Newser Story Index from March, 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.
Musharraf Should Step Down
Washington Post
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Mar 22, 2007 12:34 PM CDT
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Pakistani president Musharraf should finally do what he vowed back in 1999, says Ahmed Rashid: return the government to democracy. H e's too weak to salvage his credibility after recent public protests , and if he can't maintain power, Islamic extremists will seize the opportunity instead. He should disavow his own candidacy and encourage free and...
Consumer Financial Savvy Peaks at 53
Wall Street Journal
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Mar 22, 2007 11:57 AM CDT
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Middle aged consumers make better decisions—and fewer mistakes—than their younger and older counterparts. A study of thousands of credit card and home and car loan documents shows that they are the most likely to get the lowest interest rate available and the least likely to pay unnecessary fees, David Wessel reports....
Lithwick: Nutty Legal Logic Used to Fire Attorneys
Slate
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Mar 22, 2007 11:30 AM CDT
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The same legal argument marshaled to justify mistreating prisoners is behind the Bush administration’s contention that the President can fire U.S. attorneys for any reason or no reason, according to Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick. It’s the theory that a greater power—like killing people in war—embodies a lesser power,...
King Cozies Up to Pope
Associated Press
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Mar 22, 2007 11:20 AM CDT
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A tonsorially tamed Don King took the stage Wednesday in front of an atypical audience–the Pope. The legendary boxing promoter, who spent four years in jail for manslaughter, was denied a personal audience with his Holiness, but did manage to hand the pontiff a handwritten set of prayer requests–and a green-and-gold boxing belt.
Fake Raids Test Iraqi Reconstruction
Wall Street Journal
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Mar 22, 2007 11:13 AM CDT
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The American military is staging fake raids on Iraqi small businesses to confirm that US aid is being well spent—without tipping off insurgents that they have any US connection. "The only way things will work is if the US contribution is totally invisible," says a civil-affairs officer, suggesting that cooperating with Americans puts...
Cable Strikes Out With MLB
Yahoo
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Mar 22, 2007 11:00 AM CDT
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Cable subscribers looking to catch out-of-market games next year may be stuck in the outfield: Major League Baseball has rejected a deal with cable company In Demand to carry the popular "Extra Innings" series. In Demand, a major cable conglomerate, says it has matched the $700 million, seven-year DirecTV offer, but MLB claims the company's...
Restaurants Ban Bottled Water
San Francisco Chronicle
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Mar 22, 2007 10:29 AM CDT
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Fresh-food pioneer Chez Panisse has joined a growing number of San Francisco–area restaurants in striking bottled water from the menu. The decision to serve local tap water only—flat or carbonated in-house—comes from an effort to cut down on the packaging waste and energy used shipping bottles.
Candace Parker Can Go Pro
Sports Illustrated
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Mar 22, 2007 10:18 AM CDT
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UT women’s basketball standout Candace Parker can declare for the WNBA draft for 2007, even though she's a member of the class of 2008. Parker, who could play her last college basketball game within two weeks, needs only to show she can graduate by December and that she intends to.
Son Replaces Dad As Drake Head Coach
ESPN
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Mar 22, 2007 9:52 AM CDT
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Keno Davis will replace his father, Dr. Tom Davis, who is retiring as Drake University’s men’s basketball head coach. The elder Davis had coached Division I basketball for 32 seasons, the last four at Drake. Earlier, at Lafayette, he gave University of Maryland men’s basketball Head Coach Gary Williams his big coaching break.
Goodall Wants To Get Tough
ESPN
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Mar 22, 2007 9:24 AM CDT
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NFL Commisioner Roger Goodell could respond more quickly and decisively to off-field disciplinary issues with a change in league rules proposed in response to legal messes players got into last season. Goodell will introduce the idea in a league meeting next week.
Big Ben: Don't Blame Injuries
ESPN
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Mar 22, 2007 8:53 AM CDT
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The Pittsburgh Steelers will start the season with a new head coach and offensive coaching staff who could learn a thing or two from veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He doesn’t know why his 2006-07 season didn’t match up to expectations, but he isn’t blaming off-field struggles or injuries, as one former coach did.
NASA Shutters Ideas Factory
Guardian (UK)
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Mar 22, 2007 8:47 AM CDT
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In a cost-cutting move, NASA is shutting down its futuristic think tank, source of way-ahead-of-the-curve ideas, many of them worthy of a Star Trek script. Closing the Institute for Advanced Concepts will save $4 million out of NASA’s $16 billion dollar budget. But former NASA scientist Keith Cowing describes the decision as “just...
Italians Ransom Journalist for 5 Taliban Prisoners
New York Times
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Mar 22, 2007 8:28 AM CDT
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The Italian government bought the freedom of a kidnapped Italian journalist by arranging the release of five Taliban militants from an Afghan prison. The New York Times says it’s the first time prisoners have been openly exchanged in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan., and the move was widely condemned by U.S. and European officials.
YouTube Trickster Comes Clean
Huffington Post
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Mar 22, 2007 8:17 AM CDT
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An employe of the tech company that handles Barack Obama’s website admits making the notorious “Vote Different” YouTube video portraying Hillary Clinton as Big Brother – now one of the most watched videos on the web. Phil de Vellis writes on The Huffington Post that he created the attack ad to make a personal...
House Vote: Make Rove Testify
Washington Post
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Mar 22, 2007 8:14 AM CDT
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A House panel authorized subpoenas yesterday and the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to do so today in an effort to force Karl Rove and other top administration figures to testify about the firings of federal prosecutors. With the White House offering only private interviews, not under oath, the scene is set for a head-on constitutional collision.
Artest Could Face Jail Time in Domestic dispute
ESPN
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Mar 21, 2007 8:40 PM CDT
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Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest was charged Tuesday, March 20, with four misdemeanors stemming from an altercation with his wife earlier this month. The famously temperamental NBA player could spend time behind bars if found guilty on any of the four charges, which include battery and corporal injury to a spouse.
Ant Farm Con Man Gets Death
Washington Post
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Mar 21, 2007 3:13 PM CDT
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A pyramid scheme built on an ant farm earned a Chinese entrepreneur over $400 million—and a death sentence. The sentence meted out to Wang Zhendong by a Chinese court last month is part of a nationwide crackdown on fraud. Wang swindled thousands of people by misrepresenting his wares as rare, medicinal ants, when in fact they were just…ants....
Fireplaces Heat Up Backyards
New York Times
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Mar 21, 2007 2:54 PM CDT
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The outdoor fireplace is the latest must-have for obsessive upgraders—at least those with backyards. With built-in stereo systems, refrigerators, and price tags that run to $80,000, these oversized hearths often come with a just-for-show wood pile, though they run on gas.
Iraqi Refugees Flood Into Syria and Jordan
BBC
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Mar 21, 2007 12:38 PM CDT
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The Iraq war has created nearly two million refugees, and they're going largely ignored by world governments, the UN warns. "There has been an abject denial of the impact, the humanitarian impact, of the war," says a UN refugee agency spokesperson. Most of the refugees stream into neighboring Syria and Jordan, threatening to further destabilize...
Heather Mills Dances into America's Good Graces
New York Post
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Mar 21, 2007 12:35 PM CDT
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Heather Mills, amputee victim and Beatle ex-wife, tried to foxtrot her way into the hearts of Americans last night on Dancing with the Stars. Much maligned by the British press since her acrimonious split with Paul McCartney last May, Mills, whom LInda Stasi calls "the most loathed amputee since the One Armed Man in 'The Fugitive,'" gave...
THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT SUDOKU
New York Times
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Mar 21, 2007 11:48 AM CDT
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Nikoli, the Japanese publisher that turned sudoku into a blockbuster, has about 250 more where that came from, most of them unknown outside Japan. Founded by a college dropout with a horseracing habit, the company doesn't invent puzzles, it relies on its readership to submit ideas, as well as help test and perfect them.
CD Sales Drop 20%
Wall Street Journal
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Mar 21, 2007 11:33 AM CDT
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CD sales plunged more than 20% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, and online music sales didn't come close to making up the difference. Closing stores, weak albums, and over a billion songs shared illegally every month combined to deliver the sharpest downturn yet to the slumping music industry.
Muggles Save Trees From Harry
Associated Press
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Mar 21, 2007 11:15 AM CDT
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It's almost 800 pages long and everyone you know will buy one, so Scholastic has a big chance to score green points with the printing of the final Harry Potter book this summer. The latest installment will use at least 30% recycled material in the U.S., and a "deluxe" edition printed on 100% recycled material will also be available.
Tribesmen Turn on Al-Qaeda
BBC
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Mar 21, 2007 10:16 AM CDT
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Fifty people, including a group of children stranded aboard a school bus, have been killed in fighting between al-Qaeda terrorists and local tribesmen in one of Pakistan’s lawless regions on the border with Afghanistan. Taliban leaders, who have ties to both groups, are trying to broker a truce, according to this report by the BBC.
Global Warming: Who Wins?
The Atlantic
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Mar 21, 2007 10:13 AM CDT
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Global warming is a looming planetary disaster, but there will be winners along with the losers, writes Brookings Institute Fellow Gregg Easterbrook. While arable regions turn into arid wasteland and coastal communities sink beneath rising oceans, climate change could trigger a real estate and mineral resources boom in balmier Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia,...
Aid Grows Despite Embargo
New York Times
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Mar 21, 2007 10:04 AM CDT
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Palestinians are actually receiving more foreign aid, not less, than they were before the US and the European Union slapped an aid embargo against the Hamas led Palestinian Authority last year, reports Steven Erlanger. The United Nations and the International Monetary Fund say $1.2 billion was given to the Palestinians in 2006 compared with $1...
North Korea Cools Talks With Demands for Frozen Funds
Washington Post
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Mar 21, 2007 9:48 AM CDT
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Talk on North Korean disarmament stalled yesterday when Pyongyang refused to move forward until it receives $25 million that had been trapped in frozen accounts in Macau since February. Frustrated delegates to the six-party talks postured in return, warned that time is running out, while the U.S. said the the funds should have been released.
Teens Taught Fertility 101
Washington Post
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Mar 21, 2007 9:34 AM CDT
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A new book teaches teenage girls how to determine when they are (and are not) most likely to become pregnant, but some adults are sure they want girls to have the information. Cycle Savvy,The Smart Teen's Guide to the Mysteries of Her Body by Toni Weschler, shows teens how to chart fertility over their monthly cycles.
Court Orders Abortion Access in Poland
Guardian (UK)
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Mar 21, 2007 9:16 AM CDT
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Even countries that severely restrict abortion must make them available to those who are entitled to them by law, the European court of human rights ruled yesterday. A Polish mother sued because her fourth pregnancy's damage to her failing eyesight made her legally eligible for an abortion to preserve her health, but a doctor refused her anyway.
Iraqi Bombers Use Kids to Get Through Checkpoint
New York Times
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Mar 21, 2007 9:00 AM CDT
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Insurgents in Baghdad used two children in the backseat of a car to lower suspicion at an American security checkpoint, then blew up the car, with the children in it. Once they cleared the checkpoint, the bombers parked near a school, ran from the car, and detonated the bomb, killing the children and three other civilians, and wounding seven.
Fashion Designer Charged With Rape
Los Angeles Times
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Mar 20, 2007 2:14 PM CDT
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Celeb clothier Anand Jon swapped a Smashbox Studios fashion show for a Beverly Hills jail this week, as police filed an additional 15 felony sexual assault charges against the designer. Jon, who had been slated to star in his own VH1 reality series, was arrested last week on charges that included forcible rape and lewd acts upon a child.
Miners Dig for Gold in Belgian Museum
Wall Street Journal
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Mar 20, 2007 11:33 AM CDT
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A Belgian museum filled with stacks of faded geological maps of the Congo—a former colony—has become an unlikely mecca for mining companies searching for new deposits. With prices soaring and on-site exploration impeded by armed militias, drillers are eager to shell out hefty research fees to the Royal Museum of Central Africa. ...
Bong Case 4 SCOTUS
New York Times
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Mar 20, 2007 10:51 AM CDT
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A student glorifying illegal drug use shouldn't be protected by the First Amendment, Ken Starr argued before the Supreme Court yesterday in the case of a high school student suspended for displaying a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" during the Winter Olympics Torch Relay in Juneau, Alaska in 2002.
THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC
Los Angeles Times
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Mar 20, 2007 10:21 AM CDT
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As if Barack Obama did not face enough obstacles, the junior senator from Illinois with Oval Office aspirations is likened to a "magic negro" by David Ehrenstein. The "magic negro" is a cultural and cinematic racial stereotype exemplified by some of the characters played by Sidney Poitier, Scatman Crothers, Morgan Freeman,...
SADDAM'S VP HANGS
Associated Press
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Mar 20, 2007 10:09 AM CDT
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Saddam’s loyal vice president was hanged today for the same crimes as his boss. Taha Yassin Ramadan became the fourth to be executed in Iraq for the 1982 massacre of Shias in the city of Dujail. Ramadan’s original sentence of life in prison was found on appeal to be too lenient, and the court traded up to death.
POX STRIKES BACK
Wall Street Journal
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Mar 20, 2007 10:02 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Doctors now recommend that kids get a second dose of chickenpox vaccine, but a lot of wary parents are balking. A recent study concluded that the longer patients had gone since getting the first dose, the more likely they were to contract the pox, and the more likely that it would be a moderate or severe case.
Modern Moms Do More for Kids
Washington Post
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Mar 20, 2007 9:39 AM CDT
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Modern mothers spend more time with their children than those in the June Cleaver era, a new study concludes. Diaries compiled for the study show that, despite working more, today's moms spend less time on things like housework, leisure, and sleep to devote four more hours per week to interacting with their kids than moms did in 1965.
