T-Mobile and Orange in UK merger

T-Mobile and Orange are to merge their UK businesses, creating a mobile phone giant with 28.4 million customers.

The deal between Orange-owner France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK will see a business with sales of 9.4bn euros (£8.2bn; $13.5bn).

Holding about 37% of the mobile market it will be the UK’s largest provider, overtaking Telefonica’s O2.

It is the second large corporate deal in two days, after Kraft Food’s £10.2bn takeover proposal for Cadbury.
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New giant rat species discovered

LONDON, England (CNN) — Scientists have discovered a new species of giant rat in a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea.

Measuring 82 centimeters (32.2 inches) from nose to tail and weighing around 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds), the species is thought to be one of the largest rats ever to be found.

The discovery was made by a team from the BBC Natural History Unit inside the crater of Mount Bosavi — an extinct volcano in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea.

“This is one of the world’s largest rats. It’s a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers,” said Kristofer Helgen, a biologist from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, who was part of the expedition team.
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Virus linked to prostate tumours

A virus known to cause cancer in animals has been found for the first time in human prostate cancer cells.

The researchers from the University of Utah and Columbia University medical schools found the virus in 27% of the 200 cancerous prostates they looked at.

They say it was associated with more aggressive tumours and found in only 6% of non-cancerous prostates.

This is the first report to link XMRV (Xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus) to human cancers.
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Samoa switches to driving on left

Samoa has become the first country since the 1970s to change the side of the road on which cars are driven.

At 0600 local time (1700GMT) sirens sounded and drivers were told to move from the right side to the left.

The government brought about the change to bring Samoa into line with other South Pacific nations.

A two-day holiday was declared to ease traffic as people got used to the new rules, which faced legal challenges from groups which predicted chaos.
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Venice honour for Pixar directors

The animation directors of Pixar studios have won the Venice Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award – the first team to be given the honour.

Chief creative officer John Lasseter and its other directors are behind hits including Finding Nemo and Toy Story.

Pixar has made 10 films, four of which have won best animation Oscars.

Earlier, Lasseter said he hoped more animations would be put forward for the best picture Oscar now that 10 films will be eligible for the shortlist.
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Lampard praises improved England

ENGLAND v CROATIA
World Cup qualifier, European group six
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Weds 9 Sept (kick-off 2000 BST)

Midfielder Frank Lampard believes England are a far more confident team than the one that crashed out of the Euro 2008 qualifiers to Croatia.

Lampard and his team-mates face Slaven Bilic’s side again in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley on Wednesday.

And England will book their place in next summer’s finals if they pick up all three points.
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Japan vows big climate change cut

Japan’s next leader has promised a big cut in greenhouse gas emissions, saying he will aim for a 25% reduction by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

Centre-left Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama is due to take over as prime minister on 16 September, after a resounding election victory in August.

His predecessor, Taro Aso, had pledged cuts of only 8%.

Mr Hatoyama said the plan was dependent on other nations agreeing targets at December’s climate talks in Copenhagen.
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Embattled Obama adviser resigns

A White House adviser has resigned in a row about crude remarks he made about Republicans, and over his signing of a controversial 9/11 petition.

Van Jones, President Obama’s adviser on green jobs, had issued two public apologies in the past week.

One of the apologies was for signing a petition in 2001, which suggested the Bush administration may have allowed the 9/11 terror attacks to happen.

As he quit, Mr Jones said opponents had “mounted a vicious smear campaign.”

The row that has engulfed Van Jones centred on video of a speech he gave before joining the Obama administration, and a petition that questioned whether the Bush administration “may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war.”
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Jamaican athletes admit to doping

Four Jamaican athletes have admitted to taking a banned substance.

The four are Yohan Blake and Marvin Anderson, who train with triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt, as well as Allodin Fothergill and Lansford Spence.

“The athletes have admitted they took a banned substance,” said Jamaican Anti-Doping Appeals Tribunal (Jadco) chairman Ransford Langrin.

“We have to decide what is the sanction we apply – the minimum sanction is a reprimand or up to a two-year ban.”

Relay runners Blake, Fothergill, Spence and Anderson as well as Sheri-Ann Brooks were withdrawn by Jamaica from the World Championships in Berlin last month.
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The future of libraries, with or without books

(CNN) — The stereotypical library is dying — and it’s taking its shushing ladies, dank smell and endless shelves of books with it.

Books are being pushed aside for digital learning centers and gaming areas. “Loud rooms” that promote public discourse and group projects are taking over the bookish quiet. Hipster staffers who blog, chat on Twitter and care little about the Dewey Decimal System are edging out old-school librarians.

And that’s just the surface. By some accounts, the library system is undergoing a complete transformation that goes far beyond these image changes.
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