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Rival environmental groups are lining up supporters to try to take control of a new net domain aimed at green groups.
At least two consortiums are known to be preparing bids to control .eco.
In March this year, former US vice president Al Gore backed a bid by the California group Dot Eco to operate the so-called "top level domain" (TLD).
But now a Canadian environmental group known as Big Room has launched a competing bid to manage the TLD, which is similar to .com or .uk.
Both firms plan to apply to Icann - the regulatory body that oversees domain names - for the creation of .eco early in 2010.
"We're two different applicants with two different business ideas," Minor Childers, co-founder of Dot Eco, told BBC News.
"Ours is to sell domain names to raise funds for organisations who can affect change."
He said the group had already entered into contracts with its supporters - such as the Sierra Club and the Alliance for Climate Protection - to give away 57% of its profits from sales.
"We could be one of the biggest contributors to environmental causes anywhere in the world," said Mr Childers. source: bbc.com

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado Army Spc. Thomas Delgado saved lives as a combat medic on the front lines in Iraq, earning a Purple Heart when a bomb rocked his vehicle during his nearly yearlong tour. Back home, he was sometimes assigned the role of insurgent during combat training at a mock Iraqi village in California.
Thomas Delgado is charged with trying to kill his wife just days after their fifth wedding anniversary.
1 of 3 "He told me he felt like he never left" Iraq, said his wife, Shayla.
Soon after his return in December 2005, Delgado realized something many war veterans fail to recognize. He was suffering from post-traumatic stress and needed help. He complained of "fear of losing self control," "feelings of hopelessness" and "paranoia," medical records show.
The 25-year-old soldier is now at the center of a controversial attempted murder case, charged with trying to kill his wife in September 2008. She says prosecutors have it all wrong. Her husband of five years needs medical help, not prison. And, she says, he never tried to kill her. source: cnn.com

NASA's Kepler space telescope has already made a discovery, and its science operations aren't even officially under way yet.
The planet used in the test is a giant gas planet about the size of Jupiter that orbits a star called HAT P-7.
1 of 2 NASA scientists who put the telescope through a 10-day test after its March 6 launch said this week that Kepler is working well. Its ability to detect minute changes in light has enabled scientists to determine that a planet orbiting a distant star has an atmosphere, shows only one side to its sun and is so hot it glows.
Kepler's ability to take measurements that precise at such a great distance "proves we can find Earth-size planets," William Borucki, Kepler's principal science investigator told reporters at a recent briefing.
The powerful scope is looking at thousands of stars in its vision field in the Milky Way on a 3½-year mission to find planets the size of Earth and to determine how common these planets are.
The planet used in the test, a giant gas planet about the size of Jupiter, orbits a star called HAT P-7 in just 2.2 days and is 26 times closer than Earth is to the sun, according to NASA. It is called an exoplanet because it orbits a star outside the solar system.
Kepler detected the planet's atmosphere, demonstrating the telescope's capabilities and giving astronomers what NASA says is "only a taste of things to come."
"It learned that this planet is like 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That is so hot. And it's 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit just on one side only. The other side would be closer to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, " said Sara Seager, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Kepler science team member.source: cnn.com

Official Michael Jackson commemorative goods such as calendars and posters could soon hit the shops after a judge approved various merchandising deals.
The LA judge agreed that Jackson's estate and Apple's iTunes store could sell songs and videos of Jermaine Jackson's performance of Smile.
He sang the Charlie Chaplin classic at Michael's public memorial.
The deals were presented to Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff by the administrators of Jackson's estate.
The administrators are lawyer John Branca and music executive John McClain.
They are due to have another hearing with Judge Beckloff on Monday to ask that other deals be cleared.
They include a film featuring the singer's final rehearsals and preparations for a series of comeback concerts in London.
Columbia Pictures has agreed to pay $60m (£36m) for the rights to the footage but the deal must be approved by Monday. source: bbc.com

