Newser Premium News Archive Index
Newser Stories from June, 2008

Within this archive you´ll find more than 1.5 million premium articles from our content partner, Highbeam Research, dating from as far back as 1984. These pages provide a deep news history of the last three decades along with more current related Newser articles.

Premium news related to N. Dakota's New Crop: Instant Millionaires
Associated Press | Jun 30, 08 8:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - Many North Dakotans are enjoying their own milkshakes as oil makes landowners instant millionaires. Oil companies are drilling new wells at record rates, and those lucky enough to own the land above deposits are becoming wealthy overnight, the AP reports. "It's the easiest money we've ever made," says an ex-sales clerk.

Premium news related to Coughlin Gives Up, Regains World Record
Los Angeles Times | Jun 30, 08 8:26 PM CDT
(Newser) - The US Olympic swim trials in Omaha, Neb., today looked more like a final in Beijing, as Hayley McGregory took the 100-meter backstroke world record from Natalie Coughlin—who promptly took it back, the Los Angeles Times reports. McGregory swam it in 59.15 seconds, and Coughlin stroked it in 59.03 in the next heat. "I really didn't want...

Premium news related to Some Calif. Workers Rake In 6-Figure OT
San Francisco Chronicle | Jun 30, 08 7:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - As California kicks off the fiscal year with a $17.2 billion deficit and no budget, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that state workers are raking in big overtime bucks—some as high as six figures. Including a nurse who collected $198,000 and an official who banked $403,000 in overtime, the state paid out more than $1.1 billion in OT payments...

Premium news related to More Young Men Go Into the Wild in Alaska
Associated Press | Jun 30, 08 7:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - Just as residents of Healy, Alaska feared, more men have come looking for the bus—the old jalopy where Christopher McCandless died on his famous quest, the AP reports. Portrayed in the book and film, Into the Wild , his trip to Alaska has inspired dozens to trek through dicey weather and mosquito clouds to the bus. "I don't want people...

Premium news related to Candidates Grapple With Timing of VP Picks
New York Times | Jun 30, 08 6:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama and John McCain must do more than pick VP candidates—they have to time the announcements carefully, a key tactical move in a busy summer, the New York Times reports. Two national conventions, the Beijing Olympics, and Obama's Aug. 4 birthday all help or hinder the timing, but it appears that Obama, with a convention closer to the...

Premium news related to NY Billionaire Guilty on Hooker Charges
New York Post | Jun 30, 08 6:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Manhattan banker and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida today to hiring an underage prostitute, and began serving an 18-month sentence. A year of house arrest and a life on the national sex offender list will follow. "They will be tracking you for the rest of your life," a judge told Epstein, 55, a philanthropist who has...

Premium news related to Don't Adjust Your Set: You See Gray
Variety | Jun 30, 08 5:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - The average live TV watcher is 50 years old for the first time in history, Variety reports. The five broadcast networks' average viewer aged out of the desirable 18-to-49 demographic last season. Four of the five nets are rapidly skewing older, while CBS is remaining more or less steady, according to a new study.

Premium news related to Marriage on the Rocks? Maybe It's Your Birth Order
Divorce360.com | Jun 30, 08 5:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Whether a marriage reaches its gold anniversary or ends up in divorce court could depend on the spouses' birth order, reports Divorce360.com.“There is strong connection between birth order and divorce rates,” says one counselor. “The most successful marriages are those where the oldest sister of brothers marries the youngest brother...

Premium news related to Luxe Knockoffs Cost eBay $63M
Wall Street Journal | Jun 30, 08 4:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - A French court sided today with couturier Louis Vuitton in a suit against eBay, ruling the auctioneer must pay $63.1 million in damages for fake goods sold on its site—a ruling the Wall Street Journal says will force eBay to step up anti-counterfeiting protections. EBay says it will appeal the judgment, its second recent defeat in French courts.

