Newser Story Index from April, 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.

NBA's Least Interesting Series Ends
Associated Press | Apr 30, 07 11:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - Minus All-Stars Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler, who kept things competitive in 2006, the Wizards succumbed in four games to the Cavaliers. Cleveland, nevertheless, looked vulnerable in sweeping the playoffs' most hapless team. Doughty young LeBron had a poor shooting night, going 8-22, but he hit 14 of 17 from the line to help win it.

Steinbrenner Supports Torre
New York Times | Apr 30, 07 11:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - George Steinbrenner is mellowing with age.  After a miserable April in which baseball's best-paid team went 9-14 and suffered an ungodly number of pitching injuries, the formerly trigger-happy Yankees owner gave a 127-word statement both supporting his manager, Joe Torre, and making it clear that the status quo was nonetheless unacceptable.

Getting Under Obama's Skin
New Yorker | Apr 30, 07 11:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Larissa MacFarquhar does an apt and artful deconstruction of Barack Obama's political persona in this week's New Yorker . Observing the candidate's oddly mild stump style, compared with the overachiever affect of most Democratic candidates, she notes that he is less professor than doctor, aiming not to whip up outrage but to heal the body politic.

Terrorist Attacks Spiked in '06
Associated Press | Apr 30, 07 10:16 PM CDT
(Newser) - Terrorist attacks rose 25 percent in 2006, with much of the rise attributable to Iraq, according to a State Department report released today. Terrorism claimed over 20,000 lives in 2006—two-thirds of those in Iraq—up sharply from 2005, raising doubts about the short-term success of the continued War on Terror.

Glass Bottles Breaking Into Baby Market
Los Angeles Times | Apr 30, 07 3:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - Glass is the new plastic—for baby bottles, at least. A rash of health warnings about plastic—toxicity reports, cancer risks, even longterm fertility problems—is turning many moms on to the glass bottles their own moms dropped as too breakable. eBay prices are soaring, and bottle distributors struggling to keep up with demand.

Virginia Closes Lethal Gun Loophole
Richmond Times-Dispatch | Apr 30, 07 2:19 PM CDT
(Newser) - Virginia governor Tim Kaine has issued an executive order closing the loophole that allowed Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui to purchase a gun, the AP reports. Effective immediately, Virginians diagnosed as dangerously mentally ill will be added to a national database that gun-store owners use for background checks. The order puts Virginia in compliance...

Supreme Court Blocks Gitmo Detainees
Associated Press | Apr 30, 07 2:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court will not hear the cases of two Guantanamo detainees who sought to challenge the government's policy on military tribunals, it announced today. But it will hear arguments this fall in the case of a Texas death row inmate, a Mexican national whose appeal was supported by the Bush administration and the Mexican government.

The Battle Of the Bulbs
Washington Post | Apr 30, 07 2:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - She's from Venus, he's from Mars when it comes to. . . compact fluorescent light bulbs. Right-thinking men everywhere are boldly buying and screwing the environmentally friendly bulbs into sockets all over the house, the Washington Post reports, while women are, in turn, unscrewing them and going back to incandescent.

Vogue Says Models Are Back
Vogue | Apr 30, 07 1:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - Vogue's May cover spotlights the next top models—real ones, not the reality-show variety—and makes the case that models with star quality are making a comeback. Jonathan Van Meter speculates that  our cultural obsession with warblers who can't sing and celebrities who can't behave is about to expire.

How Barack Found Jesus
New York Times | Apr 30, 07 1:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Times retraces Barack Obama's peripatetic path to the Christianity he embraced 20 years ago and now invokes as he presents his presidential campaign in nothing short of biblical terms. Obama's mother was an anthropologist who schooled her son in the variety of religious experiences; his father's family in Kenya is Muslim.

JCPenney Dominates Online
BusinessWeek | Apr 30, 07 12:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - The identity of one of the web's largest and most successful retailers may come as a surprise. It's JCPenney, Business Week reports, and it attracted 926,000 paying customers to its website in the first quarter—a number that ranks the 105-year-old company with web giants like eBay, Amazon, and Ticketmaster.

Delta Flies Out of Bankruptcy
MarketWatch | Apr 30, 07 11:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Delta has emerged from bankruptcy, riding an aggressive restructuring plan to exit Chapter 11 a year ahead of schedule. The No. 3 domestic airline, which staved off a hostile takeover bid from US Airways this year, used court-enforced protections to secure cuts to wages and pension programs as it shored up high-profit international routes and restructured...

