Rio’s 2016 bid boosted by IOC evaluation

Rio de Janeiro’s chances of becoming the first South American city to host the Olympics received a boost when the IOC published its evaluation of the four contenders for the 2016 Games on Wednesday. Rio is competing with Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo for the right to stage the 2016 Summer Olympics, with the final decision being made in Copenhagen on October 2.

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What’s Behind Japan’s Love Affair with Robots?

If Japanese engineers had their way, we might soon be cheering on a robotic World Series. Every year or two, Japanese researchers roll out a new robotic invention — the latest to grab headlines earlier this month was a mechanized baseball duo of a batter and pitcher that can throw 90% of its pitches in the strike zone

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What is man’s greatest achievement?

Fire, the wheel and even cup noodles were among the varied answers to the question posed by CNN: "What is man’s greatest achievement?" CNN producers armed with cameras put the puzzler to passersby in Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Bangkok, Tokyo, New Delhi and Paris. In the lead-up to the 40th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, more people might have been expected to nominate the moon landing as one of man’s greatest feats. Alas not

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Michael Jackson’s life in the spotlight

Thousands of fans poured in to Los Angeles en route to the public memorial service at the Staples Center arena, while Jackson’s family and closest friends attended a private gathering at the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn cemetery before going on to the memorial downtown. In Germany, thousands of Jackson fans have been offered the chance to watch events in Los Angeles live at Berlin’s O2 World arena.

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What Michael Jackson Did on His Last Day

Michael Jackson spent the last night of his life doing what he had always done: performing. The singer was in rehearsals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, running through a full slate of songs from his upcoming 50-concert London event flanked by friends and colleagues. He marveled at the major set pieces that had finally been installed in the rehearsal space.

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