Most Earth-like planet might have liquid oceansIt probably wouldn’t feel exactly like home. But the planet known as Gliese 581d has a lot more in common with Earth than astronomers first thought.
April, 2009
The great Australian dream becomes a nightmare
The increased first home owners’ grant is encouraging many young people to buy into a false economy.
Just when it couldn’t get any worse for the Dockers…
Freo are win-less, anchored to the bottom of the AFL ladder and like to swan around as Klansmen. A fan laments.
YouTube sub genre #329: cat v baby
I give you YouTube sub genre #329: baby v cat, or the lesser known, cat v baby.
Global disaster? Please explain
No-one can possibly know how long the current recession will last or how deep it will go.
The world’s most enduring brands
Each year a brand sums up the zeitgeist — think Lego in 1960, Coca-Cola in 1971, Levi in 1985, Guinness in 1999 and Google in 2000. But which is the most iconic of them all?
Bahrain Grand Prix preview: expect a Brawn resurgence
Bahrain is the last of the opening series of ‘flyaway’ races and, after two rain-affected Grands Prix, we’re likely to see a much more normal race at the desert circuit.
riches to rags 
Manhattan elite cry into caviar
As the privileged class loses its privileges, a collective moan rises from the canyons of Wall Street.
Australian cricket lumbers under poor selection policies
What can be made of Australia’s sterling comeback in game five against South Africa to lose the series by only the narrowest of margins?
Indian media in recession denial
Indian newspapers are banning the use of the word “recession” in connection with their country. Apparently a recession is only something that happens in America.
Indian prisoners hunger strike over IPL
Prisoners in Kolkata’s Alipore Central Jail have gone on a hunger strike in protest against not being allowed to watch the IPL.
NFL draft preview: East meets East
The NFL draft will be held on Saturday and Sunday in New York. The LA Times examines the needs of each team by division.
Is this the end for Tommy Smyth?
Fox Soccer Channel will be broadcasting the Champions League next season. Which means that fans will be hearing a lot less of quite possibly the world’s most hated sports commentator, Tommy Smyth.
Economists still relevant, apparently
Economists mostly failed to predict the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Now they can’t agree how to solve it. People are starting to wonder: What good are economists anyway?
Wembley vows to ditch the pitch
The Wembley pitch that has drawn scorn as a national embarrassment is to be ripped up after the Football Association admitted that it was being forced to start again.
Food companies get frugal
The packaged-food industry has long touted itself as recession-proof. But strapped consumers are shattering that assumption, setting off a frenzy in the nation’s supermarket aisles and cooking labs.
Gilly feels like a teenager
He might have dropped the curtains on his international career more than a year back, but Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist said he still feels like a teenager.
We picked this: origins of the financial crisis [pdf]
It has become a cliché to refer to an asset boom as a mania. The cliché, however, obscures why ordinary folk become avid buyers of whatever object has become the target of desire.
Japanese football like Pokemon, according to former star
Former Japan and AS Roma star Hidetoshi Nakata thinks Japan plays soccer like a computer and reckons the national team’s speedy, passing game can only take it so far on the world stage.
Spain bracing for deflation
Faced with plunging orders, merchants across this recession-wracked country are starting to do something that many of them have never done: cut retail prices.
Abu Dhabi police, Pakistan happy with security … err… cricket preparation
The Pakistan Cricket Board is reportedly “delighted” with security assistance provided by the Dubai and Abu Dhabi police for the Chapal Cup.
The lost generation of journalists
Media definition of “success” in 2009: employment. That’s right, if you have a job in an industry that has no clear future, you’re doing well.
Hello, Dolly
Making a stage musical of 9 to 5 was not her idea, but the opportunity to create a line extension for her worldwide brand, combined with the creative challenge of writing songs for Broadway, piqued Dolly Parton’s interest.
Poison suspected in deaths of polo horses
Twenty-one horses from a Venezuelan-based team died on Sunday, with poison looking like the most likely cause.
South Korea lights the way on emissions cuts
Seoul’s huge financial stimulus package pledges 81% for a swath of environmental projects. But activists fear a wave of construction may increase the country’s carbon footprint.
