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NASA: Series of errors led to loss of Mars Global Surveyor A complex series of events, including a five month-old computer error was responsible for the battery failure that led to the loss of NASA's Mars Global Surveyor last year, an internal review board says. Two suicide bombers attack US targets in Casablanca Two men, reported to be brothers, blew themselves up in Boulevard Moulay Youssef in central Casablanca, Morocco, outside and the United States Consulate and its culture center, respectively. The bombers both died and a woman, who was passing by, was injured.

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Jimbo Wales to create 'code of conduct' for bloggers and the Wikimedia Foundation Jimbo Wales, the founder of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation, is teaming up with book publisher Tim O'Reilly to create a "code of conduct" for bloggers and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Wikipedia Current Events
India's Essar Group buys Canadian steelmaker Algoma for US$ 1.63 billion. A nor'easter in the northeastern United States causes flooding and disrupts travel in the region. One person is killed in a tornado in North Carolina and two people die in weather-related car accidents in New York and Connecticut. Anti-Putin protesters in St. Petersburg, a part of the Dissenters March coalition, are beaten by Russian police. Documents revealed under Freedom of Information legislation reveals that NASA paid $26.6 million to families of the astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated during re-entry in 2003. Iran announces plans for two more nuclear reactors. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announces plans that his political movement plans to quit the Iraqi government in an attempt to press its demand for a timetable for U.S. withdrawal. Two United Kingdom military helicopters collide near the town of Taji near Baghdad killing two soldiers. Voters in Ecuador go to the polls to vote on a referendum on convening an assembly to draw up a new constitution. Preliminary results indicate a 78% "yes" vote.

NHL: Canucks steal series lead from Stars in overtime
An overtime goal by Taylor Pyatt at 7:47 of the first overtime gave the Vancouver Canucks a 2-1 lead in the best of seven series on Sunday night.

Dallas scored first through Stu Barnes when he redirected a long shot by Stephane Robidas past goalkeeper Roberto Luongo. Philippe Boucher earned the other assist on the goal.

Marty Turco looked to be headed for his second consecutive playoff shutout, but Jan Bulis dashed his dreams 5:18 into the third period as he put home a rebound from a shot by Jannik Hansen. Vancouver outshot the Stars 15-4 in the third period, but had a scare when Roberto Luongo was hit by Ladislav Nagy. A trainer came on to assist Luongo, who had fallen on his back, but he was able to continue.

Taylor Pyatt then put the game away in overtime on a one-time shot off a pass from Bryan Smolinski.

NHL: Ducks take commanding three game lead on Wild
The Minnesota Wild fell to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, putting their season in jeopardy. Anaheim needs only one win in any of the final four games to win the series and the right to move on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Wild have been close in every game of the series, but have fell short each time.

Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said: "Everyone was saying, 'Shoot the puck! Shoot the puck!' on the bench and then they went back on the ice and they didn't shoot it," coach Jacques Lemaire said. "The guys recognized the mistakes we were making and couldn't adjust."

Andy McDonald gave the Ducks the lead in the first, scoring on the power play to give the Ducks the early advantage. Ilya Bryzgalov would help the Ducks' cause, stopping 19 of 20 shots faced. Rob Niedermayer got his first goal of the postseason in the thrid period to double the Ducks' lead. Petteri Nummelin scored the only goal for the Wild with :39 remaining in regulation, which wouldn't be enough time to mount a comeback.

Sunday's loss beckoned in do or die time for the Wild, who must win Tuesday, when Minnesota will host the Anaheim Ducks. If the Wild cannot pick up a win in Tuesday's game, the series will be lost, as well as Minnesota's season.

NHL: Detroit defeats Calgary to take control of series 2-0
The Calgary Flames fell to the Detroit Red Wings Sunday, giving the Red Wings total control over the series, 2-0. Detroit capitalized on Calgary's mistakes, scoring twice in the first 3:50 to take a 2-0 lead they would never relenquish. Flames' goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff was totally under siege throughout the game, attacked by 51 shots.

Pavel Datsyuk gave the Red Wings an early lead when he scored the game's first goal just 1:02 into regulation. With the 1-0 lead and a power play oppertunity, Nicklas Lindstrom, arguably the NHL's best defenseman scored to give the Wings a 2-0 lead. Calgary's Dion Phaneuf scored early in the second, but the Flames could never generate enough offense to make up for their early mistakes.

