In Broward County, officials find the software used in Broward can handle only 32,000 votes per precinct. After that, the system starts counting backward. The problem affected running tallies and not the final vote totals. All absentee ballots had been placed in a single precinct to be counted and only the votes for constitutional amendments reached the threshold and encountered the problem. (The Palm Beach Post)
Microsoft announces it will pay NovellUSD $536 million to settle its ten-year-long antitrust suit and will pay legal costs incurred by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). In return, CCIA will not pursue its arguments in favor of the European Union's antitrust suit. (Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi publicly authorizes an offensive in Fallujah and Ramadi to "liberate the people" and "clean Falluja of terrorists". U.S. and Iraqi forces advance. A hospital doctor in Falluja reports 15 people killed and 20 wounded. (Reuters)(BBC)
In Baghdad, three Iraqis are killed when a suicide car bomb explodes near a U.S. convoy. A U.K. soldier is killed by a roadside bomb near Camp Dogwood. A U.S. soldier is killed when gunmen open fire on a military patrol. At least three people are killed and 40 others injured in explosions at two Christian churches. (Reuters)(BBC)
The current wave of violence in Côte d'Ivoire causes London markets to fear a lack of cocoa exports, sending cocoa to a five-year high. French forces, including tanks, deploy throughout the Ivorian capital, Abidjan, to restore order. (BBC)
Supercomputers: The Top 500 Supercomputers list, which officially charts the records for the 500 fastest computers in the world, announces IBM's Blue Gene/L prototype as the world's fastest supercomputer. Using the Linpack benchmark, it achieved a record computational speed of 70.72 TFlops, taking the title away from Japan's Earth Simulator (35.86 TFlops) which held the title since June 2002. NASA's Columbia takes second place with 51.87 TFlops. (BBC)
