BBC World News, Mar 30, 2012

Why are fantasy world accents British? BBC News By Brian Wheeler BBC News, Washington Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings are set in fantasy worlds, so why does everybody speak with a British accent? A lot of British people will not have heard of Game of Thrones. This tale of family strife and... See all stories on this topic » BBC News

Aardman's Pirates! risks choppy waters in the US BBC News By Emma Jones Entertainment reporter, BBC News The plot of the latest Aardman film The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists is, perhaps, a uniquely British storyline so how well is the movie likely to fare with the tricky American audiences? See all stories on this topic » BBC News

Murdoch's new problem: Accused of hacking Sky TV peers Firstpost Prior to these revelations by the BBC, allegations of illegal activity were confined to the Murdochs' newspapers in the UK, and had not involved Sky. The alleged hacking could have dramatically undermined the business of Sky competitor On Digital. See all stories on this topic » Firstpost

The BBC's approach to streaming the digital Olympics BBC News (blog) I'm Richard Cooper, Controller of Digital Distribution at the BBC, and I'd like to talk a bit about the BBC's preparations for London 2012, the first truly digital Olympics. Like everyone else in the UK involved with bringing the games to a digital ... See all stories on this topic »

Nature deficit disorder 'damaging Britain's children' BBC News By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News UKchildren are losing contact with nature at a "dramatic" rate, and their health and education are suffering, a National Trust report says. Traffic, the lure of video screens and parental anxieties ... See all stories on this topic » BBC News

Pesticides hit queen bee numbers BBC News By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News Some of the world's most commonly used pesticides are killing bees by damaging their ability to navigate and reducing numbers of queens, research suggests. Scientific groups in the UK and France ... See all stories on this topic » BBC News

When two Channels Go To War... Evening Standard In an old-fashioned ratings war, the sort most might have thought ended in the 1980s when there were only four channels, BBC One launched its new Saturday-night music talent show, The Voice UK, with an estimated £11 million budget and a panel of judges ... See all stories on this topic »

WISE prizes for educational innovation euronews Doha's World Innovative Summit for Education (WISE) 2011 has awarded six prizes to educational projects from across the world. The winning projects include BBC Janala in the UK, Connexions in the USA and SueñaLetras in Chile. Another prize-winner from ... See all stories on this topic » euronews

Murdoch steps up attack amid fresh allegations Bangkok Post An investigation was also aired this week in the UK by the BBC's flagship current affairs television show, Panorama. Murdoch used Twitter on Thursday to lash out at the BBC and on Friday turned his focus to Fairfax. "Proof you can't trust anything in ... See all stories on this topic »

Blackberry-maker RIM plans new focus amid $125m loss BBC News "They may be doing well in some of the developing countries but clearly in the developed world they are not doing well, both Apple and Google are doing much better," he told BBC News. Just three months after his appointment, chief executive Thorsten ... See all stories on this topic » BBC News

BBC's Micro Men take audience back to the future Cabume - Cambridge technology news A 15-year corporate journey, but a much longer personal one, was sparked in many ways by the BBC Micro as Lynch has admitted on more than occasion – an incredible story to be sure. Yet the scale of the business aside, tales of humble beginnings that ... See all stories on this topic »

Riots coverage earns three stations Sony award nominations Journalism.co.uk Three radio stations' live coverage of last summer's riots are competing against each other for a prize at this year's Sony Radio Academy awards - the Oscars of the UK radio industry.BBC Radio 5 Live and commercial stations BRMB in Birmingham and Real ... See all stories on this topic » Journalism.co.uk

Murdoch's Media Empire Strikes Back RadioVop The BBC has a long history of ideological clashes with BSkyB, which is 39 percent owned by News Corp, and both Rupert and his son James Murdoch have publicly attacked the British public service broadcaster over the years. See all stories on this topic »

The Spirit of Schubert: Hughes, BBC Philharmonic, Mena, Media City UK, Salford The Arts Desk As the long arm of the Schubertfest reached the North last night, we had the world premiere of his Symphony D (D708a) of 1821, commissioned by the BBC from the man who painstakingly and affectionately works wonders with mere fragments, ... See all stories on this topic » The Arts Desk

Recommended: UN orders immediate Syria cease-fire: 'The deadline is now' msnbc.com First for breaking news and analysis: Compelling world news stories from msnbc.com and NBC News journalists. Follow us on Twitter. By msnbc.com staff and news services Syrian President Bashar Assad must order a cease-fire immediately, a spokesman for ... See all stories on this topic »