Premium news related to Yahoo's Defensive Stance: Microsoft 'Inconsistent' in Bid
MarketWatch | Jun 30, 08 4:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - As it tries to fend off investor Carl Icahn's attempt to replace its board of directors, Yahoo today presented its version of buyout negotiations with Microsoft to shareholders, MarketWatch reports. Yahoo portrayed Microsoft as “unresponsive, inconsistent,” and loose on logistic details of the proposed merger. "The record casts doubt...

Premium news related to Pregnant Soldier's Death Homicide: Cops
Fayetteville Observer (NC) | Jun 30, 08 4:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Police say the pregnant soldier whose body was found in a North Carolina motel last week was murdered, the Fayetteville Observer reports. The Observer , meanwhile, received a letter from someone claiming to be the killer, which contains a symbol sources say was also drawn in lipstick in the room where Megan Touma, 23, was found.

Premium news related to China Quake Beat the Odds
LiveScience | Jun 30, 08 4:06 PM CDT
(Newser) - The earthquake that leveled parts of China’s Sichuan province last month was a geological oddity arising from usually inactive faults, LiveScience reports. The bizarre seismological coincidences behind the quake explain why no one was able to predict the event, which claimed 69,000 lives.

Premium news related to Obama Rejects Clark's Remark About McCain
Los Angeles Times | Jun 30, 08 3:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama today rejected surrogate Wesley Clark’s suggestion that being shot down in Vietnam didn’t qualify John McCain for the presidency, the LA Times reports. A rep said Obama “honors and respects” McCain’s service. In a speech in Independence, Mo., Obama said: “Patriotism is supporting your country all the...

Premium news related to Mixed Results Cap Ugly June
CNNMoney | Jun 30, 08 3:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - Stocks ended mixed today—the last day of the second quarter—and couldn't prevent the Dow and S&P from their worst June since the Great Depression, CNNMoney reports. The Dow ended up 3.50 today, to 11,350.01; the Nasdaq was down 22.65 to 2,292.98, and the S&P up 1.62 to 1,280.00. Each of the major indices was down at least 8.6% for...

Premium news related to Germans Can't See Forest of US Culture for the Trees
Esquire | Jun 30, 08 3:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - German college students aren't impressed with American culture—they're not even sure it exists, author Chuck Klosterman finds at the outset of a teaching stint in Leipzig. "The proliferation of media has made it virtually impossible to tell the difference between a) what information is unilaterally interesting," Klosterman writes in...

Premium news related to Latino Voters: Four Myths
Newsweek | Jun 30, 08 3:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Pundits are way off on Hispanic voters, writes Arian Campo-Flores in Newsweek . Four common misconceptions: Immigration is everything. A recent survey showed that education, health care, the economy, and crime were more important in the demographic. Recent immigrants are most likely to care about immigration—and least likely to be voters....

Premium news related to World Becomes a Happier Place
LiveScience | Jun 30, 08 2:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - People around the world are getting happier, according to a new study. Researchers asked people in 52 countries how happy they were annually for an average of 17 years, and the world's happiness index has risen substantially, reports LiveScience. The team speculates that reasons include economic growth and increased social tolerance for women and minorities....

Premium news related to Dutch Smoking Ban Leaves Pot Users in a Fog
USA Today | Jun 30, 08 2:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - Effective tomorrow, the Netherlands bans smoking tobacco in public places, and the new law means big changes for Amsterdam's famously relaxed coffeehouses, reports USA Today. Because the law doesn't cover cannabis or hashish, users can continue to smoke them inside. But those who prefer their pot mixed with tobacco, as many do, will have to step...

Premium news related to US Insurers Warming to Medical Tourism
MSNBC | Jun 30, 08 2:26 PM CDT
(Newser) - If you’re in need of high-priced surgery, your insurance company might have a plane ticket for you. Insurers are starting to warm to “medical tourism” for the same reason uninsured Americans are: Surgery is significantly cheaper overseas. At least 150,000 Americans go abroad for medical procedures every year; insurance typically covers...

