The South Florida, Fort Lauderdale Diva of Blues, Mary Washington-Brooks, will once again perform for the 19th Annual Riverwalk Blues and Music Festival on February 12th, 2006.

Bird Flu has, thanks mostly to migratory birds, arrived in Europe. Global fears of a bird flu pandemic have led to governments spending massive amounts of money to build up flu vaccine stores.

Afghanistan owed $108 million to the United States and $44 million to Germany from loans before the 1979 Soviet invasion. Russia claimed it was owed about $10 billion from loans to a puppet communist government in the early 1990s. But Afghanistan on Wednesday hailed decisions to cancel the impoverished country`s debts to the United States, Russia and Germany.

Bill Gates, chairman of the Redmond, Washington headquartered, Microsoft, said Microsoft will dramatically increase its investment in research and development (R&D), at the opening speech of the Boao Forum for Asia on southern China`s Hainan island.

Lebanon, which recently saw the air and sea blockade imposed on it by Israel for well over a month, was bracing for demonstrations before the arrival of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was set to land in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Monday.

Cadbury Schweppes announced Thursday, it plans to split into two separate firms, Schweppes ? a company focused on the sale of drinks and Cadbury ? a confectionary.

Many Russians are joining United Russia, a party whose only political commandment is unequivocal support for President Vladimir Putin. The moves have the eerie echoes of Russians joining the Communist Party in the USSR in order to get ahead. This time, though, people are joining with sights set on the future, not because of a current reality that demands it.

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Now that London has won the bid for hosting the 2012 games, it isn`t as if that year will arrive and the games will simply be able to start. What is being done to prepare the U.K. capital for seven years into the future?

Arguan, an ecommerce software company founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1998, has released its new Xonca ecommerce software, a hosted ecommerce shoping cart product designed for online merchants.

The internet has become the top source of where people get their information. Due to this fact many businesses are finding that bringing their company onto the web is a great way to promote and raise awareness. Regardless of what the company is offering, the internet is a great place to allow more potential clients to find the business.

This weekend will mark 10 years since the Amazon website was started up, sparking a revolution in the literary and music sales world by turning people`s attention from brick and mortar bookstores to online options.

The Prime Minister of England, Tony Blair, and the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan on Monday called for the deployment of international forces to make Hezbollah stop bombing Israel.

A new study released by the NCAA shows that %77 of all Division I athletes complete the college degree within six years of entering.

The Honolulu Star reported Friday that American Airlines` flight 176 from Tokyo to Dallas was diverted from its set course to Honolulu, after the pilots heard strange noises from their over-head compartments.