Total Wipeout Is No More, After Bbc Axing Contactmusic.com The show, which features contestants attempting to negotiate the "world's toughest obstacle course" was a reliable ratings banker though the BBC are looking to free up space and finances for a new Saturday evening show, reports the UK'sGuardian ... See all stories on this topic » Contactmusic.com

New ways we can fly the flag Telegraph.co.uk Last week NHK, Japan's licence-fee funded BBC equivalent, flew to the UK to transmit five hours of London-centric live broadcasting. I know this because Sir Paul Smith tells me half an hour of it was dedicated to him showing the camera crew around our ... See all stories on this topic » Telegraph.co.uk

News all a-twitter over hacking allegations; Austar deal approved by shareholders The Conversation It comes as the BBC defended it's current affair program Panorama against accusations by News Corporation that the program had “grossly misrepresented” it while airing an investigation into the computer hacking of British rival ONDigital. See all stories on this topic »

News Corp comes up short Stuff.co.nz The AFR story followed similar investigations by the BBC's Panorama programme in the UK and PBS's Frontline in the US. News Corp has denied the allegations, many of which have been raised and challenged by the media giant before. See all stories on this topic »

Cast are set for Leamington gig Leamington Courier The BBC used the bittersweet anthem, synonymous with life's let-downs and brave sporting disappointments, to close its television coverage after Germany had again knocked the Three Lions out of a major tournament in a penalty shootout. See all stories on this topic » Leamington Courier

Letters: Back the world ban on looting The Independent However, his response to a BBC reporter who brought this matter to his attention was more worrying. He said that such a statutory breach would be a "technicality". It would be of great interest if the Government could advise us of the extent to which ... See all stories on this topic »

Fuel panic: petrol prices rise as demand rockets - live coverage The Guardian (blog) 7.11pm: Tanker drivers are normally only allowed to work nine hours per day but the government has waived the rule to allow them to work for 11 hours until next Thursday according to theBBC. The rules were introduced by the European Union to prevent... See all stories on this topic » The Guardian (blog)

TV piracy claims heap more pressure on Murdoch empire Business Recorder (blog) The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday alleged that News Corp had used a special unit, Operational Security, set up in the mid-1990s, to sabotage its competitors, reinforcing claims in a BBC Panorama documentary aired earlier this week. See all stories on this topic »

London's 1948 Olympics: the real austerity Games The Guardian Britain was still (just about) the world's most powerful nation and the Liberal government could afford to wage a naval arms race with Germany while planning to lay the foundations of the welfare state. In 1948, the US was clearly the world's most ... See all stories on this topic » The Guardian

New Season At Liverpool Philharmonic Glasswerk.co.uk Our commitment to folk music continues with a number of the genre's best artists visiting us including Mawkin, The Imagined Village, the Unthanks, Andy Irvine, and we are delighted to welcome Nora Guthrie, Woody Guthrie's daughter, for a Woody Guthrie ... See all stories on this topic »

Gino D'Acampo, the king on a cooking mission in Kent Kent News The cream of the UK's culinary elite heads to Kent during the next fortnight for a festival of cooking. Glow, the new entertainment venue at Bluewater shopping centre, is hosting this spring's BBCGood Food Show UK, the first time it has been in the ... See all stories on this topic » Kent News

Band continues to show us what they're made of This is Somerset Steve and Phil (who have rock backgrounds which include playing on Rolling Stones albums, as well as with Peter Gabriel and Jools Holland) are tripleBBC Radio 2 Folk Awards winners (Best Live Act, Best Duo and Best Original Song) – the latter in 2010 ... See all stories on this topic »

Panic at the pumps: Mum left fighting for her life after setting fire to ... Mirror.co.uk Lee Smith, one of the fire officers called to the scene, told BBC Radio 5 Live that firefighters did not need to extinguish any flames but had to deal with "a lot of smoke". The woman was cooking dinner while decanting the fuel from an "appropriate ... See all stories on this topic »

Pesticides killing off queen bee numbers in UK and France DigitalJournal.com Pesticides used in the UK and France are damaging the ability of bees to navigate and the number of queen bees is in serious decline as a result. Scientists studied the use of pesticides called neonicotinoids, which are used throughout the world. See all stories on this topic » DigitalJournal.com

