Meanwhile local lawyers have been told to report to the authorities any relatives ...

Facebook has taken a swipe at Google+ (or Google Plus), the new toy from Internet search engine giant Google Inc., by launching Facebook for Business just days after businesses complained that Google+ smacks of favoritism and ignores the needs of corporate. Launched in June 28, Google+ got off to a flying start and in the first three weeks of debut, it boasted of 20 million users, according to comScore. However, the new social networking site hit turbulence last week, according to Web analytic firm Experian Hitwise. For the week ended July 23, Hitwise said Google+ received only 1.79 million visits ...

Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy axed plans to create a spin-off for its leading stars after becoming incensed when actor Chris Colfer alleged he’d been “fired” from the hit TV musical. The writer recently stunned fans when he told The Hollywood Reporter that Colfer and his co-stars Lea Michele and Cory Monteith would not return to the show after its upcoming third season. Murphy revealed the actors would ‘graduate’ from the TV high school, but kept his plans for a secondary series for Colfer, Michele and Monteith a secret as he’d yet to finalize details. The interview caused a stir online when reports ...

Crystal Harris, former fiancee of Playboy magnate Hugh Hefner, told Howard Stern on Tuesday that Hef lasted “like two seconds” in the sack. But she’s apparently had a change of heart. “The Stern interview scared me, he’s harsh,” Harris tweeted Thursday night. “I was unprepared and blurted out things I shouldn’t have said, I’m sorry.” Hef, who denied Harris’ original claims on Twitter, despite being an 85-year-old man who should be lucky to last “like two seconds,” tweeted that Harris’ original comments “didn’t have much to do with ...

Perhaps it wasn’t that big of a secret to begin with, but on Thursday night when Lady Gaga stopped by “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” the singer finally confirmed what everybody already presumed: “You and I” will be her next single from Born This Way. When asked what she planned to perform that night in addition to “The Edge of Glory,” Gaga replied, “I’m going to sing my brand-new single ‘You and I.’ ” She recently shot the video for the track in Nebraska.  Gaga also performed those two tracks on “So You Think You Can Dance” on Thursday night, following ...

As Amy Winehouse’s album Back to Black climbs back onto the charts and whispers begin about a treasure trove of unreleased songs, Winehouse’s family has a hunch about what we might find in her toxicology report—that she died from alcohol withdrawl. They believe that laying off the alcohol cold turkey may be what caused Winehouse’s sudden death last weekend at age 27. A source close to the family explains, that ” doctors had told Amy to gradually reduce her intake of alcohol and to avoid bingeing at all costs. Amy told him she couldn’t do that. It was all or nothing and she ...

Fans of The Killing will find out who killed Rosie Larsen in season two. That promise came from AMC’s head of original programming Joel Stillerman, who admitted that the network did not effectively “manage expectations.” The series starring Billy Campbell and Mireille Enos hooked viewers into a moody mystery surrounding the death of teenager Rosie Larsen with suspicion falling on the slick politician (Campbell) and her parents (Michelle Forbes and Brent Sexton). The show’s promotional tagline was: “Who killed Rosie Larsen?” But viewers were up in arms when the final episode ended on a rather ambiguous ...

Scratch Hunter Pence off the list of available right-handed-hitting outfielders for the Red Sox at the trade deadline. The Astros sent the two-time All-Star to the Phillies Friday night for three minor league players and a player to be named later. “I think every competitor at the highest level wants to be in a pennant race, wants to be in a World Series,” Pence said after going from the last-place Astros to the first-place Phillies. “I’m pretty lucky now I get to jump on board with one of the best teams, and hopefully have an opportunity to do that.” Pence, 28, is hitting .308 with 11 home runs ...

As the United States moves closer to an Aug. 2 default on some of its payments – perhaps including checks for Social Security recipients and veterans – it is becoming ever clearer that the two most important numbers in the debt-ceiling crisis are 1982 and 1990. In short, hardcore Republican debt hawks remain determined to prevent a repeat of those two years, even as a historic default that many economists say could seriously damage an already weak economy looms in less than three days. What happened in those two years? Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush both agreed to tax increases ...

Norwegian police say Anders Behring Breivik told them he had “several targets” in mind when they quizzed him about the twin attacks that killed 77 people a week ago. Norwegian media reported that the right-wing extremist, who admitted to the July 22 shooting on an island summer camp and a car-bomb blast in Oslo earlier the same day, also wanted to hit the royal palace and the ruling party headquarters. Police prosecutor Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby said Brevik had told officers he had planned to hit other targets but refused to confirm the press reports. “During his interrogations he said ...

Google Inc has acquired more than 1,000 technology patents from International Business Machines Corp, after it lost the bidding war over more than 6,000 patent filings from Nortel Networks. The patents purchase was reported earlier by the blog SEO by the Sea, which said Google in mid-July recorded the acquisition of more than 1,000 patents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to bolster its portfolio and also to protect itself from patent litigation. “Like many tech companies, at times we’ll acquire patents that are relevant to our business,” a Google spokesman told Wall Street ...

A Caribbean Airlines jet coming from New York crashed and broke in two while landing in Guyana with 140 passengers aboard on Saturday, causing several injuries but no deaths, said President Bharrat Jagdeo. The Boeing 737-800 apparently overshot the 7,400-foot runway at Cheddi Jagan International Airport in rainy weather. It barely missed a 200-foot ravine that could have resulted in dozens of fatalities, he said. “We are very, very grateful that more people were not injured,” he said as authorities closed the airport, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded and delaying dozens of flights. ...

An old geek adage has become much more believable as a new study has found evidence that Internet Explorer users are generally dumber than Chrome and Firefox users. A company called AptiQuant, a self-proclaimed “world leader in the field of online psychometric testing,” published the results of an online study that tested the IQs of users and grouped the results according to which browser respondents used. The study found that users of Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera were all slightly above average in IQ test results, but Microsoft Internet Explorer users tended to be lower on the IQ ...

Apple, followed closely by Samsung Electronics, overtook Nokia in global smartphone market share during the second quarter. Apple controlled nearly a fifth of the smartphone market, or a share of 18.5 percent, as it shipped more than 20 million iPhones, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics. Samsung Electronics wasn’t far behind, with 17.5 percent of the market share and 19.2 million smartphones shipped. Nokia fell to third, with its market share plunging by more than half to 15.2 percent from 38.1 percent a year ago. The ever-shifting top of the smartphone food chain is illustrative ...

            HBO executives Richard Plepler and Michael Lombardo have declared that Game of Thrones will have a long run. The fantasy drama was renewed for a second season back in April, with new episodes expected to air in 2012. “I hope it lasts for 20 years,” HBO programming president Lombardo told Entertainment Weekly. “I promise you we won’t stop it before it’s ready to stop. “There’s a great relationship fans have with the show and we appreciate that. We’ve never seen people get so excited about casting [decisions].” HBO co-president Pleper also insisted ...