Premium news related to Bill: Obama Can 'Kiss My Ass'
Daily Telegraph (UK) | Jun 30, 08 2:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama and Bill Clinton spoke on the phone this morning, but earlier the ex-president privately told friends the future Democratic nominee must “kiss my ass" to win his full support, the Telegraph reports. Clinton remains “very unhopeful” Obama can win in November, another source says, and is still so peeved at perceived...

Premium news related to Gay Is Fastest Man, Ever*
ESPN | Jun 30, 08 2:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - Tyson Gay might have used the Olympic trials yesterday to cover 100 meters faster than any human in history, but he is not the world record-holder because track, unlike any other sport, attaches asterisks to records, Jim Caple writes on ESPN.com. Strong tailwinds propelled Gay to victory, but his breathtaking time of 9.68 seconds would have been 9.86...

Premium news related to Big US Food Shipment Marks Korea Progress
Washington Post | Jun 30, 08 1:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - After a major US food shipment arrived yesterday, North Korea has approved a plan for the UN's World Food Program to expand aid delivered to the country, and has agreed to allow UN monitors more access to track where the food ends up, the Washington Post reports. "This marks a major advance in the way we work in this country," an official...

Premium news related to Romney Takes Lead in VP Derby
Politico | Jun 30, 08 1:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - Mitt Romney is today's top candidate to fill out John McCain’s ticket, Politico reports. The ex-Massachusetts governor has conservative cred, Michigan roots, fundraising chops—and not much chemistry with McCain. McCain hopes to wait out Barack Obama and see the Democratic ticket before announcing his choice, a play one staffer called a...

Premium news related to Kenyan PM: Intervene in Zimbabwe
BBC | Jun 30, 08 1:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - Kenya’s prime minister blasted Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe today, saying it would set a dangerous precedent for the African Union to accept him as "a duly elected president," the BBC reports. "They should suspend him and send peace forces to Zimbabwe to ensure free and fair elections," Raila Odinga said at the AU summit.

Premium news related to Obama Needs to Shift Iraq Strategy
New Yorker | Jun 30, 08 1:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - “There will be no such thing as victory in Iraq,” George Packer writes in the New Yorker , “but the next President, if he remains nimble, may be able to keep the damage under control.” Packer argues that the dramatic improvement since the surge poses a problem for Barack Obama, whose proposal to withdraw troops in 16 months...

Premium news related to Americans Have Less in Their Shopping Carts
Time | Jun 30, 08 1:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Food prices are rising, but thanks to some chicanery on product labels, many Americans may not realize it. Instead of raising prices, manufacturers are slimming cereal boxes, juice cartons, and bars of soap, and they’re doing it very quietly. If asked, they’ll say it offsets rising fuel and commodity costs, but most keep quiet and hope...

Premium news related to 2, 4 Seeds Fall; Williamses Roll
Associated Press | Jun 30, 08 1:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Today's fourth-round play at the All England Club produced more upsets at the top of the women's seedings but also offered more convincing wins from the champions and title contenders.Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic, hobbled by a knee injury, fell 6-3, 6-2 to Tamarine Tanasugarn. No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova lost 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 to 19-year-old Agnieszka Radwanska.

Premium news related to Bush's North Korea Deal Is 'Total Intellectual Collapse'
Wall Street Journal | Jun 30, 08 12:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - The latest US deal with North Korea—taking the North off its state terror list in exchange for a nuclear declaration—is a travesty and intellectual capitulation in pursuit of burnishing President Bush's legacy, former UN ambassador John Bolton writes in a predictably scathing piece in the Wall Street Journal . It’s a final sign that...

Premium news related to Landis Can't Overturn Ban
Reuters | Jun 30, 08 12:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cyclist Floyd Landis lost perhaps his final chance to keep his 2006 Tour de France title today, the AP reports, with a key panel upholding a 2-year doping ban. The three-person Court of Arbitration for Sport said Landis’ drug test was the product of “less than ideal laboratory practices, but not lies, fraud, forgery or cover-ups”...

