Newser Story Index from December, 2007
Welcome to the Newser Story Index. Here you find stories written by Newser writers and editors, assembled with supporting photos and videos from the files of the news story.
Teen Nabbed for $26M 'Net Heist
New Zealand Herald
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Dec 1, 2007 5:39 PM CST
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The computer ace behind a $26 million worldwide identity theft heist is only 18, police said today, after nabbing New Zealander Owen Whyte. The teen allegedly wrote a ‘spybot’ program which stole financial data from more than a million computers. Police called him “one of the most skilled people in the world [at writing] this sort...
More Jacko, Less Whacko
Washington Post
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Dec 1, 2007 5:16 PM CST
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Jacko's comeback in this month’s Ebony doesn't make him “look like a creepy goofball,” marvels the Washington Post ’s Robin Givhan. And it’s not just a rebirth for Jackson, Givhan says, but for the venerable mag itself. Flamboyantly dolled up in classic Jacko garb, the star looks modern and timeless, the very vibe the...
Hokies Are ACC Champs
Associated Press
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Dec 1, 2007 5:14 PM CST
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Virginia Tech avenged an earlier 14-10 loss to Boston College, winning the rematch—and ACC championship—30-16. Sean Glennon, one of its quarterbacks, threw for three touchdowns; Tyrod Taylor, the other, had a key first-down scramble on the game-winning drive. The Hokies are assured a berth in the Orange Bowl with the win.
CIA Uses Jordan to Detain, Interrogate Prisoners
Washington Post
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Dec 1, 2007 4:48 PM CST
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The CIA has been using the Jordanian spy agency to secretly hold, interrogate, and possibly torture terrorism suspects, reports the Washington Post . At least 12 suspects have been detained near Amman before being shipped to Guantanamo and other prisons, says the report, based on interviews with former prisoners and human rights advocates.
Getting into Harvard not as Easy as P-R-E-P
Wall Street Journal
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Dec 1, 2007 4:19 PM CST
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Ivy-League-seeking parents beware: admissions officers at top schools around the country are looking for more than just the private-school preppie. While private and prep schools still lead the way, a growing percentage of students at elite universities are public school grads and international scholars, the Wall Street Journal reveals. At Penn,...
The Trouble With Web Metrics
Economist
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Dec 1, 2007 4:00 PM CST
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Worried about how many hits your blog is getting? Stop. Hits are so 90’s. These days, advertisers care about page views… or is that time spent? [User] sessions? Click-through? The web generates metrics like “a fire-hose shoots water,” a top web-measurement exec told the Economist, leaving advertisers groping for consensus...
Turkey Claims Strike on Iraqi Kurds
Reuters
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Dec 1, 2007 3:56 PM CST
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Turkey launched an “intense intervention” in Northern Iraq today, inflicting losses on PKK fighters—at least according to Ankara. A PKK official denies the strike, and Washington claims ignorance, Reuters reports. But Turkey says that its artillery, helicopters, and special forces struck a Kurdish base with 50-60 militants. "It...
New Stem Cells Cancer-Free
Reuters
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Dec 1, 2007 3:33 PM CST
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Scientists who recently turned skin into embryonic stem cells are now tweaking the process to reduce cancer risk, Reuters reports. A team at Kyoto University grew live mice with a cell cocktail, but said the rodents grew tumors. So they nixed a gene called c-Myc1 and the next batch came out tumor-free. They have also made human cells without the cancer-causing...
Bombs Linked to Iraq Sunni Leader
Washington Post
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Dec 1, 2007 2:57 PM CST
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A raid on the compound of the leader of Iraq's biggest Sunni political bloc saw his son and dozens of guards arrested, reports the Washington Post . American and Iraqi soldiers found cars wired with explosives outside the compound; one of the guards had the keys. Adnan al-Dulaimi said the raid was politically motivated and demanded the men be...
Iran Hardens Its Stance On Nukes
New York Times
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Dec 1, 2007 2:39 PM CST
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World powers began fleshing out possible out new sanctions against Iran today, a day after its new nuclear negotiator put up a defiant front. Representatives from the US, Russia, China, and other top nations met in Paris, but it will likely be weeks before any sanctions emerge. The meeting comes after Iran's new rep told world powers that all previous...