Top seed Andy Roddick, returning from injury, and defending champion Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina will face each other in the finals of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington on Sunday.
Juan Martin Del Potro serves to Fernando Gonzalez at the Legg Mason Classic on Saturday in Washington.
1 of 2 Roddick, who notched his 500th career win during the tournament, defeated unseeded John Isner 6-7 (3), 6-2, 7-5, in an all-American semi-final on Saturday.
It marked the first time during the tournament that Roddick dropped a set, as he bid for a fourth title in the hardcourt event. He also beat Isner in the 2007 final.
The 26-year-old world No. 5 is playing in his first tournament since suffering a hip injury during his heartbreaking defeat by Roger Federer in an epic Wimbledon final.
In the other semifinal, No. 2 Del Potro defeated fourth seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Before his defeat to Del Potro, Gonzalez had a winning 3-0 career record against del Potro, but their previous meeting was at the 2007 Australian Open.
In doubles action, Martin Damm of the Czech Republic and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden advance to the final after 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon doubles champions Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia pulled out due to a player injury.
source: cnn.com

England capitulated to 82-5 and still trail Australia by 261 runs after two days of the fourth Ashes Test in Leeds.
Australia resumed on 196-4 and Michael Clarke extended his stand with Marcus North to 152 before he fell to Graham Onions for 93 shortly before lunch.
North (110) hit a six to seal his third ton but was last out in a total of 445, Stuart Broad with a Test best 6-91.
England began with a deficit of 343 but after a calm opening stand of 58, five wickets fell for 20 in 40 minutes.
After fateful Friday, in which there were dawn fire alarms, the loss of Andrew Flintoff and a back spasm to Matt Prior during a game of football on the outfield, before the small matter of being skittled out for 102 and seeing Australia reach 196-4, England followers could be forgiven for thinking things could not get worse.
But it was perhaps even worse, 249 runs conceded in 57 overs and another total collapse with the bat.
Conditions were favourable for bowling at the start of the day, however, despite bright sunshine the ball was swinging and there was pace and bounce in the surface.
But England's bowlers could simply not take advantage.
James Anderson found some prodigious movement but was frustrated by having his radar a fraction out, and also appeared to be hampered by a hamstring injury.
The third ball of the day was clinically punched off the back foot for four by North who played in positive fashion throughout, with an expansive follow through.
Anderson bowled one absolute beauty to Clarke that swung away and was too good to edge, but the inswinger that was his surprise delivery began to be his stock delivery and Clarke was able to read them with ease, clipping the ball off his pads with consummate efficacy.
Steve Harmison's first ball was pitched halfway down the wicket and Clarke had ample time to paddle it away through wide mid-on for four.
The tall paceman was clearly told to keep bowling short, perhaps to test the abdominal injury that made Clarke an injury doubt in the build-up.
Men were deployed to the boundary on both sides of the wicket, presumably for the top-edge hook or cut, but their time was spent retrieving the ball from the fence.
If those tactics were surprising, the decision to ask Stuart Broad to bowl well wide of the stumps with seven fielders on the off-side in a desperate attempt to stem the flow of runs was even more baffling, and something of an insult to the paying public, who were reduced to a stunned silence.
A large crowd had arrived full of expectation for an England revival, but the only thing they had to cheer in the opening 90 minutes was the sight of Graeme Swann falling to the ground after his ankle gave way as he was about to throw the ball in from the deep.source: bbc.com

Sonia Sotomayor, who rose from humble roots in a Bronx, New York, housing project to a high-powered legal career, was sworn in Saturday as the 111th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor takes the judicial oath Saturday as her mother, Celina, holds the Bible.
1 of 2 With friends and family looking on, the 55-year-old jurist took the judicial oath in the court's wood-paneled East Conference Room, pledging to "faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me."
It was the first time such a ceremony was televised.
Chief Justice John Roberts administered the 62-word oath required of all federal judges. In a private ceremony just moments before, Sotomayor took a separate, constitutional oath across the hall. Both oaths are necessary for her to assume her new duties.
As her mother, Celina, held a ceremonial Bible, Sotomayor beamed as she waved to relatives and guests when she entered the room for the public ceremony. Among those in the room was her brother, Juan Sotomayor. source: cnn.com