This Eastern Conference series continues in Calgary on Tuesday, April 17th, at 10:00 pm EDT, when the Flames will be looking to get back into the series with a win on home ice.

NHL: Senators regain series lead over Penguins
The Ottawa Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, Sunday evening, to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Easter Conference Series. The Senators kept finding holes around Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, scoring four times on 25 shots. Sidney Crosby became the first player to score in their first three NHL postseason games since 2001, but it wasn't enough to lift the Penguins to victory.

Gary Roberts, who scored in Saturday afternoon's game, got the Penguins off to an early lead, scoring just 52 seconds into regulation. That lead wouldn't hold up, however, as Dean McAmmond would knot it up at 18:04, when he would bury the puck behind Fleury. The Penguins struggled in the second period, as they have often as of late, allowing three more goals in the period. The Penguins offense kicked in in the third period, as Sidney Crosby would add a spectacular diving goal late in the game, but the Senators managed to weather the storm to emerge victorious.

The Penguins, despite being down in the series, will try to tie the series Tuesday night, when Mellon Arena will play host to the Ottawa Senators for game four of the best-of-seven series.

2007 French presidential elections: Ségolène Royal calls for gentle reforms
In a radio address today on Radio J, Ségolène Royal, presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of France, outlined her campaign platform of fairness, order and inclusiveness.

Royal became the party's candidate for the 2007 presidential election on November 16, 2006, when she defeated Laurent Fabius and Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the French Socialist Party primary. She won in 101 of 104 of the Socialist Party's fédérations, losing only Haute-Corse, Mayotte and Seine-Maritime.

"Today there is a confrontation between two programmes, two ways of doing politics, two visions of the country and I want the French people to have that choice in the second round" of elections on May 6, Royal told Radio J. "France needs to be reformed without violence, without brutality."

Potentially the first female President of France, Royal dismissed attacks on her record and credibility as sexist and called the policies of right-wing candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement, harsh and divisive.

Royal also addressed calls from within her own camp to form an alliance with centrist candidate, François Bayrou of the Union for French Democracy, who has been running near even with her in polls. "Bayrou is a respectable personality, but he has no program and no team. Millions of French would feel cheated if the second round deprived them of a real choice."

France will cast votes in the first round on Sunday, April 22, 2007. If no candidate wins 50% or more of the vote, a second round between the two leading candidates will take place on Sunday, May 6, 2007. This will be the ninth presidential election of the Fifth French Republic.

2007 Cricket World Cup: Bangladesh vs Ireland
Ireland have defeated Bangladesh by 74 runs in the Super 8 phase of the World Cup at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados. As a result of Bangladesh's loss, neither side can now reach the semi-final stage of the competition. This is the second victory over a Test playing nation that Ireland have achieved in their first appearance in the World Cup, having beaten Pakistan in the group stages and now means that Ireland have qualified for the ICC ODI Championship.

Toss: Ireland won, and elected to bat first.

Felipe Massa wins 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix
Felipe Massa, driving for Ferrari, won the 2007 FIA Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand prix at Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain. Starting from pole, the Brazilian controlled the whole race losing the lead only due to pit-stops.

Closely competing with him, young McLaren-Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line on the second place marking his third consecutive podium in this Formula-1 season. Kimi Raikkonen, equipped with a significantly greater fuel load, wasted time trying to drive closer to Hamilton and finished third.

Hamilton's teammate Fernando Alonso was unable to keep Nick Heidfeld from BMW-Sauber off his back, who passed last year's champion easily in one overtaking attempt.

For the FIA Formula One championship, the lead is now tied among Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton, who all have 22 points. With his win, Massa jumped to within striking distance at 17 points, closely followed by Heidfeld with 15. In sixth place in points is Fisichella with a tally of eight.

Palestinian group claims murder of BBC reporter
According to Israeli media reports, a Palestinian group, purportedly linked to al-Qaeda has announced they have killed Alan Johnston, a BBC journalist who went missing in Gaza five weeks ago.

The pronouncement came in the form of an e-mail to the media on Sunday. "We are deeply concerned about what we are hearing, but we stress at this stage, it is rumor with no independent verification," said the BBC.

The Palestinian Jihad and Tawheed Brigades said that it will release a video of the killing, and blamed the killing on the British and Palestinian governments for not heeding its demands to release prisoners detained in Israel.

