Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel maid from Guinea, has come out of the shadows and told the world that Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to sexually assault her – the latest dramatic twist in what was already a cliff-hanger of a case. She had not told the truth on her asylum application or her tax return, and she [...]

The hotel maid who accuses ex-IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape may file a civil suit if prosecutors do not press criminal charges, her lawyer says. It was their first meeting since the Manhattan district attorney's office said it had doubts about her credibility because of false statements on her asylum application and a [...]

The World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano, Texas, wears its reputation on its windows. The windows depict 2004 Olympic all-around champion Carly Patterson with Olympic medals dangling from her neck, an olive wreath resting on her head, and the Parthenon in the background. Patterson was the first American to take the sport’s greatest prize since [...]

Scores of independent US music stores have written an open letter to Jay-Z and Kanye West over exclusive release deals for their upcoming album. Watch The Throne will be released first on iTunes before the Best Buy chain's exclusive deal to sell the album nearly two weeks ahead of other music retailers. The letter says [...]

Major carmakers have agreed new fuel efficiency standards proposed by the Obama administration in an effort to end the dominance of gas guzzlers. They have agreed that by 2025, cars and light trucks sold in the US will drive on average 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) of fuel, compared with 27 mpg today. The White [...]

Google+ took only 24 days to reach 20 million users but their decision to delete accounts without real names attached has caused anger. So why do social networks insist on your real name? "The authentication is important – it's a big problem on the internet and social networks make it more unlikely for someone to [...]

IIR Middle East, a leading provider of specialist information and services for the academic and scientific, professional and commercial business communities, today announced a full line-up of high-profile speakers for the forthcoming Third Saudi Insurance Summit that takes place on 17-20 May 2009 at the Riyadh Marriott Hotel, Riyadh. The Kingdom’s foremost summit for the [...]

Music service Spotify is being sued in the US and Europe for allegedly violating patents held by PacketVideo. The lawsuit claims that Spotify has violated at least two patents owned by PacketVideo that cover methods of streaming music over data networks. The legal action comes barely two weeks after Spotify launched a US version of [...]

The city clerk's office in Manhattan has never seen a day quite like this: Cheers, tears of joy and much festivity and jubilation as same sex couples in New York were able to marry legally for the first time. Elise Barcolas and her partner Jenna Glazer stood patiently in line, Elise in a magenta satin [...]

Arnold Schwarzenegger's childhood home in Austria has opened as a museum. Visitors to the museum can pose next to a life-size model of Arnie as the Terminator. The museum also has a section dedicated to his time as governor of California, including a facsimile of his desk. Although he lives half a world away, Schwarzenegger's [...]