Newser Story Index from May, 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.

Media Gurus Take Stock of New Website
Economist | May 31, 07 4:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - An enterprising start-up thinks it knows how to pick the next Da Vinci Code or "Friends," the Economist reports: virtual stockmarkets. MediaPredict.com lets volunteers use play money to bet on the success of a book manuscript, TV pilot, or opening-day take, and hopes the wisdom of crowds will predict the hits.

Plame Files Suit Against CIA
Reuters | May 31, 07 4:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - The former CIA agent whose cover was blown, leading to the perjury conviction of the vice president's former top aide, is suing the agency for interfering with the publication of her memoir. Valerie Plame Wilson and Simon & Schuster, the publisher of Fair Game, filed suit in federal court today, seeking clearance to disclose her dates of...

TB Patient, Family Ties Revealed
CNN | May 31, 07 4:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - The quarantined tuberculosis patient is an Atlanta lawyer who recently married the daughter of a CDC TB researcher, CNN reports. Andrew Speaker, 31, took a private plane to Denver today to be treated for extremely drug-resistant TB, or XDR TB. Microbiologist Robert Cooksey says he knew of his son-in-law's infection and offered "fatherly advice"...

Lohan Bender Spurs Underage Drinking Probe
Los Angeles Times | May 31, 07 4:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - Lindsay Lohan's recent DUI arrest has prompted talk about cracking down on underage boozing in Hollywood.The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board is preparing to investigate the Mean Girls starlet's case—the ABC has to wait for police to release evidence that the 20-year-old did, indeed, test positive for alcohol.

Bush Wants Global Plan on Emissions
Associated Press | May 31, 07 3:26 PM CDT
(Newser) - President Bush offered a groundbreaking—if decidedly vague—call this morning for a global plan to combat climate change, continuing to reposition himself on the issue. Bush asked 15 nations, including the G8, China, and India, to create "long-term global goals” on emissions that will replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires...

Google Grabs for Microsoft Territory
Financial Times (UK) | May 31, 07 3:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Google is releasing its first ever hard-drive-based application, in what some tech watchers are calling a charge onto Microsoft's turf. Google Gears, an open-source browser extension now in beta, will allow users to operate Google programs without a web connection—a domain Gates, Ballmer, and co. have traditionally ruled.

Globalization Has a Hard Chocolate Shell
Los Angeles Times | May 31, 07 2:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - In a "global supply-chain transformation," Hershey will slash its domestic workforce and build a plant in Mexico. The chocolate giant projects savings of tens of millions of dollars a year, but the numbers don't mean much in Oakdale, Calif., where 575 employees will be our of their jobs by year's end. The LA Times pays a visit.

After 40 Years, Iconic Album Draws a Crowd
Daily Telegraph (UK) | May 31, 07 1:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - The most influential album of all time dropped in the UK 40 years ago tomorrow, and the recording engineer who helped give the world "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is back in the studio putting together a tribute album—with a little help from his friends. The Telegraph follows Geoff Emerick to work.

Wachovia Nabs A.G. Edwards
SmartMoney | May 31, 07 12:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - Wachovia will buy A.G. Edwards for $6.8 billion, forming the nation's number two retail brokerage. Wachovia's $89.50 per share offer for the historic Midwest brokerage—it survived the crash of '29—helps the bank further expand its growing securities arm. The combined company will manage over $1 trillion, second to Merrill Lynch and ahead...

Sarko, Ségo Shake Things Up
New York Review of Books | May 31, 07 12:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - France has been gripped by a serious case of political stagnation, and the recent election between two bright young things—Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal—has smashed it out of its stupor, William Pfaff reflects in the New York Review of Books .

Gates and Jobs Banter in Rare Face-to-Face
San Francisco Chronicle | May 31, 07 12:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - Long-time rivals Bill Gates and Steve Jobs quipped and reminisced their way through their first joint public appearance in two decades at last night's D: All Things Digital conference in San Diego. The two tech kings ditched their traditional rivalry for a cozy, back-and-forth love fest. We've been "secretly married for 10 years," Jobs joked.