Premium news related to McCain's War Record Now Fair Game
Politico | Jun 30, 08 12:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - Wesley Clark's answer to a question on Face the Nation yesterday has exposed a simmering campaign issue, Politico reports: whether John McCain’s Vietnam ordeal translates to relevant experience for the presidency. "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," said Clark, a Barack...

Premium news related to $50K to Host This Guy's Party?
New York Post | Jun 30, 08 11:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - His rep denies it, but Entourage star Adrian Grenier is said to be “shopping” rights to host his birthday party to various Hamptons hotspots: "He's been asking clubs for $50,000 for the honor,” a source told the New York Pos t. Grenier apparently knows how to put his celeb status to work: He reportedly charges $30,000 for...

Premium news related to Tech Giants Join Forces Against 'Patent Trolls'
Wall Street Journal | Jun 30, 08 11:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Some of tech's biggest players are banding together to corner the market on patents key to their various businesses, the Wall Street Journal reports. Companies like Google and Verizon are afraid of being held hostage by small players with a claim on key bits of intellectual property, and wary of so-called "patent trolls," outfits that buy...

Premium news related to Tarantino May Turn to Porn for Next Project
New York Post | Jun 30, 08 11:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - Porn star Tera Patrick is being considered for a role in Quentin Tarantino's remake of Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! , the New York Post reports. "Quentin loves her, and she's a dead ringer for original star Tura Satana," says a source. The original cult film, released in 1966, follows three go-go dancers on a violent trip across the desert.

Premium news related to Big Oil Deals Absent as Iraq Opens for Bids
Associated Press | Jun 30, 08 11:13 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Iraqi government opened six oil fields to bidding today, without mention of expected no-bid contracts with big Western oil companies, the AP notes; it had been reported that several big companies were close to signing short-term deals with Iraq's government. "There is no preferential treatment for anyone, no matter who," a spokesman said.

Premium news related to Gas Prices Screw Nev. Brothels
Associated Press | Jun 30, 08 11:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Here's one more casualty of soaring oil prices: Nevada brothels catering to lonely truckers are seeing business plummet. Sky-high diesel prices means that long-haul truckers have less discretionary income, so many brothels are offering promotions to give business a boost. At one establishment, customers get double what they pay for if they use a government...

Premium news related to Phelps, Hoff Smash Records in Omaha
USA Today | Jun 30, 08 10:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - Records fell at the Olympic trials in Omaha yesterday as both Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff triumphed in the 400 IM, USA Today reports. Each swimmer had a personal motivation: Phelps took almost a second of his own world record, and Hoff recaptured the record from Stephanie Rice.

Premium news related to Actors' Family Feud Creates More Hollywood Labor Unrest
Los Angeles Times | Jun 30, 08 10:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - In the escalation of a long-simmering turf war, the largest Hollywood actors union is attempting to scuttle a deal reached by its smaller rival with studios, the Los Angeles Times reports. Though the Screen Actors Guild isn't planning to strike when its contract expires tonight, it's urging members who also belong to the American Federation of Television...

Premium news related to Conservatives Break With Anglican Church
Guardian (UK) | Jun 30, 08 10:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - Traditionalist Anglican bishops, most of them representing the developing world, have broken away from the Anglican communion and formed their own global church. Galvanized by the consecration of Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire, the disgruntled clergymen have formed the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, which rejects the supremacy...

Premium news related to Soldier Held as French Probe Display That Left 17 Injured
AFP | Jun 30, 08 10:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - French authorities are investigating a military demonstration gone terribly wrong yesterday, the AFP reports, in which 17 people were wounded when a soldier fired live rounds instead of blanks during a demonstration of hostage-situation techniques. The soldier has been detained, but has no history of psychological problems. "The theory being worked...

Premium news related to Marketing Coup: Just Add Water
Washington Post | Jun 30, 08 10:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - A commodity that's widely available practically free is also on sale for thousands of times the actual cost, repackaged as a luxury item. It's transported around the country and even across the world, generating untold volumes of CO2. It's water, of course. The Washington Post looks at a marketing effort that has Americans paying top dollar for...