However, Palestinian interior ministry sources have disputed the claims. "I have been in contact with all the security chiefs since I heard the information. There is no information to confirm the killing of the journalist Johnston," said Hani al-Qawasmi, Palestinian Interior Minister. "At the Interior Ministry we have not received any demands of any kind, whether for ransom or anything else. No party has said it is holding the journalist," said Qawasmi.

Chicago wins 2016 USOC Olympic Bid
The City of Chicago has been chosen as the United States Applicant City for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) chose Chicago, which has never hosted an Olympics, over the 1932 and 1984 hosts Los Angeles.

"On behalf of the United States Olympic Committee, we would like to congratulate Chicago on its selection as our Applicant City," said USOC Chairperson, Peter Ueberroth. "Our ultimate goal at the outset was to identify the U.S. city with the best chance of competing internationally. In Chicago and Los Angeles, we had two outstanding bids and we are confident that Chicago is positioned to be competitive in the international field and will make our country proud."

Chicago will now submit a bid to the International Olympic Committee in September 2007, and the host city will be chosen on October 2, 2009. Other cities likely to bid for the Games include Prague, Rome and Tokyo. As the 2008 and 2012 Games are to be held in Asia and Europe respectively, it is likely that a city in the Americas would be favorites for the Games. The United States last held the Games in Atlanta in 1996.

Chicago's bid involves construction of an Olympic Stadium in Washington Park on the city's South Side and an athlete's village on the shores of Lake Michigan. Existing venues such as Wrigley Field and Soldier Field may be used for some events. In contrast to Chicago, the Los Angeles bid involved existing facilities with no need for constructing new venues.

Motorsport: A1GP Shanghai, China results
A1 Team New Zealand has won the feature race at the A1 Grand Prix in Shanghai, China today, followed by A1 Team Great Britain and A1 Team Germany. The third place win for Germany has secured the 2006/2007 championship.

In qualifying for the sprint race, Great Britain's driver Robbie Kerr managed to secure the pole position with the fastest lap time recorded this weekend. New Zealand's driver, Jonny Reid, started in second position, narrowly missing out on what would have been his third pole position of the season. Third and fourth place starters are the United States and Germany respectively.

Great Britain managed to win the sprint race, thus securing a first place start in the feature race. During the entire sprint race, Great Britain were the leaders, with a "comfortable" lead, always maintaining their position in front of New Zealand. Germany replaced America, becoming the third place sprint-race winners.

During the feature race Jonny Reid, driving New Zealand's Black Beauty car, passed Great Britain on lap number 16 of the 50-lap race.

Pro-secular Turks rally against Erdogan's possible presidential candidacy
Several hundred thousand protesters marched on Saturday in Turkey's capital Ankara to ensure that Turkey remains a secular Republic, and to deter prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from candidacy for the presidency. Mr. Erdoğan leads a moderate islamist party, and the secular establishment, that organised the "Protect Your Republic"-protest, fears that he might be a threat to the separation between religion and state that modern Turkey has known since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Bussed into to the capital Ankara from the most far flung regions of Turkey, tens of thousands of Turks waving the Turkish flag chanted "Turkey is secular and will remain secular" and "We don't want an imam as president!". The organisation spoke of more than one million protesters, news source estimates range from 200 000 to 370 000. A lot of banners depicting Atatürk could be seen in the crowd, which marched on the cordoned-off mausoleum of the founder of the Turkish state.

One of the protesters, Ece Kaplan, told the Los Angeles Times: "We believe in Islam; we are Muslims. But we don't want it to become our whole way of life." Her sister Muge Kaplan said: "We don't want to become Iran."

Mr. Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party, founded by former Islamists, has a majority in the Turkish parliament, which is authorized by the constitution to elect the new president.

Erdoğan refutes allegations that he and his government are bent on steering Turkey, a key Western ally, toward an Islam-oriented path. Since coming to power more than four years ago, Erdoğan's government has overseen a swath of democratic reforms that helped Turkey win a date to open membership talks with the European Union two years ago.

Western diplomats agree that Mr. Erdoğan has done nothing substantive to alter Turkey's pro-secular course, though his efforts to outlaw adultery and to forge closer relations with Iran and Syria have provoked some concern.

As president, Mr. Erdoğan would be the commander-in-chief of Turkey's rigidly pro secular military. On Thursday, army chief of staff general Yaşar Büyükanıt released a message underlining this: "We hope that someone who is loyal to the principles of the republic - not just in words but in essence - is elected president." He also would have the power to appoint members of the judiciary and university rectors.