UK Moves to Measure Products' Eco-Impact
Guardian (UK) | May 31, 07 11:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - Calories, fat, sodium ... carbon footprint? The new measurement may soon appear on British product packaging. Under a plan proposed yesterday, the government will develop standards to measure a product's environmental impact from manufacture through shipment and disposal, allowing companies to list the information as they do nutrition facts. Consumers...

UN Will Try Accused Assassins of Ex-Lebanese PM
BBC | May 31, 07 10:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - A UN tribunal will try suspects in the 2005 assassination of the ex-PM of Lebanon, raising fears of worsening unrest in the unstable country. Five members abstained from yesterday's Security Council vote, signaling a serious rift. And Syria, which has been implicated in the suicide truck-bomb attack that killed Rafik Hariri, warned against the establishment...

Ginsburg Speaks Up
New York Times | May 31, 07 9:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ruth Bader Ginsburg has delivered two withering oral dissents in the past six weeks, a radical departure from her previous conciliatory role. Linda Greenhouse speculates in today's Times that the unprecedented behavior may signal a new outspokenness for the Supreme Court's only female justice. "After 15 years on the court, she's finally voicing...

Lugovoi Claims Brits Killed Litvinenko
Reuters | May 31, 07 9:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - The man Britain has charged with killing former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko says that British Intelligence is behind the poisoning. At a dramatic news conference yesterday, Andrei Lugovoi, also former KGB, claimed that Litvinenko was a British agent who was killed by his handlers. And he accused Boris Berezovsky, a Russian expat critical of Putin,...

US Intelligence In Private Hands
Salon | May 31, 07 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Since 9/11, the US government has been upping spending on private intelligence contractors, doling out cash that is often classified and impossible to trace, Salon reports. 70% of all classified intelligence spending goes into private hands, making waste and corruption serious concerns.

Wine Buzz Grows, Beer Flattens
Slate | May 31, 07 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - The American middle class has become connoisseurs of everything—coffee, '80s Japanese garage-rock bands, environmentalist toilet paper, and now wine, writes Slate 's Field Maloney. Fermented grape juice doubled its audience in the past decade, while consumption of lower-brow beer stagnated. And for the first time in history, Americans pollees...

Feds Nab Top Spammer, Predict Junk Mail Drop
Associated Press | May 31, 07 7:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - The feds arrested one of the world's worst spammers yesterday—a guy so prolific they claimed net-users worldwide would notice a drop in junkmail as a result of his detention. Robert Alan Soloway used infected "zombie" computers to send out millions of messages, and continued to do so even after Microsoft won a $7 million judgment against...

Zoellick Vows to Mend World Bank
Reuters | May 31, 07 7:37 AM CDT
(Newser) - Robert Zoellick knows he has his work cut out for him, and he says he will try to "calm the waters" if he is confirmed as World Bank president. "This institution has been through a traumatic period and there is a lot of anxiety, some frustration and anger," says the designated successor to Paul Wolfowitz.

Glaxo Stems Stock Slide Over Avandia
Daily Telegraph (UK) | May 31, 07 6:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Glaxo shares pulled out of a tailspin after the pharma giant defended its second biggest selling drug, Avandia, against claims that it triggers heart attacks.  A sharply worded letter from the company's chief medical officer on the website of medical journal The Lancet pointed out that the increased incidence of heart attacks among Avandia patients—0.6%—was...

Naples Reeks as Garbage Dumps, Landfills Close
New York Times | May 31, 07 6:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - Mounds of smelly garbage are piling up in the streets of Naples, as a shortage of places to dump it has reached a crisis: the last landfill in Naples closed Saturday. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is pleading with politicians and citizens to save the the country's image, the Times reports.

Death Camps May Charge Admission
Times (UK) | May 31, 07 5:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - Nazi concentration camps need to start charging visitors an entrance fee, those who run them say; subsidies from the German government aren't adequate for upkeep and tour guides for millions of pilgrims who visit every year. The proposal has prompted outrage from German Jews, the London Times reports. 