Premium news related to Mayors Call for Middle Ground on Guns
Wall Street Journal | Jun 30, 08 9:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Extremist-driven debate over gun control “made for good political theater,” but it hasn’t accomplished much, mayors Michael Bloomberg of New York and Thomas Menino of Boston write in the Wall Street Journal. Now that the Supreme Court has clarified the issue, it’s time to implement some common-sense consensus changes to the...

Premium news related to Dark Days Ahead for Little Movies
New York Times | Jun 30, 08 9:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - This has been a banner year for Hollywood blockbusters, but things look dour for explosion-free cinema, David Carr writes in the New York Time s reports. Small movies have flooded multiplexes, choking each other out—a sign, producer Mark Gill says, of big-money backing meeting the ease of digital film-making. The money's disappearing, and eventually...

Premium news related to US and Pakistan Let al-Qaeda Regroup
New York Times | Jun 30, 08 9:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Nearly seven years after 9/11, America has not only failed to capture Osama bin Laden; it has also allowed al-Qaeda to rebuild itself in lawless northwest Pakistan, near the Afghan border. The New York Times conducted more than four dozen interviews to discover how rivalries among American agencies, trouble with Pervez Musharraf, and the distraction...

Premium news related to US Airlines May Need Foreign Aid
Wall Street Journal | Jun 30, 08 8:43 AM CDT
(Newser) - Troubled US airlines could be looking to Congress to ease foreign ownership laws, as financial woes push them into the arms of new investment partners, the Wall Street Journal reports. Overseas companies, barred from holding more than 25% of the voting stock of US carriers, are eager to relax the rules. "It could be the financial exigencies...

Premium news related to Euro-Weary French Village Reverts to Franc
New York Times | Jun 30, 08 8:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - Six years after scrapping the franc for the euro, one sleepy town in southern France has reverted, the New York Times reports. Says the mayor of Collobrières, population 1,600, “We lost something with the franc. We lost an identity. We moved very quickly into Europe, maybe too quickly.” Villagers also blame the euro for rising...

Premium news related to Subdued Meet the Press Now Squirm-Free
New York Times | Jun 30, 08 8:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - Meeting the press is a much more laid-back experience with Tom Brokaw temporarily in Tim Russert’s old seat, the New York Times reports. Hosting his first standard-format show yesterday, Brokaw “kept the mood at a sober but easygoing tempo,” writes Alessandra Stanley. But with the presidential race heating up, things were perhaps...

Premium news related to Obama Aims to Take Back the South
New York Times | Jun 30, 08 8:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama thinks he can do something Democrats have found impossible for 40 years: win the South. Dixie has been bright red ever since the Civil Rights Movement, but it's also full of black and young voters who either aren't registered or don't usually vote. So the potential in demographic groups key to Obama's candidacy "is just incredible,”...

Premium news related to Polluting Pentagon Rebuffs EPA Orders
Washington Post | Jun 30, 08 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Pentagon is holding out on an Environmental Protection Agency order to clean up pollutants from three military bases where chemicals have become an "imminent and substantial" threat to the public health and environment, the Washington Post reports. The Defense Department also won’t sign contracts to clean up 12 other military...

Premium news related to Windsor Bills a Royal Pain for Taxpayers
ABC News | Jun 30, 08 7:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - Britain’s royal family is facing the effects of tough financial times, ABC News reports—but it's easier to cope when you have taxpayers to foot the monarchy's $80 million in annual expenses. While that’s just $1.30 per taxpayer, Buckingham Palace says, critics note unnecessary expenses, like a $44,000 helicopter trip to the Kentucky...

Premium news related to Export Bans Push Food Costs Even Higher
New York Times | Jun 30, 08 7:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - Alarmed by high food prices and shortages worldwide, some 29 countries are banning or reducing exports of foods to make sure they have enough at home. Such limitations pose a threat to countries that rely on imports, forcing prices up further, the New York Times reports. What’s more, the restrictions are in turn fueling private hoarding. "People...

