U.K. Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, is putting pressure on Syria to answer claims that President Assad threatened Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri before his murder. The claim came from a former Syrian VP living in Paris who spoke out against the regime in Damascus and has since been vilified in his native country.

The announcement out of Beirut came despite the statements and efforts of key international leaders visiting the region, including United Nations chief Kofi Annan, who have tried to achieve a more stable situation that will lead to peace.

The official holiday shopping season appears to have gotten off to a lukewarm start, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that monitors retail sales. Wal-Mart was one bright spot, though.

The NASDAQ Market is a national institution, a cornerstone for business, said Chris Evans, owner of Christine Marie Motorsports. "Strong sponsorship is essential to the success of every NASCAR team and we are ecstatic to include the NASDAQ organization in our plans for 2005 and beyond."

Alfred Poor, display industry expert, has recently announced the launch of his new HDTV Resource Center site. Consumers will now have access to independent and expert information regarding HDTV and digital TV technology.

In a further sign that the split between some former Soviet republics is widening, Latvia apparently gave a Belarussian diplomat 24 hours to leave the country after declaring him "persona non grata".

The health care system in the US has left many elderly people wondering how they will pay for their prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies price their drugs at atrocious rates under the assumption that a patients prescription plan will cover the majority. This however is not the case with many senior citizens, who reach their insurance payment limit of prescriptions prior to the end of the cycle year. Shouldn`t Medicare and the government assist these senior citizens?

Voice over IP is becoming very popular, with more and more Web hosting providers implementing this technological advancement. Monster Hosting, a Canadian Web hosting and e-commerce solutions provider recently announced the planned launch of a Voice over Internet Protocol service.

There is a new film star on the scene. His name is Steven Man, and he has brought film noir back to life in `Sweet Deadly Dreams`.

At Britain`s Conservative Party`s conference this week, leaders planned how to regain power.

At least 35,000 jobs are lost according to a September report from the U.S. Dept. of Labor as the jobless rate rose to 5.1 percent from 4.9 percent after the deadly and costly Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

A/C drain lines have traditionally been hard to access and maintain or repair. A new invention called CHEM-Kleen creates a simple and lucrative solution for plumbing and HVAC/R professionals.

In an industry where a woman?s body is sometimes her only ticket into the world of glamour, it is refreshing to note that not all stars feel that way.

IBM will build a supercomputer which uses a hybrid approach to handle some of the calculating grunt work. Roadrunner, the new computer, combines a conventional cluster of Opteron servers with Cell chips.

Something in cinemas is about to give the US film lovers a lot of entertainment. Eight films directed by the famous Pedro Almodovar are to return to the cinemas a little before his new movie, Volver.