With just days left for candidates to submit their names, only one person, a comedian named Metin Uca, has declared his intention to run for president. On Friday, President Sezer waded into the presidential debate saying that Turkey's secular regime faced its gravest danger since the founding of the Republic in 1923. Throughout his seven-year term, Mr. Sezer vetoed legislation and the appointment of scores of senior officials forwarded by Mr. Erdoğan, arguing that they posed a threat to secularism.

Policy pundit says UK has 'lost the plot' on alcohol

Writing in PPR, the Institute of Public Policy Research's journal, Jasper Gerard has argued that, "When it comes to booze, society seems to have lost its senses," and implies the UK has lost-the-plot on alcohol regulation.

The claim in comes alongside calls for 'tough-love' tactics to tackle the UK's drinking culture in which a fifth of 11-15 year olds drink alcohol at least once a week.

Amongst the recommendations, is the idea that the legal drinking age, in the UK, should be raised to 21. Gerard states that with such a move, "it is at least possible that those in their early and mid teens will not see drink as something they will soon be allowed to do so therefore they might as well start doing it surreptitiously now."

Both industry, and alcoholism support groups have already challenged Gerard’s comments.

39 now dead in Thai floods

A flash flood sent a torrent of water rushing over two waterfalls in southern Thailand. More than 100 tourists and people celebrating Songkran (Thai New Year) were cooling off in the water beneath the falls. "Seven more dead bodies were brought to hospital this morning, bringing the death toll up to thirty-five," said Sinchai Rongdej, the hospital director at Yantakhao district. Fifteen of the dead were children. Thirty-four of the confirmed dead were Thai, Sinchai said, while one of the victims was a Laos national. Latest reports from the Bangkok Post indicate that the death toll had risen to 39 by Sunday nightfall, including 17 children. Of those injured, 25 have so far been discharged from hospital..

Provincial governor, Arnon Manasvanich said, "The search is continuing, but my belief is we might find more bodies of women and children as they couldn't escape in time."

"We are still searching in the hope of finding survivors -- we do have hope left," said Colonel Sonthichai Awatanakulthep, Yantakhao police chief. In a later statement, Trang Province police Major-General Kachorn Siriwan admitted that at least 30 people were still missing.

Will Iranian detainees remain in US custody?

Five Iranians captured in January by the United States during a security operation in Erbil, Iraq are continuing to be held by US authorities, despite objections from the Iranian government.

BBC News reported that US Secretary of State argued for the their release on the grounds they were "no longer useful," but was overruled by the White House. Iran claims the five captured are diplomats, while the US maintains that they are members of the Revolutionary Guard and were supplying arms, money, and military training to Iraqi insurgents.

However, since that report, Iran said it has received some signals concerning the possible release of the five Iranians, state television reported.

Another violent day in Baghdad

Sunday was another violent day in Baghdad. Bomb attacks on a market place and a mini-bus, claimed the lives of as many as 35 people in Shi'ite neighborhoods of Iraq's capital city.

Two car bombs went off within minutes of each other at a market place in the al-Shurta al-Arabaa district. The second bomb may have been targeting rescuers. At least eighteen are dead and many wounded.

In Kadhimiya in northern Baghdad, a suicide bomber boarded a minibus. Six were killed and eleven wounded when the explosives belt detonated.

In Karrada, an affluent neighborhood of Baghdad, a parked minibus blew up in a street with electronics shops, possibly targeting a police patrol. Five were left dead and another ten injured.

Separately, two British Puma transport helicopters crashed after they reportedly collided. Two crew members were killed.

Today in History
1746 - The Battle of Culloden, the final battle of the Jacobite Rising, was fought in Culloden, Scotland.

1912 - Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.

1917 - Vladimir Lenin returned to Petrograd from Switzerland, and joined the Bolshevik movement in Russia.

1943 - Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann discovered the psychedelic effects of LSD.

1947 - Texas City Disaster: Thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate in the port of Texas City, Texas, USA exploded, killing 581 people and triggering the first ever class action lawsuit against the United States government.

April 16 is Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel (2007), Patriots' Day in Massachusetts and Maine (2007)

Quote of the Day

How far should one accept the rules of the society in which one lives? To put it another way: at what point does conformity become corruption? Only by answering such questions does the conscience truly define itself. ~ Kenneth Tynan

Word of the Day

subtlety; n

The quality or fact of being subtle or barely noticed.

An instance of being subtle, a subtle thing, especially a subtle argument or distinction.

An ornate medieval illusion dish, made from one thing but crafted to look like another.

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