Premium news related to Hairy Fad: Boys Dig Long Locks
Chicago Tribune | Jun 30, 08 7:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - In what could be a frightening nod to the '80s, more and more boys are growing their hair out. And while most deny pop culture inspired the barber boycott, long locks can be spotted on everyone from the Jonas Brothers to celebrity tots. Despite sometimes being mistaken for girls, notes the Chicago Tribune in a look at the trend, most wouldn't trade...

Premium news related to Qualcomm Aims to Unseat Intel in Low-Power Chip Battle
New York Times | Jun 30, 08 6:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - Qualcomm might be looking to unseat industry top dog Intel with its new Snapdragon chip—which uses half the power of Intel’s new Atom, will likely be cheaper, and is due out next year. As personal computers and mobile Internet devices continue to converge, the need for speed has shifted to a need to power-sip, reports the New York Times...

Premium news related to Fungus Drug Zaps Cancer in Study
Reuters | Jun 30, 08 6:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - A powerful new cancer drug has been developed from a fungus discovered by accident, Reuters reports. The drug, called lodamin, is dramatically effective against a range of cancers and works by starving tumors of blood, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. Mice infected with cancer cells were nearly cancer free within...

Premium news related to Swift Boat Vets Want Their Name Back
New York Times | Jun 30, 08 6:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - These days, the phrase "Swift boat" has come to mean a vicious political attack of the kind suffered by John Kerry in the 2004 election. While the term has gained such currency that it's now used as a verb, one group is seriously miffed: the Navy veterans who, like Kerry, served on a Swift boat during the Vietnam war. The New York Times...

Premium news related to WTC Project Years Behind, Billions Over
Wall Street Journal | Jun 30, 08 5:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - The problem-plagued World Trade Center rebuilding project will be completed years behind schedule and up to $3 billion over budget, reports the Wall Street Journal . Construction of the various elements of the $15 billion complex—which includes a sprawling 9/11 memorial, office towers, a performing arts center, and a transportation hub—have...

Premium news related to Mugabe Faces Chilly Reception at African Summit
Reuters | Jun 30, 08 5:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - Newly reinaugurated  Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe arrived today at an African Union summit where he is expected to face pressure to negotiate with the country's opposition. Although Mugabe walked into the conference at an Egyptian resort alongside other leaders, he has faced unprecedented criticism from African governments to yield to international...

Premium news related to 6 Killed as Medical Choppers Collide
Associated Press | Jun 30, 08 4:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Six people were killed yesterday when a medical helicopter ferrying a patient crashed into another chopper with a patient as they headed for the same northern Arizona hospital. Three people in each chopper—including the pilots and the patients—were killed and a nurse was critically injured. An explosion in one of the helicopters after the...

Premium news related to Bear Mauls Girl in Alaska Bike Race
Associated Press | Jun 30, 08 4:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - A 14-year-old girl riding in a mountain bike race in Alaska was severely injured when she was attacked last night by a bear. She was able to make a brief emergency cell phone call and whisper the word "bear" that triggered an emergency search. The girl suffered head, neck, torso and leg wounds and was protected from even more serious wounds...

Premium news related to Google Teams Up With Family Guy Creator
New York Times | Jun 30, 08 3:43 AM CDT
(Newser) - In a unique advertising move, Google and Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane are creating an ad-driven internet cartoon series, the New York Times reports. Using its AdSense service, Google will place two-minute animated "webisodes" of McFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy on websites likely to draw the animator's target audience....

Premium news related to Cash-Strapped Dieters Drop Weight Loss Programs
Advertising Age | Jun 30, 08 3:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Millions of Americans are getting fat on the economic downturn—but not in a good way. As prices for essentials like gas and food spiral, the 20% of the population on a diet are turning away from highly structured weight loss programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers in search of less expensive—and likely less effective—solutions,...