LEDs Light Up Europe, As Bulb Makers Switch
Economist
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Dec 1, 2007 2:10 PM CST
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Europe is going low-e with LEDs, presaging a trend about to spread worldwide. The Italian village Torraca, for example, just switched all of its streetlights for light-emitting diode fixtures, and Dutch electronics giant Philips has snapped up an American firm in a plan to push similar changes in the states. LEDs use an eighth of the power of incandescent...
Tape Puts Amanda at Murder Scene
Telegraph (UK)
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Dec 1, 2007 2:04 PM CST
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An American student suggested in a bugged jailhouse meeting with her parents that she was home when her flatmate in Italy was murdered, the Telegraph reports. The disclosure contradicts earlier claims by Amanda Knox. "From the bugged recording it is possible to understand that she was in the house," a police source says. "She denies...
Brits Accuse China of Web Espionage
Times (UK)
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Dec 1, 2007 1:30 PM CST
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UK spy agency MI5 has sent an unprecedented letter to 300 British business leaders, warning them that vital sectors of the country's economy are under attack from Chinese state-sponsored electronic espionage. The Chinese "use every means at their disposal" to dig up information about British companies, a letter recipient told the Times ...
Bhutto Launches Her Campaign
Associated Press
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Dec 1, 2007 1:05 PM CST
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Benazir Bhutto set aside the possibility of boycotting next month's elections for the time being and launched her campaign in hostile territory today, the AP reports. She traveled to northwest Pakistan, a stronghold of hardline Islamic factions that oppose female political involvement. Bhutto plans to meet fellow opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on Monday...
Hillary or Barack? Black Leaders Are Torn
Washington Post
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Dec 1, 2007 12:50 PM CST
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With the primary season heading into crunch time, black leaders are facing a complex question: Who gets the endorsement, Clinton or Obama? Clinton gets high marks for electability, the Washington Post reports, but many find it wrenching to turn their backs on a viable black candidate. "The black body politic is not a monolithic movement...
Peterson: I Want My Stuff Back
Chicago Tribune
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Dec 1, 2007 12:26 PM CST
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Drew Peterson has demanded that police return property seized during the investigation of his missing fourth wife, the Chicago Tribune reports. The goods include two cars, guns, ammo, iPods, a computer, and schoolbooks. His attorneys say state cops are keeping the items just to annoy him. They also allege that city police officials are going after...
DRM Pirates Get Help From Caribbean
Techdirt
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Dec 1, 2007 12:22 PM CST
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Digital rights management technologies are doing more for the profits of software companies than the copyright holders they're supposed to protect, Techdirt reports. The new AACS system was meant to stop HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players from showing protected disks, but hackers easily beat it. Overseas companies are now getting rich selling software to...
Democrats to Michigan: No Votes for You
Associated Press
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Dec 1, 2007 12:18 PM CST
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The Democratic Party today voted to strip Michigan of all its delegates to the Democratic National Convention, a widely expected and possibly temporary punishment for bumping up the state’s primary. Candidates have already agreed not to campaign in Michigan, and some—including Obama and Edwards—have removed themselves from the ballot....
Mortgage-Rate Freeze Draws Backlash
Wall Street Journal
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Dec 1, 2007 11:51 AM CST
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Not everyone is applauding Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's plan to freeze adjustable mortgage rates on distressed home loans to help contain the spreading subprime crisis. Some analysts think the plan will only postpone foreclosures, rather than preventing them. And now that loans are bundled and sold to investors, some of those investors resent...
A Fight Club at U Chicago?!
Chicago Maroon
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Dec 1, 2007 11:23 AM CST
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While the movie Fight Club spawned many imitators after its 1999 release, it took eight years for a fight club to emerge at the notoriously intellectual University of Chicago. Called Thunderdome, after the 1985 Mad Max movie, the fight club meets outdoors, on the quads on campus, late at night. There are up to eight fights a night, some lasting...