New Zealand's 'Small Five' safari Telegraph.co.uk Last time I was in New Zealand, filming the BBC television series Last Chance to See with Stephen Fry, I had to fight off the amorous attentions of one of the world's largest parrots – a kakapo. The kakapo in question (at the time, one of only 124 left... See all stories on this topic » Telegraph.co.uk

'Downton Abbey' Season 3: 7 Shows To Watch Until PBS Show Returns [VIDEO] International Business Times For those who can last until mid-April, meanwhile, PBS Masterpiece will be airing a new version of the World War I era love story "Birdsong" in the US, focusing on the affair between a soldier and a married woman. Based on the novel by Sebastian Faulks ... See all stories on this topic » International Business Times

Russell Peters Returns to Canada in June With the NOTORIOUS WORLD TOUR MarketWatch (press release) Canada's biggest comedy export, global comedy rockstar, RUSSELL PETERS returns to Canada with ALL NEW MATERIAL as part of his NOTORIOUS WORLD TOUR, which will bring Peters to Toronto's Air Canada Centre on Saturday, June 16th, and to the Saddledome in ... See all stories on this topic »

Inquest into Respect shock victory begins The Independent she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "This is a Labour seat, has been for many, many decades and last night they lost it in spectacular fashion." She added: "We saw West saying, 'You (Labour) can't take us for granted, we're no longer going to vote ... See all stories on this topic »

Who's Responsible For Meeting The Cyber Threat? Scientific American (blog) Interestingly the UK and the US are seen as the safest places for Internet based business. This has resulted in several large corporations quietly reversing the recent trend to relocate business to the developing world to reduce costs. See all stories on this topic » Scientific American (blog)

Easter holiday activities in Greater Manchester Manchester Evening News The fab four will perform their hits at Gulliver's World in Warrington. And after the show you can meet the ZingZillas face to face. ZingZillas will be at Gulliver's World Warrington on April 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 28th, 29th UKpop draws don't ... See all stories on this topic »

The Global Average Salary Is $18000/Year The Mark As to how the ILO actually figured out that number, we'll let the BBC's Ruth Alexander explain: First, they work out the total wage bill for every country in the world. To do that they get the average salary from each office for national statistics, ... See all stories on this topic »

Eurozone crisis live: Spain announces €27bn of Budget savings The Guardian Budget minister Cristobal Montoro will appear before the press at 13.15 UK, after the cabinet meeting that has approved today's budget. And Giles reminds us that Spaniards are upset that they are being asked by eurozone members to perform a deeper ... See all stories on this topic » The Guardian

Vietnam jails ex-Vinashin execs over near-bankruptcy GlobalPost In a bid to create state-owned national champions, Vietnam's communist leadership established Vinashin in 1996, intending it to become on the world'stop shipbuilders, according to the BBC. But the group almost collapsed in 2010 after racking up debts ... See all stories on this topic »

Yep, There's A Robot That Can Jump 30 Feet The Mark As to how the ILO actually figured out that number, we'll let the BBC's Ruth Alexander explain: First, they work out the total wage bill for every country in the world. To do that they get the average salary from each office for national statistics, ... See all stories on this topic »

BBC News - Afghan killing suspect Staff Sgt Robert Bales back in US The US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians on Sunday night has been flown back to the US. ... bbc.co.uk navigation ... Play One-minute World News ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17414585

BBC News - World Bank: Obama ... Barack Obama has revealed his nomination for the new head of the World Bank. He is a ... bbc.co.uk navigation.News · Sport ... Play One-minute World News ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17493335

BBC News - Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell in hospital bbc.co.uk navigation ... US Election 2012 ... Jason Russell narrated the Kony 2012 campaign video which went viral on the internet last ... The world'swages ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17409934

BBC News - 'Tiniest puppy' vies for ... A puppy, so small it may qualify for the Guinness Book ofWorld Records, had to be ... bbc.co.uk navigation ... USElection 2012 ... Play One-minute World News ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17542464

BBC News - Footage of US army ... Video footage has been released of a US Apache helicopter which went out of control and crashed into ...bbc.co.uk navigation ... Play One-minute World News ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17481023

BBC News - Obama names surprise World Bank candidate Jim ... bbc.co.uk navigation ... But with the US holding the most votes at the WorldBank, which has 187 .... How a video gamer maker raised over $3m from its fans ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17481973

info@als-alexander.org or interalex1@yahoo.com