Gates pourrait être le prochain touriste de l?espace

Le milliardaire américain Bill Gates, fondateur du géant informatique Microsoft, pourrait être le prochain touriste de l?espace, a affirmé le cosmonaute russe Fedor Iourtchikhine à bord de la station ISS au côté de Charles Simonyi, cinquième touriste spatial. ?Simonyi nous a dit que Bill Gates s?apprêtait aussi à aller dans l?espace (...)?, a déclaré M. Iourtchikhine lors d?une conférence de presse retransmise sur la chaîne russe ?Rossia.?

Décès de l?écrivain américain Kurt Vonnegut à 84 ans

L?écrivain américain Kurt Vonnegut, rendu célèbre par ses romans ?Abattoir 5? et ?Le berceau du chat?, est mort mardi soir à Manhattan à l?âge de 84 ans, rapporte le ?New York Times?. Il avait fait une chute il y a plusieurs semaines, se blessant grièvement à la tête, a déclaré au quotidien l?un de ses proches, Morgan Entrekin. Vonnegut, né le 11 novembre 1922 à Indianapolis, était également l?auteur de pièces de théâtre comme ?Happy Birthday, Wanda June?, d?essais et de nouvelles.

Great expectations for Dickens theme park

Literary purists may quake at the prospect of a Charles Dickens theme park complete with a Great Expectations boat ride and Ye Olde Curiosity Gift Shop. But Dickens World, a 62 million pound complex built in the naval dockyard where his father once worked as a clerk, is confidently predicting 300,000 visitors a year to this new attraction dedicated to the Victorian author. ?We are not Disneyfying Dickens,? insists manager Ross Hutchins as he dons hard hat and fluorescent jacket to tour the site, a hive of activity as the Fagin?s den playground and Newgate Prison?s grimy walls are given their finishing touches. ?If Dickens was alive today, he would probably have built the place himself, ? Hutchins said. ?In fact, if Dickens was alive today, he would probably have been working for television as a scriptwriter. He was very much a populist,? he added.

Rapper Snoop avoids jail in drug and gun case

Rapper Snoop Dogg entered a surprise no-contest plea to gun and drug charges on Wednesday and was given a three-year suspended sentence that will spare him jail time. The 35-year-old rap star, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, was also sentenced to five years probation and ordered to perform 800 hours of community service by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Broadus was due in court for an arraignment on charges of sale or transportation of marijuana and possession of a gun by a convicted felon, which could have landed him behind bars for up to four years if convicted at a trial. He instead entered the no-contest plea as part of an agreement with prosecutors. ?He recognizes the seriousness of this,? Broadus? lawyer, Donald Etra, told reporters after the hearing.