Brawn GP win F1 legal battle over diffusers

Jenson Button’s wins in the opening two races of the Formula One season will stand after motorsport chiefs ruled on Wednesday that the aerodynamic diffuser ftited to the rear of his Brawn GP car is legal. The FIA Court of Appeal said that the rear diffusers used by the Brawn, Williams and Toyota teams “comply with the applicable regulations.” The FIA panel sat for eight hours in Paris on Tuesday to hear evidence and their decision backs up a decision by the stewards at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix that the controversial aerodynamic devices were within the rules

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Quake survivor: I feel a deep sadness

Survivors of Monday’s deadly earthquake in Italy’s Abruzzo region face the prospect of rebuilding their shattered lives after thousands of homes were demolished. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday pledged to build a new town to house the thousands of people left homeless in the medieval city of L’Aquila, about 120 km (75 miles) northeast of Rome but for many the problems lie in the more immediate future

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A Lion Called Christian: Two Men and Their Very Large Cat

A Lion Called Christian: The True Story of the Remarkable Bond Between Two Friends and a Lion By Anthony Bourke and John Rendall 221 pages; Broadway Books The Gist: In 1969, two flamboyantly dressed, long-haired hippies named Anthony Bourke and John Rendall purchased a lion cub from London’s upscale department store Harrods — which, at the time, traded in exotic animals — and brought him to live in their Chelsea furniture store in the heart of Swinging London. Christian lived in the store, aptly named Sophisticat, for five months. He played well with children, was litter-trained, and only ruined the store’s furniture by accident.

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Severe weather wreak havoc from Plains to Gulf Coast

Mother Nature provided a little bit of everything throughout parts of the country on Saturday. Heavy winds wreaked havoc on a shopping center in central Tennessee, blowing out windows and damaging the roof of a shopping center, Murfreesboro police spokesman Kyle Evans told CNN Radio. Glass storefronts at the Jackson Heights Shopping Center were blown out 100 to 150 yards into the parking lot, Evans said

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‘Monsters’ promotes girl power, friend power

The latest 3-D animated movie involves the possible extinction of the human race and features a mad scientist with the head of a cockroach, a prehistoric half-ape/half-fish, a 50-foot-tall woman (OK, 49-foot-11), and a blue brainless blob named B.O.B. And they’re the good guys

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Police: 81 cars missing from dealership; 3 execs in custody

The owner of a Nebraska car dealership and two executives were in police custody facing theft charges Thursday after 81 cars were taken from the dealership’s lot, authorities said. Alan Patch, 52, the owner of Legacy Auto Sales in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, was being held in Tooele County, Utah, Scottsbluff police Capt

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Police: $9.9 million embezzlement led to layoffs at firm

A former official of a cabinet company that has laid off employees has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling $9.9 million from the company over seven years. Annette Yeomans, who was chief financial officer for California-based Quality Woodworks, was arrested Wednesday after a yearlong investigation, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

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Can Pakistan Regain Control of Swat from the Taliban?

“Smile, you’re in Swat,” reads a billboard on the main road into the lush green honeymooners’ valley once dubbed the “Switzerland of Asia”. But over the past two years, Swat has been turned into a playground for the Taliban. And it may be the Taliban, and their fellow Islamists, who have most reason to smile as a result of the government’s decision, last week, to end its floundering military campaign and instead accept the Taliban’s key demand — for the imposition of Islamic shari’a law in the area

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‘Slumdog’ makes history, sweeps Oscars

Years from now it may be a trivia question on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." “What 2008 film based around a well-known game show,” the question may read, ominous music humming in the background, “won the Oscar for best picture” The answer — “Slumdog Millionaire” — is history. It is East meeting West, Bollywood meeting Hollywood, a film that was going nowhere winning the biggest prize in the movie business

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How Consumers Shop Differently Today


 The American shopper is dazed and confused. What do I really want, versus what do I really need Sure, I can afford the plasma television now, but should I save that $2,000, in case I get laid off tomorrow Can I really tell my snobby friends that I now shop at — egads — Walmart To gauge the mindset of the American consumer, and the state of shopping during this recession, TIME checked in with respected retail expert Paco Underhill, the CEO of Envirosell, a consulting firm, and author of Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping.
 Give us a snapshot of the American consumer landscape. 
We can divide the American consumer into thirds

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