The Great British Battle Between Privacy and the Press

It was the final act in what Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper called “one of the biggest acts of civil disobedience in modern times.” Chafing under a court order that banned the press from naming a top player with an English soccer club who was alleged to have had an affair with a reality TV star, Britons took to Twitter. By May 21, details of the affair had been leaked so widely on the internet that over 50,000 users had tweeted the name of the player: Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs.

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DEA personnel among 14 dead in Afghan copter crash

Three Drug Enforcement Administration personnel were among 14 Americans killed when three helicopters went down in Afghanistan on Monday, a law enforcement source said. The joint international security force killed more than a dozen enemy fighters while searching the compound, ISAF said

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Mistrial declared in Travolta extortion case

A mistrial has been declared in the trial of two people accused of attempting to extort millions from actor John Travolta after the death of his 16-year-old son, Jett. Judge Anita Allen thought someone in the jury had had inappropriate communications outside of the jury room, where jurors had been deliberating for eight hours

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$5M Ibrahim Prize for African Leadership: No 2009 Winner

When Sudanese-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim announced an annual $5 million prize to reward Africa’s best leaders, he warned that there would be years when “we wouldn’t award the prize.” Just three years on, and despite considering “some credible candidates,” the prize committee said on Monday that no prize would be awarded in 2009. In announcing the decision, committee member and former Botswana President Ketumile Masire said the panel “noted the progress made with governance in some African countries, while noticing with concern recent setbacks in other countries.” The non-award is, of course, a powerful indictment of Africa’s still patchy governance and the continent’s most recently retired leaders

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