Dems Score With Subpoenas
Los Angeles Times
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Mar 20, 2007 9:03 AM CDT
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Democrats haven't managed to score with a single one of the bills drafted in their giddy first 100 hours, but playing hardball with hearings has proved more fruitful. In cranking up the congressional oversight machinery, write Richard Simon and Noam Levey, they've dominated headlines and applied pressure to the administration.
Go Ahead: Drink a Little
Guardian (UK)
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Mar 20, 2007 9:00 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Guardian columnist Zoe Williams strikes a blow for drinking in moderation during pregnancy, arguing against a proposed prohibition of the sort that has been in effect in the United States for years. It's insulting to the intelligence of women to ban all alcohol, she says, when it's only binge drinking that's dangerous to babies.
Bochco Switches to Shorts
Los Angeles Times
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Mar 20, 2007 8:28 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Steven Bochco, the brains behind "L.A. Law" and "Hill Street Blues," is the latest to move from the small screen to the short attention span. His new project is "Cafe Confidential," an online video featuring a series of brief clips from members of the under-30 crowd hanging out in cafes and confessing amusing—and...
Modified Mosquitoes Could Fight the Spread of Malaria
Guardian (UK)
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Mar 20, 2007 8:06 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Genetically modified mosquitoes that cannot pass on malaria may help reduce the spread of the disease that now causes a million deaths a year, mostly children. A new study shows that the lab-designed bugs could out-breed their natural competition, eventually driving them out altogether and eliminating the route through which humans are infected.
Financial Action Flees to London
New York
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Mar 20, 2007 7:24 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Wall Street’s position as the center of the financial universe—unchallenged for more than a century—is under serious threat from the City of London, according to John Gapper. London is catching up with Gotham in bond trading, already ahead in derivatives and the place to be for really big cap IPOs.
Scented Sleep Boosts Memory in the Morning
New York Times
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Mar 19, 2007 11:04 PM CDT
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Add a little scent to your evening and your sleep, and your memory works better in the morning. A recent study showed that the smell of roses, administered while participants played a computer game, and then while they slept, improved their rate of recall after they woke by 13 percent.
The Man Who Toppled Saddam Has Second Thoughts
Guardian (UK)
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Mar 19, 2007 9:52 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The former Iraqi weightlifting champion who used a sledgehammer to topple the infamous 20-foot-tall bronze statue of Saddam Hussein four years ago now feels remorse at his symbolic role in the US victory. "I really regret bringing down the statue," Kadhim al-Jubouri says. "The Americans are worse than the dictatorship. Every day is worse...
News Wars
PBS
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Mar 19, 2007 5:11 PM CDT
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From “infosnacking” to “hyperlocal” news, there is a whole new terminology describing the evolution of news, particularly the move to online news. The PBS show Frontline has developed a four-part series that examines the ‘News Wars’ taking place all around us.
Kelley: Bush Offspring Should Be Serving in Iraq
Los Angeles Times
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Mar 19, 2007 3:40 PM CDT
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While the president has been busy assuring Americans that Iraq is a "noble" war, among those who haven't been listening are his wife, his children and his nieces and nephews, observes Kitty Kelley, who chronicled the Bush clan in 2004. The first family is AWOL on the war effort, she points out.
Spector Faces the Music
Guardian (UK)
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Mar 19, 2007 3:20 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Sixties icon Phil Spector was supposedly drunk, depressed, and on prescription medication when he brought B-movie actor Lana Clarkson home from a club four years ago, and shot her-—accidentally, he claims. With his televised trial opening today, Dan Glaister walks readers through what is known of events and gives insight into what might unfold...
U.S. Stiffs Brits in Friendly Fire Investigation
CNN
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Mar 18, 2007 11:08 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The British government is taking aim at the U.S. military for its role in covering up the 2003 friendly-fire death of a British solider in Iraq. A coroner’s report Friday ruled Lance Cpl. Matty Hull’s death at the hands of American pilots avoidable—and criminal—but the U.S. refuses to release the full military report on the...
Winter Sets Warmth Record
Reuters
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Mar 18, 2007 11:05 PM CDT
(Newser) -
This winter was the warmest ever recorded, bumping the previous high of 2004 in a crowded field: The ten warmest winters all fell within the past thirteen years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which calculates this average global temperature from land and ocean readings, concludes that the worldwide climate is, indeed, changing—and...
Wal-Mart Drops Out of Bank Biz
Yahoo
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Mar 18, 2007 10:53 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Wal-Mart has withdrawn its controversial application for a bank charter, ending a potential foray into the retail bank market. The big-box retailer’s plans to set up its own bank had drawn fire from banking and consumer groups, who feared it would stifle competition. The company, for its part, calls the protests "manufactured controversy."
