Microsoft readies smartphone assault on Apple

Microsoft is gearing up to take on rival Apple in the smartphone market. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Microsoft is getting ready to launch an online marketplace akin to Apple’s App Store. Microsoft is also readying a more sophisticated version of its mobile operating system called Windows Mobile 6.5, the Journal reported.

Australian bushfire survivor films aftermath of deadly firestorm

Through a smoky haze, flames continue to dance around the remains of a house, a shed and the blackened trunks of trees on remarkable video footage filmed moments after a firestorm swept through the rural Victorian town of Kinglake, Australia. Resident Brad Price is holding the camera, providing a slightly breathless commentary of the destruction of his home and town as smoke clogs his throat and blurs his vision. “Everything’s gone

Chelsea cleared to talk with Hiddink

Chelsea said on Tuesday that they had been given permission to talk with Guus Hiddink about taking charge at the Premier League club until the end of the season. The Dutchman has emerged as the clear favorite to replace the sacked Luis Felipe Scolari, but his involvement with the Russian national team is a stumbling block.

Sarajevo homes raided in hunt for Mladic

European Union peacekeepers in Bosnia on Tuesday raided homes belonging to family members of Ratko Mladic, the highest-ranking figure still at large from the Balkan conflict in the mid 1990s, Serbian media reported. The force raided houses belonging to Mladic’s sister, Milica Avram, and sister-in-law, Radinka Mladic, in East Sarajevo, an area of the city inside the Bosnian Serb-controlled Republika Srpska, a seperate political entity to the Muslim-Croat-controlled Bosnia-Croat Federation