December 1, 2004

Explosives-laden Canadian-owned ship arrested in Honduras (AP) - U.S. experts were examining 900 tonnes of explosives aboard a Canadian-owned but Libyan-flag cargo ship that arrived last week at Puerto Cortes, 220 kilometres north of the Honduran capital, officials said. The MV Abdul Rahman failed to report it was carrying the explosives, in violation of rules that require 72 hours advance notice, according to Honduran authorities. "The U.S. investigators arrived 24 hours ago and maybe tomorrow will authorize the departure of the ship," Puerto Cortes Superintendent Oscar Contreras said Tuesday. U.S. Embassy officials could not be reached for comment. 12:32:44 PM

European Union Suspends Antitrust Review of Microsoft, ContentGuard Deal BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Union suspended its antitrust review of Microsoft Corp.'s deal with Time Warner Inc. to develop anti-piracy software now that technology company Thomson SA has joined the proposed venture, officials said Wednesday. "There is information still missing, so we stopped the clock for the moment," EU antitrust spokesman Jonathan Todd said. Microsoft and Time Warner bought out most of Xerox Corp.'s stake in ContentGuard last April, but ran into problems with the European Commission, which threatened to block the deal because of fears of Microsoft's market power. The companies aim to develop new standards in so-called digital rights management technologies, which allow online access to movies, music and other digital content while protecting it from unauthorized copying and counterfeiting. 9:04:26 AM

Alaska Highway News Canadian author Pierre Berton dies at 84 Big News Network.com - Canadian broadcaster, writer and author of 50 books Pierre Berton died in Toronto of heart failure. He was 84. He was a very strong guy and he fought like hell, but he died peacefully with his family around him, his eldest son, Peter, said in a statement. 8:38:05 AM