Coke, Cargill Team Up on New Sweetener
Wall Street Journal | May 31, 07 5:04 AM CDT
(Newser) - Coke has teamed up with Cargill to produce and market the all-natural, calorie-free sweetener rebiana, based on a South American herb called stevia. Coke and Cargill plan to market it in 12 countries that have approved stevia as a food additive, while attempting to win regulatory approval in the US and EU.

Home Cooking Proves Delicious for Ducks
CBC (Canada) | May 31, 07 4:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - Anaheim outshot Ottawa 31-16 at home in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals, but had nothing to show for their advantage until Samuel Pahlsson scored the game's only goal with less than six minutes remaining. The series heads now to Ottawa, where the Senators will try to overcome a 2-0 series deficit.

Spurs Punch Finals Ticket
Associated Press | May 31, 07 4:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - In their last game of the season, the upstart Jazz were schooled by the wily veteran Spurs, who led by 23 points early in the second quarter and were able to rest their stars for the duration of the fourth. Three-time Finals MVP Tim Duncan led his team with 21 points, matched by French point guard Tony Parker.

US and Russia Lock Horns over Kosovo, Missile Shield
Washington Post | May 31, 07 4:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US counterpart Condi Rice butted heads during a sit-down with G-8 foreign ministers yesterday, over US plans to grant Kosovo independence and build a missile defense shield in the region. The entire group endorsed freeing Kosovo from Serbian control, the Washington Post reports, except Lavrov.

Gitmo Prisoner Kills Himself
BBC | May 31, 07 4:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Saudi prisoner is dead at Guantanamo Bay in an apparent suicide. US officials are still stingy on details, offering only that "the detainee was found unresponsive and not breathing in his cell by guards." They still haven't released a name.

Taliban Shoots Down NATO Chinook
Washington Post | May 31, 07 4:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - Taliban fighters shot down a NATO Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan yesterday, killing all 7 on board, including five Americans. Guerrillas then ambushed rescuers attempting to reach the crash. The attack occurred in Helmand Province, a region of Afghanistan known for opium poppy cultivation and a strong Taliban presence, according to t he Washington...

New York Post Mocks 'Stray-Rod'
Associated Press | May 30, 07 10:09 PM CDT
(Newser) - The New York Post decorated its cover with a photo of Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez and an unidentified blonde woman they allege he took out for dinner at a steakhouse; the two then proceeded to a strip club. Rodriguez is married with a child, and his wife appeared with him in the 2004 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.

Risqué Billboard Draws Eyes, Ire
Chicago Tribune | May 30, 07 8:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - A billboard featuring a scantily clad woman and indicating "problem" areas on her body is the talk of the Chicago area. The 10-by-36 ad for a salon and spa went up two weeks ago, and some local residents have their panties in a twist—understandable, because the model doesn't appear to be wearing any.

Wall Street Mogul Starts N(ew)FL
New York Times | May 30, 07 4:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - Wall Street renegade Bill Hambrecht is taking on one of America's biggest monopolies and launching his own professional football league. The United Football League plans to launch its challenge to the NFL's hegemony in 2008 with eight teams in non-NFL markets, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Mexico City. One owner—Mark Cuban, of course—is...

A Steak-House View of the Economy
Slate | May 30, 07 4:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - High-end steak houses like Ruth's Chris and Peter Luger are a great place to study trends affecting the US economy, argues Slate 's Daniel Gross. The price of sirloin, for instance, reflects the recent spike in energy prices, as demand for ethanol has raised the price of corn, which is what Gross calls a major "input" into that side of beef.

Kobe Wants Out of Los Angeles
ESPN | May 30, 07 3:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, on a tear ever since the team was knocked out of the playoffs, finally lost it on a New York radio show today and declared that he wants to be traded. The 28-year old shooting guard is frustrated with the team—which has not won a playoff series since Shaquille O'Neal was traded in 2004—and livid at suggestions...

Thompson to Enter '08 Race
Politico | May 30, 07 3:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Fred Thompson will enter the 2008 presidential race in early July, the Politico reports, bolstered by millions of dollars in contributions and the support of key Republican insiders. The "Law & Order" star and former Tennessee senator, a hard-line conservative, will pitch himself as a steady, consistent presence who can bring his disaffected...

