WEST

GOOGLE WINS JOINT BID TO INSTALL WI-FI NETWORK IN SAN FRANCISCO

Google has won its bid to blanket the whole of San Francisco with a free wireless service in what is likely to be the biggest project of its kind. The city picked the search giant and Internet service provider Earthlink to build a network that will enable Internet users to surf the web anywhere in the city free of charge. The two companies will now begin negotiations in earnest over exactly what form the network is likely to take.

Google and Earthlink beat competition from rivals including IBM and Cisco Systems for the right to build the $15 million infrastructure to support the project.

In their proposal, Google and Earthlink, former rivals who later agreed to work together, envisage a two-tier system. Google is expected to offer a free service that will be paid for by advertising.

Earthlink will provide a service that runs around four times faster, although users will have to pay a subscription of around $20 a month for access. Both will be faster than the traditional dial-up service and the city hopes both will be up and running by the end of this year.

– The Daily Telegraph

WASHINGTON

BUSH NOMINATES PAULISON TO BE FEMA CHIEF

WASHINGTON – With hurricane season just months away, President Bush on yesterday nominated the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be permanent head of the nation’s disaster response agency. R. David Paulison, took over at FEMA in September, when Mr. Bush named him to replace Michael Brown, who quit in the face of unrelenting criticism over the agency’s sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Paulison would be undersecretary for federal emergency management at the Homeland Security Department. Mr. Paulison, 59, began as a firefighter in 1971 with the North Miami Beach Fire Department, which was absorbed by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department.

– Associated Press

MID-ATLANTIC

FOUR TEENAGERS AT N.J. HIGH SCHOOL ARE CHARGED WITH TERRORISM

CAMDEN, N.J. – Four teenagers accused of plotting to kill about 25 people in a lunch-period massacre at a high school were charged yesterday under a terrorism law created after the attacks or September 11, 2001.

The boys, ages 14 to 16, were arrested Wednesday after police heard about the alleged plot from administrators at the school, where three of the teens are students. Their names were not released because of their ages. Authorities said the teens planned to attack students, teachers, and others at Winslow Township High.

The four boys appeared in family court, and a judge ordered them held for psychiatric evaluations.

– Associated Press