In addition, NASA is promoting its Minority Innovation Challenges Institute, a virtual training ground that can increase the participation of AAPI students in NASA technical challenges.

WHITEHOUSE: Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Blog

He describes a scenario in which a team from several agencies meets in the virtual space to monitor maps of agents' locations on the ground in Afghanistan in real time, communicating both with each other by teleconference and video feeds in the virtual room and simultaneously with the ground agents via mobile devices.

FORBES: Building The Feds' Virtual War Room

The aim is to find and fix the biggest problems in virtual mode, before ground is struck in December.

FORBES: Why Virtual Construction Is The New Normal

The trust Wyeth set up to settle the class-action claims has ground to a virtual halt as it examines claims for possibly fraudulent medical evidence.

FORBES: No Deal

On top of this, many business types who supported Mr Sarkozy are disappointed over the pace of the reforms, which have ground to a virtual halt.

ECONOMIST: France

The left-hander played some remarkable shots, none more so than when chipping a virtual yorker from Flintoff straight down the ground for six, with no follow-through at all.

BBC: Dismal England thrashed by India

With more than 500 million active users logging on regularly to post an update, catch up with friends or tend a virtual farm, Facebook seems like fertile ground for connecting with consumers.

FORBES: Social Commerce: Luring Customers To Your Facebook Page

It is plugging the multimedia power of its Pentium II processor with demonstrations of 3-D Web sites such as Virtual Arsenal - a tour of the Premier League champions' ground, the forthcoming Legal and General estate agency site which lets visitors tour homes inside and out and the Internet-enabled game Forsaken.

BBC: UK takes on the Internet World