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A United States-based operation, known now as USF1, has unveiled plans to join the Formula One motor racing series beginning in the 2010 season. Team principal Ken Anderson and sporting director Peter Windsor officially launched USF1 in a live press conference broadcast on the US television channel Speed. Ken Anderson has previously worked for the Ligier and Onyx Grand Prix Formula One teams, and most recently held the position of technical director for the Haas CNC Racing team in the American NASCAR series. Windsor has previously been general

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the current economic recession in the United States "may last into 2010." The Chairman also predicted that unemployment would remain at relatively high levels until 2011. However, Bernanke added that 2010 could be a year of recovery if the government was able to restore some financial stability. He made the statements to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. "It is essential that we continue to complement fiscal stimulus with strong government action to stabilise financial institutions and f

According to official figures, Japan's exports dropped by 46% in January compared to a year ago, the lowest statistics ever to be recorded. Japan's exports to the United States plunged by almost 53% in January, with car shipments down by 81%. Exports to the European Union fell by 47%. The Finance Ministry stated that the trade deficit was 952.6 billion yen (US$9.9 billion), the largest deficit ever recorded. The country's trade deficit with China increased by 61% to 562.7 billion yen (US$5.86 billion). "Japan is particularly vulnerable to th

A Boeing 737-800 registered to Turkish Airlines with 135 people on board crashed at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Tuesday. At least nine people, including the three pilots, were killed and over 80 had been injured. The plane was traveling from Istanbul, Turkey. The airplane crashed short of the runway, close to the A9 highway, and broke into three pieces. According to witness reports, about twenty people were seen walking away from the crash. "The plane was nose up and the tail section was at a 45-degree angle. The tail s

Three major United States stock market indexes closed at their lowest levels in over a decade on Monday, amidst declining investor confidence and worries that the government will nationalize the banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 3.41%, or 251.4 points, to end the day at 7,114.3, its lowest level since October 1997. The Standard and Poor's 500 index lost 26 points or 3.5% to a level of 743.33, its lowest level since April 1997. The Russel 2000 Index of smaller companies dropped by four percent. The three stock market indexes have

On Sunday, suicide bombers killed 11 African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Somalia and injured at least 15 others. Two bombers drove a truck loaded with explosives into the AU camp housing Burundi soldiers in Mogadishu and detonated it. "These attacks have reached today an unprecedented level, resulting in the killing of 11 Burundian soldiers, while 15 others have sustained serious injuries," the African Union said in a statement. Troops were unloading supplies for their camp when militants drove a truck into the camp, then detonating it. "Attac

The rocket carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory has crashed, sending the remains of the atmosphere observation satellite into the ocean off the coast of Antarctica. Shortly before the crash, the 'payload fairing' failed to deploy from the craft. "Several minutes into the flight of the Taurus rocket carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory spacecraft, launch managers declared a contingency after the payload fairing failed to separate," said NASA in a statement on their website. "The spacecraft did not reach orbit and likely landed in

Brazilian aerospace conglomerate Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica, S. A. (Embraer) has revealed plans to cut around twenty percent of the company's workforce of 21,362 people. Twenty percent is over 4,200, but Embraer have not revealed exact numbers. The firm has also scaled back predictions for deliveries and revenue. Estimated delivery figures for 2009 now stand at 242 airliners and corporate jets, compared to the previous number of 270, in the second downwards revision of Embraer of their delivery figures for this year within three months.

For the next few days, a newly discovered, green-tinted comet will be visible by the naked eye in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Comet Lulin, with the official designation of C/2007 N3, was discovered in 2007 and astronomers say that this is the first time it has visited our solar system and may well be the last. As it makes its way around the Sun, an astonishing 800 gallons (3 m3) of water will evaporate from the comet every second. In each 15 minute period, it will shed enough water to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool. It will com

Guantanamo captive Benyam Mohammed was returned to the United Kingdom on February 23, 2009 after years of negotiation. Benyam Mohammed's case stirred controversy for years. He was a legal resident of the United Kingdom who had come to the UK as a refugee from Ethiopia when he was a child. He explained that he had traveled to Afghanistan in an attempt to quit a drug habit he acquired in the UK. He claimed that all the very serious allegations that he reportedly confessed to were extracted while he was being tortured. He had claimed that he

Adelaide United will play in the A-League football preliminary final Queensland Roar in Adelaide on Saturday night. In a top four finals series, which the A-League uses, the preliminary final is a final played between the qualifying Semi Final (1st vs. 2nd) and the winner of the elimination Semi Final (3rd vs. 4th) for the remaining spot in the Grand Final. Adelaide qualified after losing to Melbourne Victory in the major semi final. Queensland qualified after winning the minor semi final against the Central Coast Mariners. Adelaide United op

__NOTOC__ According to ornithologists, a rare Philippines buttonquail feared to have gone extinct was recently documented alive by a cameraman inadvertently filming a local market, right before it was sold and headed for the cooking pot. Scientists had suspected the species—listed as "data deficient" on the 2008 International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List Category—was extinct. Last month, native bird trappers snared and successfully caught the Luzon Buttonquail (Turnix worcesteri or Worcester's buttonquail) in Dalton Pass, a co