A British soldier has died after an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said.
The soldier, from 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, had been on patrol east of Gereshk in Helmand province.
Lt Col Mark Wenham, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said the soldier made the "ultimate sacrifice" and displayed "bravery that was second to none".
The fatality on Saturday takes the UK death toll in Afghanistan since 2001 to 196. Next of kin have been informed.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A top Pakistani official says the government has information that a leading candidate to replace the Pakistani Taliban leader believed killed recently was shot dead Saturday in a gunfire exchange between supporters of senior Taliban leaders.
Villagers gather at the rubble of houses belonging to supporters of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
The Taliban denied the report.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said either Hakeemullah Mehsud or Wali ur Rehman Mehsud -- believed to be potential successors -- died in a shootout at a meeting of senior Taliban leaders in South Waziristan.
A senior Taliban commander called the reports of clashes between top Taliban leaders and a death of a potential successor false, accusing the government of dispensing propaganda.
"They want to create some sort of rift, and they want to launch a military operation in South Waziristan and use this as a pretext for such an operation," he said.
Saturday's possible shooting came after intelligence reports that Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a recent drone attack.
Pakistan's foreign and interior ministers said Friday the government was still waiting to conduct DNA analysis to confirm the identity of a man killed Wednesday in an unmanned aerial vehicle strike. source: cnn.com

Initial results from the first post-war elections in northern Sri Lanka show the governing party has taken Jaffna, the region's biggest city.
But it suffered a surprise defeat in Vavuniya, the other town where polling took place, where a group supportive of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels won.
Ballots are still being counted in the southern province of Uva.
Turnout was low. Correspondents say people felt the vote took place too early, with thousands still displaced.
The local elections came a day after the defence ministry said it had arrested the new head of the Tamil Tigers, Selvarasa Pathmanathan.
Mr Pathmanathan was detained abroad and was being questioned in Sri Lanka, it added. The rebels have confirmed his arrest.
Low turnout
According to preliminary results, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's governing United People's Freedom Alliance, won control of Jaffna city council in Saturday's election, securing 13 of the 23 seats available.

Voting passed off largely peacefully in all three areas on Saturday
The Tamil National Alliance, a fractious but broadly pro-LTTE parliamentary grouping, came second with eight seats.
Turnout was only 20%. Monitors said one problem had been that many people did not receive voting cards, for reasons that are unclear. Refugees were also required to apply to vote.
But in Vavuniya, where turnout was 52%, the UPFA was pushed into third place, winning only two seats. The TNA came first with five of the 11 seats on the council, followed by a moderate Tamil grouping.
The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says the result in Vavuniya will be seen as an upset. source: bbc.com

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- A police raid averted an assassination plot against Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, authorities said, as they waited for official DNA confirmation of the death of suspected terrorist Noordin M. Top in another raid.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the House of Representatives on Monday
1 of 3 The plot against the president was uncovered Saturday during a raid on a house on the outskirts of Jakarta, where police found a cache of explosives allegedly intended for the attack, said National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso.
Police found about 100 kg (220 lbs) of explosives along with bomb-making materials and a truck, which they did not immediately open for fear it might have been rigged to explode, said Hendarso.
Indonesian police killed two militants believed to be connected with the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta in which 16 people were killed and more than 200 were wounded, Hendarso added.
In the other raid on Saturday, Top was killed during an 18-hour firefight that began Friday in the Central Java town of Temanggung, said a police source and a security analyst with close ties to the police.
Indonesia's anti-terrorism forces had been hunting Top for the past six years. He is also the main suspect in last month's twin hotel bombings in Jakarta. source: cnn.com

Pakistan's interior minister has challenged the Taliban to prove their leaders are still alive, after reports that two of them have been killed.
Rehman Malik told the BBC officials had non-physical evidence that the top commander, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a US missile attack on Wednesday.
He said intelligence suggested a shoot-out later broke out between Mehsud's potential successors in which one died.
The Taliban has accused the interior ministry of making up the incident.
However, the militant group's spokesmen were also unable to offer any physical evidence to disprove the government's claims.
'Credible information'
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Malik denied the allegation that the Pakistani security forces had no evidence proving that Mehsud was killed along with one of his wives in a strike on his father-in-law's house in the Zangarha area, north-east of Ladha, on Wednesday. source: bbc.com

Two cabinet ministers have strongly denied allegations of collusion in the abuse of terrorist suspects overseas.
But Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Home Secretary Alan Johnson said it was impossible to remove all risk when using intelligence obtained overseas.
This came as a committee of MPs urged a probe into the transfer of terror suspects through UK territories.
Last week a committee of MPs and peers called for an independent inquiry into claims of UK complicity in torture.
The Joint Human Rights Committee said on Tuesday the government had not done enough to investigate these claims, because it had been unable to establish whether British officers were involved in mistreatment.
Now the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has also said it has grave concerns that British officers were complicit in torture.
'Hard choices' But in a joint article in the Sunday Telegraph Mr Miliband and Mr Johnson said the UK "firmly opposed" torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment।
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