The 12 group winners and the best eight runners-up advance to the final qualifying phase where they will be split into five groups with the winners joining hosts South Africa at the first World Cup to be staged by Africa.
In fact, Gates' vision, which puts Microsoft at the center of the Internet's next phase, assumes the company will not be split up, and he gave no indication that Microsoft has an alternate plan of action should the government order the company's division.
Just three months before its planned split into two companies, Abbott Laboratories is suffering a significant setback after a Phase III trial for a chronic kidney disease treatment was ended due to an excessive number of deaths and serious adverse events in patients.