Premium news related to After the Deluge: Tallying Massive Costs
Reuters | Jun 30, 08 2:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Floods that ravaged the Midwest have begun to subside—but  the massive costs of weeks of rising water have only begun to be counted. The floods killed 24 people, left 38,000 homeless and destroyed billions of dollars of crops. The losses are likely to trigger food shortages and push up prices for years to come.

Premium news related to US Steps Up Covert Plots in Iran
New Yorker | Jun 30, 08 2:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Congress agreed to boost covert operations against Iran last year despite reservations by key officials, Seymour Hersh writes in the New Yorker . President Bush sought up to $400 million for the program, which supports dissidents intent on undermining Tehran and gathers data on its nuke plans. Some analysts believe the moves foreshadow a military...

Premium news related to Mexican Troops Accused in Drug War Deaths
Time | Jun 29, 08 9:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - Mexicans increasingly accuse state troops of beating and murdering innocents on their mission to curb violent drug cartels, Time reports. Since the state assigned 25,000 soldiers to fight drug-runners 2 years ago, troops have killed at least 13 unarmed people—while traffickers have added 1,800 more to the tally. "These soldiers are idiots,"...

Premium news related to Israel to Trade Convicts for 2 Soldiers
Reuters | Jun 29, 08 7:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Israeli officials today approved a prisoner swap with Hezbollah to release the bodies of two soldiers whose capture triggered a 2006 war, Reuters reports. In return, Hezbollah secured the freedom of five gunmen, including one of Israel’s “most notorious convicts,” the New York Times says. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert said he “vacillated...

Premium news related to Newlyweds Toasted at SF Gay Pride Parade
San Francisco Chronicle | Jun 29, 08 7:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Weeks after wedding bells began tolling for San Francisco's gay couples, revelers had extra reason to celebrate at today’s annual Pride Parade. Thousands watched a procession of kids, drag queens, politicians, and topless men shimmy along Market Street—where a small group of protesters demonstrated against California’s approval of...

Premium news related to Who's the Best VP Pick? Take a Wild Guess
Politico | Jun 29, 08 6:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nancy Pelosi suggested an unlikely vice-presidential candidate for Barack Obama this week, and got Politico's editors thinking—who are the best longshot candidates for both parties? They called up political analysts and drummed up seven names that are "unconventional" but "reasonably viable." Bill Gates topped the list for...

Premium news related to Inbee Park the Youngest Winner of US Women's Open
Associated Press | Jun 29, 08 6:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - Two weeks away from her 20th birthday, Inbee Park became the youngest winner of the US Women's Open today by closing with a 2-under 71 as everyone else around her faded away at Interlachen. Park didn't make a bogey over the final 10 holes, pulling away with three clutch putts early on the back nine and building a four-shot lead going to the final hole....

Premium news related to 6K Nabbed in GMAT Cheating Scandal
BusinessWeek | Jun 29, 08 6:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - More than 6,000 students are embroiled in a cheating scandal that could cost them their place at one of the nation’s business schools, BusinessWeek reports. The prospective MBA students were members of ScoreTop.com, a test-prep site that featured current GMAT questions. Test publisher GMAC sued the company, later winning $2.3 million, its domain...

Premium news related to Wall-E Sees Box Office Stars
Variety | Jun 29, 08 5:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - Wall-E charmed filmgoers and Angelina Jolie's Wanted beat out expectations in a strong box office weekend, Variety reports. The Pixar-Disney animation flick banked $62.5 million while Wanted raked in $51.1 million. Get Smart held at third with $20 million and Kung Fu Panda kicked up $11.7 million in fourth, while The Incredible Hulk dropped...

Premium news related to The (Middle) Name Is Hussein
New York Times | Jun 29, 08 4:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - A growing group of Barack Obama fans are adopting his middle name, even as conservative pundits use it to label him a Muslim or terrorist, the New York Times reports. The trend of using "Hussein" has picked up speed since February and exists mostly online, in blogs and on Facebook. "I am sick of Republicans" using Obama's middle...