Europe Tops Booziest List
Forbes
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Dec 1, 2007 10:55 AM CST
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European countries take the honors as the hardest-drinking nations, taking 14 of the 15 top slots in a Forbes ranking of the world's countries by per capita consumption of pure alcohol in a year. Luxembourg France Ireland Hungary
Teddy Teacher May Gain Early Release
BBC
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Dec 1, 2007 10:27 AM CST
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British Muslim lawmakers came to Sudan today to push for the early release of the teacher whose class set off a national furor by naming a teddy bear Muhammad, the BBC reports. The move raised hopes that Sudan leaders can free her to a Muslim delegation without angering protesters calling for her death. "We have it from the top that Sudanese authorities...
2 Downtowns, 1 New Museum
New York Times
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Dec 1, 2007 10:22 AM CST
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New York's New Museum, the scrappy showcase for contemporary art founded in a SoHo loft 30 years ago, reopens this weekend in a building Nicolai Ouroussoff describes as "a series of mismatched galleries precariously stacked one atop the other." For the New York Times ' architectural critic, the building, designed by the Japanese architectural...
Australia To Pull Troops From Iraq
Guardian (UK)
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Dec 1, 2007 9:56 AM CST
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Australia’s new leader says the nation's combat troops will be out of Iraq by mid-2008, the Guardian reports. Kevin Rudd will make good on a campaign promise to pull out troops, a move that marks a sharp shift from the polices of his predecessor, John Howard, a key Bush ally. Rudd will meet the US ambassador soon to discuss the pullout.
Kidnapped Gorillas Go Home
BBC
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Dec 1, 2007 9:29 AM CST
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For four rare gorillas who were illegally smuggled from their home in Cameroon five years ago, the long journey has finally come to an end, the BBC reports. The one male and three female Western Lowland gorillas are returning to the Limbe Wildlife Sanctuary in Cameroon after being sedated and crated for an 18-hour air trip from Johannesburg, South...
Cops Accused of Protecting Peterson
Associated Press
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Dec 1, 2007 9:09 AM CST
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In the two years before Kathleen Savio was found dead in a bathtub, local police responded to 18 domestic disturbance calls at the suburban Chicago house she shared with policeman husband Drew Peterson, AP reports. Charges were filed twice—against her. Her death is now suspected to be murder and the town's residents wonder if their cops...
Congress Set to Require 35mpg on US Autos
New York Times
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Dec 1, 2007 8:35 AM CST
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Lawmakers have hammered out a deal to force US automakers to improve fuel efficiency, the New York Times reports. The measure requires cars and SUVs to get 35mpg on average by 2020, an improvement of 40%. It is expected to pass Congress and be signed into law as part of a larger energy bill by the end of the year, the Detroit Free Press notes.
Tonight Show Crew the Latest Strike Victims
Hollywood Reporter
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Dec 1, 2007 8:19 AM CST
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Some 80 non-writer staff members of the Tonight Show were shocked to be handed pink slips by NBC yesterday; they'd been banking on assurances by host Jay Leno, shortly after the strike started 4 weeks ago, that their jobs were safe. Conan O'Brien, whose staff was also furloughed yesterday, has said he will pay their salaries for at least a week,...
Chavez Threatens Oil Cutoff
Reuters
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Dec 1, 2007 7:46 AM CST
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Hugo Chavez has threatened to cut off oil to the US if it tries to sabotage tomorrow's referendum, which will allow the Venezuelan president to run for re-election indefinitely, Reuters reports. He's sent the army to protect oil fields in case violence follows the vote to change the constitution and expand his powers. The US gets 12% of its oil from...
States Snatch Child Support
New York Times
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Dec 1, 2007 7:20 AM CST
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States are getting better at making deadbeat dads cough up child support, but not much of the cash is getting to the kids, the New York Times reports. The money's been going to repay back welfare benefits instead. Almost half of states keep all the money; most others pass along only $50 a month, even if they're collecting hundreds. The system is...
