Selected News for News Reading Competition

News I
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 (BBC News)
Netanyahu reaffirms 'right to build' in Jerusalem
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asserted Israel's "right to build" in Jerusalem, amid a row with the US over plans for new homes in the city.
"Jerusalem is not a settlement, it's our capital," the Israeli prime minister said in Washington. But he did not mention controversial plans to build 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem in his speech. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier urged Israel to make "difficult but necessary choices" for peace.
The Palestinian Authority is furious at Israel's insistence on building on occupied territory. It sees it as a serious stumbling block to the resumption of talks, which have been stalled for more than a year.
Call to Abbas
In his speech to a convention of the influential pro-Israeli group Aipac (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), Mr Netanyahu said building in Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem "in no way precludes the possibility of a two-state solution".He said Israel wanted Palestinians to be "our neighbours, living freely". He also called on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to "come and negotiate peace". Mr Netanyahu added that said while the US could help resolve the problems with the Palestinians, peace could not be imposed from the outside. Mrs Clinton earlier urged Mr Netanyahu to extend Israel's suspension of new building in the West Bank to include East Jerusalem.
Last week, the Israeli prime minister proposed a series of "trust-building measures" that represented "a real effort" to aid US peace efforts.
Although details have not yet been made public, Israeli officials say these include an agreement to discuss all outstanding issues in the indirect "proximity talks" being mediated by US special envoy George Mitchell.
Nearly 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are held to be illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.


News II
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 (BBC News)
Britain to launch executive space agency
The UK will formally launch its new space agency on Tuesday.
The nation has been alone among the major industrialised nations in not having an executive body to direct its activities beyond the Earth's surface. The new organisation is expected to take control of the money spent on space by government departments and science funding agencies.
It will also represent the UK in all its dealings with international partners. Britain currently puts about £270m a year into civil space endeavours, most of it via the UK's membership of the European Space Agency (Esa).
This is not expected to change dramatically with the creation of an executive agency, especially with the government committed to cutting the public deficit. The hope, however, is that the reorganization will bring more coherence to space policy, enabling the available monies to be spent more effectively. In tandem with the establishment of the agency, the government will also give its response to a major report produced last month on the future of the UK space industry.
The sector has been very successful, growing at an average of 9% a year even through the recession. It currently generates revenues in excess of £6bn per annum. The Space Innovation and Growth Strategy was prepared jointly by industry, academia and Whitehall officials. It set out a series of recommendations to grow the sector still further over the next 20 years.
Among its recommendations was a call to government and industry itself to raise substantially their levels of investment in the coming decade. The IGS also wanted the government to back a National Space Technology Strategy and to investigate the idea of an indigenous Earth observation service. The BBC understands the latter proposal at least will get a study to determine its feasibility. The creation of a space agency is just the latest in a series of initiatives affecting British space interests.
In July last year, Esa finally opened a technical centre in Britain - the only one of its senior members not to have such a showcase facility. It also appointed a British national, Major Tim Peake, to its astronaut corps in May.


News III
China state media: Google decision 'totally wrong'
March 23, 2010 12:03 a.m. EDT
Beijing and Hong Kong, China (CNN) -- China state media said Google's decision to quit censoring its China Web site "violated its written promise" and was "totally wrong."
In the chess game between Beijing and Google, Google has redirected all search traffic from mainland China to Google's Hong Kong site, google.com.hk rather than pulling out of China. Although Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed over to Beijing in 1997, the region operates with some autonomy and has a free press.
The next move may be for China to block access to Google.cn -- as it has done for Web sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
"We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services," David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, wrote in a statement posted on the company's official blog.
As of 9:30 p.m. ET, Google users in China could still access Google.cn but results on politically sensitive search terms, such as "Tiananmen Square massacre" or the outlawed religious group "Falun Gong," were being blocked when searched from Beijing -- suggesting that although Google is no longer self censoring, China state censors of "the Great Firewall" may be.
Google made the announcement on its Web site at 3:03 a.m. local Beijing time (3:03 p.m. ET). China Daily, a state-run media organization, responded with a story four hours later quoting an unnamed official from the Internet bureau under the State Council Information Office.
"Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks," said the official.
"This is totally wrong. We're uncompromisingly opposed to the politicization of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts," the official said.
Instead of shuttering its operations in China, Google plans to continue operating there. "We intend to continue R&D work in China and also to maintain a sales presence there, though the size of the sales team will obviously be partially dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk," wrote Drummond of Google.

News IV
Consumers tepid as Disney posts flat 1Q profit
Consumer spending tepid as Disney posts 1st quarter profit that beats Wall Street forecasts
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Consumers sent tepid signals to The Walt Disney Co. during the holiday quarter, as many of them still required discounts to step into theme parks and reduced spending on food, beverages and merchandise when they got there. A nascent advertising recovery also had an uneven effect on the company, as ESPN benefited from higher ad revenue, while the ABC broadcast network suffered from fewer viewers and lower advertising rates. The Disney Channel, which doesn't run commercials, saw fees from cable and satellite operators grow. "At this point we have limited visibility regarding the economy and its impact on our businesses," Chief Executive Bob Iger said on a conference call. "Thus we will continue to focus on controlling costs while creating great content and experiences and building our brands." Disney is closely tethered to consumer confidence. Its theme parks, stores and movies are a good barometer of how freely people are spending their extra cash. Disney said it earned $844 million in its fiscal first quarter, which ended Jan. 2, roughly flat compared with a year earlier. Revenue rose 1 percent to $9.74 billion. Although both measures beat analyst forecasts, shares were little changed in after-hours trading. Iger said the goal at theme parks was to "slowly wean our guests off discounting. ... We don't believe that we're dealing with an economy right now that enables us to shut off the discounting immediately." As an example, Disney said that at about half the hotel rooms at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., the company is now offering seven nights' stay for the price of five, instead of the four it began offering earlier. Theme park revenue was flat at $2.66 billion as a decline in attendance at Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World was offset by higher attendance at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. Movie studio revenue was down just slightly at $1.94 billion, although cost-cutting helped profits, including from the release of the Pixar animated movie "Up" on home video. Sales of consumer products fell 3 percent to $746 million. Disney overhauled its movie studio in October following more than a year of disappointing box-office results. Iger confirmed reports that the company is considering the sale of award-winning label Miramax, which it acquired from Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 1993 for $80 million. He said investing in new Miramax movies "wasn't necessarily a core strategy of ours," and that new investment will be limited to releasing six remaining films that are near completion through 2011. "With that, we believe that it would be prudent for us to explore all of our options," he said. The company also completed its acquisition of Marvel Entertainment Inc. in the quarter. It hopes the purchase will spur new movies and product lines based on Marvel's huge comic book universe. The latest quarter, as have past quarters, was saved by the strength of ESPN. Disney also touted the international growth of the Disney Channel. Media networks revenue, which includes the ABC broadcast network and TV stations, was up 7 percent at $4.18 billion. The results beat analyst forecasts. Excluding one-time items, the company earned 47 cents per share, compared with 41 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting adjusted earnings of 39 cents per share on $9.62 billion in revenue. Shares in Disney, which is based in Burbank, gained 4 cents to $29.88 in extended trading after the results were announced. Earlier, it closed up 36 cents, or 1.2 percent, at $29.84
Honda expands airbag inflation recall

News V
Honda Motor to expand airbag inflation recall, says devices can deploy with too much pressure
DETROIT (AP) -- Honda Motor Co. is adding more than 378,000 cars to an existing safety recall for air bag inflation problems, the company said Tuesday.
The company will replace the driver's side air bag inflator on the cars because they can deploy with too much pressure, causing the inflator to rupture and injure or kill the driver.
The recall now affects more than 822,000 vehicles, including certain 2001 and 2002 Accord sedans, Civic compacts, Odyssey minivans, CR-V small sport utility vehicles and some 2002 Acura TL sedans.
Honda said it is aware of 12 incidents linked to the problem, with 11 injuries and one death. The company said it is not aware of any problems happening after July 2009.
"However, we have concluded that we cannot be completely certain that the driver's air bag inflator in the vehicles being added to this recall at this time will perform as designed," Honda said in a statement.
Honda's announcement comes at a time of increased attention on automotive recalls. Though the problems are unrelated, rival Toyota Motor Corp. in the process of recalling more than 8 million cars and trucks due to faulty gas pedals. On Tuesday, Toyota said it would recall more than 440,000 of its flagship 2010 Prius hybrids due to a braking glitch.
"There is a heightened sensitivity right to anything to do with recalls," said John Mendel, executive vice president of sales for American Honda.
Honda originally announced the recall to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in November of 2008, involving fewer than 4,000 2001 Accords and Civics, the company said. The recall was expanded in July of 2009 to 440,000 vehicles including the 2001 and 2002 Accord and Civic, as well as certain 2002 Acura TL sedans.
Worldwide, Honda has recalled about 514,000 vehicles globally due to the airbag problem. The company said it would make issue a press release at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Tokyo (9 p.m. Tuesday EST) about how many vehicles are affected worldwide by the latest recall expansion.
Company officials said the airbag produces too much pressure that can cause the inflator to rupture, sending metal fragments toward the driver.
Honda says owners should take their vehicles to dealerships as soon as they are notified by the company in writing. Notification will begin during the month of February.