BERLIN, June 30 /PRNewswire/ --

- Gameforge CEO to Address Free-to-Play Browser-Based Games and Opportunities in This Growing Sector

Klaas Kersting, CEO of German browser game pioneer Gameforge, will deliver a track keynote at the 2009 Game Developers Conference(R) Europe (GDC Europe). Changes in the Games Industry - Free-to-play vs. Payment Models will be the title of Kersting's keynote in which he will share his thoughts on the success of the revolutionary free-to-play model that is employed by Gameforge. The free-to-play model allows gamers worldwide to play games for free, while premium items within the game or specific services are charged that enhance the play experience.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, June 30 /PRNewswire/ --

- Firm Adds Partners in Dubai, Abu Dhabi; Upgrades, Expands Office Space in Region

Client demand for legal services in the Middle East continues to fuel expansion for Baker Botts L.L.P. (http://www.bakerbotts.com/), prompting the firm to increase its commitment to the region by opening an office in Abu Dhabi -- its third in the Middle East -- and upgrading and expanding the firm's current offices in Dubai and Riyadh.

Abu Dhabi is a natural fit for Baker Botts given the firm's extensive background in energy-related matters, which has been recently confirmed by a Band 1 ranking in Chambers Global 2009 Projects Energy: Oil and Gas and Projects Work categories.

LONDON and RALEIGH, North Carolina, June 30 /PRNewswire/ --

- Partnership Will Provide Global Job Posting Support and Expanded Job Board Management Services to Peopleclick Clients

Peopleclick, Inc., the leading global talent acquisition solutions provider, and eQuest, the global leader in job posting and internet recruitment management services, today announced a renewed partnership that will continue to provide Peopleclick clients advanced job posting services through the Peopleclick(R) Recruitment Management System (RMS).

Through the multi-year partnership, Peopleclick and eQuest will offer clients the following:

LONDON, June 30 /PRNewswire/ --

Demand for fresh water is increasing around the world, especially in regions with rapidly growing populations and badly affected by long, drought seasons. Water is only going to become scarcer and many governments are looking at desalination and investing in this technology to supply water to their populations. These factors are driving the desalination market that shows a strong growth according to Frost Sullivan.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081117/FSLOGO)

Look out, Ida.   Hot on the heels of one overhyped mishmash of media hysteria, a new fossil primate from Myanmar/Burma called Ganlea megacanina is causing researchers to speculate that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, not Africa, as many researchers believe. 

A major focus of recent paleoanthropological research has been to establish the origin of anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes and humans) from earlier and more primitive primates known as prosimians (lemurs, tarsiers and their extinct relatives).

Researchers have completed the largest ever survey for very distant clusters of galaxies. 

Named the Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-sequence Cluster Survey, "SpARCS" detects galaxy clusters using deep ground-based optical observations from the CTIO 4m and CFHT 3.6m telescopes, combined with Spitzer Space Telescope infrared observations. 

SpARCS is designed to find clusters as they appeared lwhen the universe was 6 billion years old or younger.  Astronomers believe the universe was formed 13.7 billion years ago.

Are individuals, families and employers getting their money's worth from US healthcare?

You'd think not, given the media full court press by the Obama administration for a federal health care plan at a cost of trillions that will allegedly be paid for by 'savings' in current health care.    Like 'jobs saved', it isn't a number anyone can really track so it's up to individual belief - and likely political party registration.    The federal government wants to provide more services to more people.   And that may not be good health policy.

Why did our Milky Way galaxy survive while others failed?    Ill-defined, convenient catch-all dark matter gets the credit, according to a new paper.   Dark matter is thought to make up 85 per cent of the Universe’s mass and it may also be one of the building blocks of galaxy formation.

The researchers say that the early Milky Way, which had begun forming stars, held on to the raw gaseous material from which further stars would be made. This material would otherwise have been evaporated by the high temperatures generated by the “ignition” of the Universe about half-a-billion years after the Big Bang.

Welcome back, Moa.   Scientists say they have performed the first DNA-based reconstruction of the giant extinct moa bird using prehistoric feathers recovered from caves and rock shelters in New Zealand.

The researchers from the University of Adelaide and Landcare Research in New Zealand have identified four different moa species after retrieving ancient DNA from moa feathers believed to be at least 2500 years old.

The giant birds, measuring up to 2.5 meters and weighing 250 kilograms, were the dominant animals in New Zealand’s pre-human environment but were quickly exterminated after the arrival of the Maori around 1280 AD.


Moa bird

Interested in Michael Jackson now that he is dead?   So are cyber criminals who are exploiting public interest in his death with spam messages that infect computers with a virus able to steal bank account numbers and passwords, according to Gary Warner, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) director of research in computer forensics. Warner and the other researchers at the UAB Spam Data Mine began tracking the celebrity-focused spam early on Tuesday, June 30.

“We’ve been tracking the cyber criminals behind this spam and the associated virus for many weeks, but it is just today that they have shifted their strategy by embedding their virus into an e-mail that claims to link you to a Web site that will reveal Michael Jackson’s killer,” Warner said.