Taser Trooper Cleared
Deseret News (Salt Lake)
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Dec 1, 2007 6:46 AM CST
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A Utah Highway Patrolman who Tasered a motorist in the back has been cleared of wrongdoing, the Deseret Morning News reports. A public-safety panel found that cop Jon Gardner had been justified in zapping motorist Jon Massey as he was walking back to his car after a traffic stop. Gardner has been getting death threats since Massey posted a dash-cam...
Building a Computer That Learns What You Want
MIT Technology Review
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Dec 1, 2007 6:26 AM CST
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Wouldn't it be nice if your computer could figure out what you wanted it to do? That dream just might be approaching reality, thanks to a project called CALO that aims to teach computers to understand users' intentions, according to the MIT Technology Review. "If CALO succeeds, it'll be quite a revolution," says one researcher.
US AIDS Numbers Adjusted Up
Washington Post
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Dec 1, 2007 6:22 AM CST
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AIDS is spreading faster among Americans than had been thought, the Washington Post reports. A new method of testing that distinguishes recent infections from older ones shows that the number of people becoming infected each year in the US is 50% higher than previously estimated, for an average of 60,000 rather than 40,000 new cases.
No Boozer, No Okur, No Sweat for Jazz
Salt Lake Tribune
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Dec 1, 2007 6:10 AM CST
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Deron Williams had a career-best 35 points in Utah's unexpected blowout of the Lakers last night, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Playing without the injured Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur, the rest of the Jazz stepped up, with Paul Millsap posting 20 points and Andrei Kirilenko putting up a triple-double of 20 points, 11 assists, and 11 boards.
Hillary Hostage Suspect Claims Priest Abuse
ABC News
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Dec 1, 2007 6:08 AM CST
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Leeland Eisenberg's problems began long before he seized five hostages yesterday in a New Hampshire campaign office of Hillary Clinton. In 2002, Eisenberg filed a lawsuit charging that a Catholic priest had sexually abused him when he was 21 years old, homeless, and emotionally vulnerable, ABC News reports. The accused priest has since been defrocked...
Byfuglien's 3 Helps Hawks Rout Coyotes
Chicago Sun-Times
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Dec 1, 2007 6:00 AM CST
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Dustin Byfuglien's hat trick took less than 6 minutes to complete, with the final goal looking like an replay coming just 16 seconds after the previous one: a power-play score with assists from Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. The Blackhawks, of course, took the game from Phoeix, 6-1. On other NHL rinks:
Wash. State Edges Baylor in Nail-Biter, 67-64
Associated Press
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Dec 1, 2007 5:55 AM CST
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The sixth-ranked Washington State Cougars fended off a Baylor threat last night, winning 67-64 on Derrick Low's consecutive three-pointers. Sharpshooter Robbie Cowgill nailed eight of 12 shots for 18 points and Aron Baynes scored 10 in just 13 minutes of play to drive the Cougars to a 7-0 season start, the AP reports.
With Bell Back, Suns Slip Past Magic, 110-106
Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
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Dec 1, 2007 5:37 AM CST
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The Phoenix Suns ended a two-game skid with last night's 110-106 victory over the better team from Florida, in part thanks to the return of Raja Bell. Bell drained four threes and ended with 20 points to help keep Phoenix on top despite Dwight Howard's boggling 30 points and 23 rebounds for Orlando, reports the Arizona Republic.
Knicks Circle the Wagons, Top Bucks
Associated Press
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Dec 1, 2007 1:12 AM CST
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The Knicks rallied past the "Fire Isiah" chants in the first half and then the Milwaukee Bucks in the second half to claim a 91-88 victory tonight. One day removed from the third-worst loss in franchise history, Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph each scored 25 points for New York, which has won three of four. Elsewhere in pro hoops:
Sizzling Celtics Scorch Miami
Associated Press
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Dec 1, 2007 12:25 AM CST
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Tonight the Celtics had to work for it - sort of. Boston improved to a league-best 13-2 with a 95-85 win over the turnover-plagued Heat, getting a combined 67 points from its star trio of Garnett, Allen and Pierce, reports the AP. Dwyane Wade had only 10 points as the Heat heard boos from the unhappy home crowd. Elsewhere in the NBA tonight:
