Happy 82nd Birthday Mickey Mouse!

Updated at: 0610 PST,  Thursday, November 18, 2010

NEW YORK: Mickey Mouse is arguably the most famous of the Disney cartoon characters, and on Thursday the 18th is the celebration of Mickey's 82nd birthday! Mickey Mouse made his debut in "Steamboat Willie" at the Colony Theater in New York. Mickey and Steamboat Willie helped give birth to an empire. Every single famous, infamous, and historic conquest by Disney in the last eight decades would not be possible without Mickey. The mouse has become one of the top iconic symbols in entertainment and business history in America, all in only 82 years! Originally, Mickey was voiced by Walt Disney himself. Later, those duties were assumed by Jim Macdonald and today Wayne Allwine provides Mickey's distinctive voice. Although he is 82, Mickey Mouse's birthday still leaves him in pretty good shape. Since he is a cartoon and can't age Mickey is currently the main character in the Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney series and is still the master of ceremonies in Disney World and all the other Disney parks, and he is currently getting set for another busy holiday season.

Former French Minister confirms Pak arms sale kickbacks

Updated at: 1835 PST,  Wednesday, November 17, 2010  PARIS: French former Defence Minister Charles Millon confirmed on Wednesday the existence of kickbacks on arms deals with Pakistan. Millon told investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke about the kickbacks during a hearing on Wednesday, a source close to the matter told. Former President Jacques Chirac tasked Millon with ending kickbacks on arms contracts shortly after he came to power in 1995. Chirac asked Millon "to proceed with revising arms contracts and to verify as much as possible if there were signs of the existence of kickbacks," the source said. "For the Pakistani contract, looking at the secret service reports and analyses carried out by the (defence) ministry services, one has the absolute conviction that there were kickbacks," media quoted Millon as telling the judge. Millon spoke in the context of investigations and legal proceedings linked to the killing of 11 French engineers in the bombing. Van Ruymbeke is investigating claims that a company set up with President Nicolas Sarkozy's approval channelled money from the arms deal commissions to fund political activities in France. French investigators have since 2008 been examining allegations that the canceling of commissions for one of the arms deals prompted the attack that killed 11 French engineers and three others in Pakistan eight years ago.

Internet2 ready for a 100 GB thrust

Updated at: 2310 PST,  Monday, November 17, 2010  NEW YORK: The high-speed network used by research and education organizations is moving to a much faster network. When it comes to researching complex topics and accessing services on the Internet, having too much speed is never an issue. Now Internet2, established as a private network for researchers and educators, is about to get a needed speed boost. As Enterprise Networking Planet reports, Internet2 is moving to 100 Gigabit per second networking. Thanks to technology advances, the new network will include between 5 and 8 terabits of capacity. The Internet2 project is funded in part by the U.S. government as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and is using equipment from network supplier Juniper Networks. Internet2 is moving to 100 Gigabit per second (100G) networking thanks to new technologies and standards. Internet2 is a high-speed network connecting over 50,000 research and educational facilities. The official move to 100G networking should not come as a surprise, as Internet2 first announced its 100G intentions back in 2008. What has changed in the last two years is that 100G networking has moved from becoming just an idea to becoming an implementable reality.

Rosie O'Donnell Blogs: 'Cancer Free'

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By EVAN STARKMAN

November 16, 2010

Rosie O'Donnell shared what appears to be great news about her health on Tuesday.

Rosie, 48, titled her latest blog post "cancer free" and said it's "as close 2 perfect as life gets." She added, "and I see the faces of the women in the waiting room… praying they too got good news today."

Last Sunday the star wrote that she had an MRI earlier this month, and it revealed spots on her breast that caused concern -- especially with her family history. Rosie wrote that her mother died from cancer at 39.