Pharmaceutical Farming Generates Hopes and Fears
Guardian (UK) | Apr 30, 07 11:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - The battle over genetic modification has a new player: "pharming," or pharmaceutical farming, which uses genetically modified plants to mass-produce drug compounds relatively inexpensively. By altering common plants—for instance, tobacco, which can be engineered to produce an HIV drug—researchers say pharming could transform the...

Threats Force Women Out of Blogosphere
Washington Post | Apr 30, 07 10:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Violent, sexualized threats against female bloggers are forcing some of them out of the online community, reports the Washington Post . The problem, highlighted by the harassment that caused Kathy Sierra to suspend her popular technology blog, is frustrating at best; at worst, it causes women to fear for their safety and abandon the medium.

Research Gives Alzheimer's Patients Hope
Reuters | Apr 30, 07 9:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - Alzheimer's patients may be able to recover some memory by using a combo of drugs and mental stimulation, a new study in the journal Nature concludes. Mice with an Alzheimer's-like condition were more likely to remember an electric shock if they had taken a drug stimulating brain-cell growth or lived in playground-like cages.

Hamas Warns of New Intifada
Reuters | Apr 30, 07 9:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - The political leader of Hamas is putting Israel on notice: Prepare for another Palestinian uprising if economic and military conditions do not improve. "I warn and under 'warn' I put many red lines," Khaled Meshaal told a Palestinian newspaper. Citing recent Israeli incursions and a year-old Western aid embargo, he spoke of a "huge explosion."

I Bought Andy Warhol
Times (UK) | Apr 30, 07 8:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hipsters have known it forever, and buyers are catching on: Andy Warhol is the hottest artist around. The Times reports that his sales, including a projected $35 million for a painting at Christie’s next month, are second only to Picasso's. One expert calls Warhol "the most important international artist of the 20th century."

News Outlets Bid Up Search Word Prices
Wall Street Journal | Apr 30, 07 8:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - Online news outlets, usually the ones selling sponsored links to advertisers, are also buying them, to compete for traffic, especially during major news events like the Virginia Tech massacre. From CNN to Fox to the New York Times, news organizations are bidding on Internet keywords at auction from search engines, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Fertilizer Bomb Suspects Convicted
BBC | Apr 30, 07 7:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - A London jury brought in convictions today for five men in the 2004 fertilizer bomb plot that targeted hundreds of shoppers in a British mall. The plotters, all of them U.K. citizens, may get life in prison. Two other suspects were acquitted in the conspiracy, after a 27-day deliberation, the longest in British history. 

Olmert Braces For Possible Summer Ouster
Haaretz (Israel) | Apr 30, 07 7:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ehud Olmert may be forced out of office to avoid dragging the Kadima party down with him, Haaretz reports. Quoting a senior party official, the newspaper says the Israeli Prime Minister may resign this summer as part of the fallout from a government report on the run-up to and conduct of last summer’s war in Lebanon.

Big Business Turns Blue
Wall Street Journal | Apr 30, 07 7:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - Corporate America is shifting campaign contributions from GOP soulmates to Democrats, eager to bond with new legislative gatekeepers. Coffers aren't swelling across the board, though; a Wall Street Journal analysis shows pro-business Dems are pulling in most of it. General Dynamics, Honeywell International, Home Depot. and Aflac are among those funneling...

Chinese Add Melamine to Animal Feed
New York Times | Apr 30, 07 7:04 AM CDT
(Newser) - The compound that tainted pet food and is being blamed for hundreds of pet illnesses and deaths is a commonly used additive in animal feed in China, reports the New York Times . The coal derivative melamine, used in plastics and fertilizers, is nitrogen-rich, which triggers tests for protein content.

Condi Says She'll Talk to Iran
New York Times | Apr 30, 07 6:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Iran will be attending next week's regional conference on Iraq, the Times reports, offering the first sitdown between the Axis of Evil power and the U.S. in three years. Condoleezza Rice yesterday reiterated accusations that Iran is stirring insurgent violence in Iraq, but also hinted that the meeting in Egypt would afford a chance for dialogue.

Million Turks Rally for Secularism
BBC | Apr 30, 07 6:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - Secular Turks staged an enormous rally yesterday amid a constitutional crisis over the election of the next president, the BBC reports. As many as a million protesters turned out in Istanbul to oppose ruling-party candidate Abdullah Gul, who they're afraid is orchestrating an Islamic coup in the country even as it seeks E.U. membership and modernization.

Cricket Coach Poisoned and Strangled
BBC | Apr 30, 07 6:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The murder mystery that cast a shadow over international cricket is deepening. A BBC investigation claims Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer, found strangled to death last month, was also poisoned. "It now seems certain that he had already been rendered helpless—leaving him unable to fight back," BBC's Adam Parsons reports.

Bay Area Overpass Collapses
San Francisco Chronicle | Apr 30, 07 5:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - A speeding 8,600-gallon gas tanker smashed into a guardrail early yesterday on a Bay Area highway, causing a fireball that melted an overpass above it. The driver sustained minor injuries, and no one else was hurt. But the collapsed overpass, which carried traffic eastbound from the Baby Bridge, closed I-880 and I-580 indefinitely.

Cardinals Pitcher Killed In Crash
Kansas City Star | Apr 29, 07 10:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Josh Hancock, a Cardinals middle reliever who helped the team attain a championship last season, was killed after driving into a tow truck late at night. The death comes five years after St. Louis pitcher Darryl Kile died in his hotel room of coronary artery blockage.  It is not thought that alcohol was involved.

Prince May No Longer Speak For His King
New York Times | Apr 29, 07 5:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador and longtime Bush conduit to the Saudi leadersip, may no longer be speaking for his country. The New York Times   notes that Bandar's uncle, King Abdullah, has taken several stands recently that surprised  the White House by being in direct conflict with assurances given by the Prince. 

Shooting at Kansas City Shopping Center Leaves Three Dead
CNN | Apr 29, 07 5:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - A young man wielding a rifle opened fire in the parking lot of a Kansas City shopping center this afternoon, killing two people  and wounding at least two others before he ran into the mall and was gunned down by police. Fifteen minutes before the mall shootings, the gunman also wounded a police officer who pulled over the car he was driving.

Raiders Trade Moss to Pats
ESPN | Apr 29, 07 4:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - Hampered by a lack of receiving options last year, the Patriots are looking more and more terrifying in 2007 with the acquisition of talented but troubled receiver Randy Moss. Moss had been agitating to leave a humorously dysfunctional relationship with the Raiders, who have also succeeded in alienating budding star receiver Jerry Porter.

Pay-to-Stay Prisons Have a Lock on Style
New York Times | Apr 29, 07 4:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Californians convicted of minor, non-violent crimes can pony up to stay in jail cells that look more like college dormitories, the New York Times reports. For $75 to $127 a day these in-the-know inmates are separated from violent offenders and, in some cases, allowed a cell phone, laptop, or iPod.

Home Team Puts Quinn Out Of His Misery
Cleveland Plain Dealer | Apr 29, 07 2:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cleveland had the most active first day of the NFL draft, trading next year's first-round pick for Dallas's, at 22nd, and taking heralded pretty-boy Ohio native and Notre Dame signal caller Brady Quinn. This after the highly regarded, disturbingly photogenic prospect was publically rejected by 21 teams.

Travel to Big Sky Is Killing It
New York Times | Apr 29, 07 8:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - Big Sky Country is under siege from the carbon spewed by the planes and cars we use to get there, says Montanan Deirdre McNamer. She remembers the days (the 1950s) when it was not politically incorrect to throw litter into the vastness of the high prairie that she thought could never be affected by the humans it dwarfed.

Layoffs Sink Stock Prices, Says Study
New Yorker | Apr 29, 07 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Economists have long doubted the precept that cutting a company's payroll will lead to a spike in its stock price. But try telling that to CEOs, who are still trying to emulate the turnarounds achieved by G.E. and Proctor & Gamble. Now, a study reveals that markets actually have "a significantly negative" reaction to downsizing.

Post-Chemo Memory Loss Isn't All in the Head
New York Times | Apr 29, 07 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Docs are finally cluing in to "chemo brain," the fuzzy-headed forgetfulness following treatment that cancer survivors have long suffered—and doctors long denied. The condition, suffered by roughly 15% of breast cancer survivors, refers to a laundry list of memory-loss issues that researchers think result from high levels of toxic exposure...

Nigerian 'Lesbian' Turns Herself In
BBC | Apr 28, 07 10:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Nigerian woman whose story of lesbian love on the run made international headlines yesterday has news for the authorities who hoped to arrest her: she's not a lesbian. "I have never practiced— never heard the word 'lesbian'—truly," says Aunty Madiguri, who was accused of violating Sharia law after she allegedly married four...

Deadly Blast Rocks Holy City
Associated Press | Apr 28, 07 4:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - A car bomb ripped through one of Iraq's holiest cities today, killing at least 58 Iraqis and wounding over 150 as they made their way to evening prayers. Karbala—the site of two major Shiite shrines—is a hotspot for suicide bombers, who killed 47 in an attack just two weeks ago.

Call Girl Ring Sucks in State Dep't Honcho
ABC News | Apr 28, 07 2:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - A deputy secretary of state resigned late yesterday afternoon, one day after an as-yet-unaired interview with ABC News tied him to the alleged "D.C. Madam." Randall Tobias, who ran the country's foreign aid program, says he received massages, not sex, from Deborah Jean Palfrey's high-end escort service, and resigned for "personal reasons."

Bush Doubts Surge Success
New York Times | Apr 28, 07 12:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Bush administration is quietly rijiggering its internal expectations for Iraq, senior administration officials have told the New York Times . In spite of a publicly optimistic stance, Bush is already preparing for the possible failure of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's regime and readying to maintain a troop surge well into 2008.

U.S. Unveils 7/7 Bombing Mastermind at Guantanamo
Associated Press | Apr 28, 07 8:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - U.S. officials revealed yesterday they have Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, widely considered the architect of the 7/7 London transit attacks, in custody at Guantanamo Bay. The CIA nabbed al-Hadi as he tried to enter Iraq last year, and the announcement suggests—the Times reports—that he's been in a "ghost prison" since.

You Go to War With the Army You Need
Armed Forces Journal | Apr 27, 07 8:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - "America's generals have failed to prepare our armed forces for war and advise civilian authorities on the application of force to achieve the aims of policy," says Lt. Col. Paul Yingling. In an extraordinary article in Armed Forces Journal Yingling blames the military for not properly advising the civilian leadership of the challenges...

Nigerian Lesbians Take Forbidden Love on the Run
This Day (Nigeria) | Apr 27, 07 6:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - Five Nigerian lesbians are running for their love after a weekend wedding put them in direct violation of the local Islamic law. Police have issued arrest warrants against Aunty Maiduguri and her four wives, charging them with violating the Sharia law that governs much of northern Nigeria.

Saudis Sweep Terror Cell
BBC | Apr 27, 07 3:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - Saudi police have arrested 172 militants involved in a plot to launch suicide air attacks on oil fields and military bases, officials said this morning. They also seized massive weapon stores and millions in cash. "Almost all the elements for terror attacks were complete except for setting the zero hour for the attacks," an Interior Ministry...

Rostropovich Dead at 80
Washington Post | Apr 27, 07 2:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cellist, conductor, and one-time Soviet gadfly Mstislav Rostropovich, who used to instruct his orchestras to "play as if you are being tickled in the sides," died today in Moscow. Rostropovich, whose 17-year-run as the head of the National Symphony Orchestra tranformed it from a middling ensemble to one of the world's premier orchestras,...

Tarantino : "I'm Proud Of my Flop"
Daily Telegraph (UK) | Apr 27, 07 1:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - "Grindhouse" may have flopped at box offices, but Quentin Tarantino is still cooler than you. And he's not the least bit chastened. A Telegraph profile tells us that the T-man plans to split the double-bill ode to deliciously bad fifties flicks in half, and give it another shot.  

Stephen Hawking Test-Drives Zero Gravity
BBC | Apr 27, 07 12:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - Paralyzed super-physicist Stephen Hawking completed a zero-gravity flight off the Florida coast yesterday—floating weightless and free of his wheelchair for 25-second busts. "It was amazing,"  Hawking said after the flight. "Space, here I come!" The American firm normally charges $3,750 for the experience, but waived...

Economy Slumps to 4-Year Low
Bloomberg | Apr 27, 07 11:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - The country's economic growth has dwindled to its lowest rate in four years, with the housing slowdown, high energy prices, and a looming trade deficit driving lower-than-expected numbers released today. The economy grew 1.3% in the first quarter of 2007, down from 2.5% in the last three months of 2006, and below the rate of inflation.

Time For Business to Listen Up
Economist | Apr 27, 07 11:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Companies that aren't tuning in to the business implications of sound are missing a beat, the Economist writes. And there are a lot of them. Sound affects everything from office productivity (noisy open-floor plans diminish it) to how much customers buy (slow music makes people linger longer).

Police Find Abused Dogs on Vick Property
ESPN | Apr 27, 07 10:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - Animal-rights activists are calling for the Falcons to dump superstar Michael Vick after more than 60 starved and injured dogs, presumably kept for fighting, were found at a house Vick owns but does not live in. Smithfield, Va., police discovered the dogs during a raid targeting Vick's cousin Davon Boddie. Vick refused comment through a team spokesman.

Motorola's Razr Cuts Both Ways
Wall Street Journal | Apr 27, 07 9:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - Riding high on the success of its sleek Razr cellphone, Motorola got cocky and didn't come up with a suitable successor, the Wall Street Journal reports, and the misstep cost the company big bucks. While Motorola struggled to keep up with emerging technology and wrestled with management upheaval, competitors moved in and the company's stock slumped.