Cheney Should TiVo 'Heroes'
Salon | May 30, 07 3:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - With the ratings on Jack Bauer's "24" fading almost as fast as those of George Bush's White House, it's time for the principals in the war in Iraq to start studying "Heroes "— the most-watched show on television this year—writes Salon 's Juan Cole. In fact, think of Heroes as a sci-fi corrective to the whole the Bush-Cheney...

Whales Head Home after 2-Week Stay
San Francisco Chronicle | May 30, 07 2:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - Moby-Dick and Jonah can rest easy—the most overexposed whales in the world appear to have returned to the obscurity of the Pacific Ocean. The two humpbacks, who sparked an international media frenzy after getting stuck in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta 2 weeks ago, haven't been seen since late yesterday night.

Ex-Producer Sues NBC Over 'Predator'
The Smoking Gun | May 30, 07 1:06 PM CDT
(Newser) - A former producer of "To Catch a Predator" is suing NBC, claiming she was fired for criticizing the popular show. Marsha Bartel says she expressed ethical worries about the way the program snares would-be child molesters in a cybersting, the Smoking Gun reports, and was fired shortly thereafter. She says NBC told her "general business...

Health Care Isn't a Third Rail Anymore
Wall Street Journal | May 30, 07 12:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - Thirteen years after Hillary-Care, politicians are ready to think big again about the US health care system, the Wall Street Journal reports. Skyrocketing costs and the rising ranks of the uninsured are combining to form a climate where candidates feel that they can tackle the issue without political backlash—even if it means taking on insurance,...

Iran Won't Budge on Uranium
Reuters | May 30, 07 11:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - Iran won't stop enriching uranium, its chief nuclear negotiator said today, hours before scheduled talks with the EU. Tomorrow's meeting will focus on Iran's nuclear program, seen as an increasing threat after recent inspections indicated the country is moving closer to nuclear capability. Monday's US-Iran negotiations on Iraq have no bearing on tomorrow's...

Cantor Cuts Ties to eSpeed, BGC
Wall Street Journal | May 30, 07 11:41 AM CDT
(Newser) - Cantor Fitzgerald, following conflict-of-interest complaints from investors, is planning to distance itself from the brokerage and online trading firms it controls. The deal will create a new company, a merger of eSpeed and BGC Partners. 

Microsoft Surface Plays Hard to Get
PC World | May 30, 07 11:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - The bottom line on Surface, Microsoft's touch-sensitive table being unveiled today? The possibilities are exciting, says PC World 's Harry McCracken, but the roll-out is annoying.  Surface—which skips a mouse in favor of an index finger—can interact with multiple users, and even objects. But, too expensive to be practical for personal...

Immigration Fees Skyrocket
Los Angeles Times | May 30, 07 11:16 AM CDT
(Newser) - The price of citizenship is going up. With applications on the rise, the federal agency for citizenship and immigration is raising charges for almost all benefits, reports the Los Angeles Times . The cost of a green card will go from $325 to $930, while citizenship applications will rise from $330 to $675.

Miss USA Serves Her Country
ABC News | May 30, 07 11:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - The boos that rained down on Miss USA during the Miss Universe pageant weren't meant for her—the Mexico City crowd was venting its frustration with the US government, organizers and observers say. Rachel Smith didn't help her case by falling sash-over-teakettle during the evening gown competition, but the spectators warmed to her after she spoke...

Times Honcho on the Mend After Truck Accident
New York Observer | May 30, 07 10:36 AM CDT
(Newser) - The New York Times managing editor for news headed home yesterday after three weeks in the hospital recovering from injuries suffered when she was hit by a truck. Jill Abramson, who has a broken femur and fractured hip, tells the New York Observer that she still must undergo “an intensive course of physical therapy to re-learn to walk.”

BP Snags Libyan Gas Fields
BusinessWeek | May 30, 07 10:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - The deal BP made with Libya this week for rights to huge gas fields demonstrates the new attraction North Africa has for investors. Once controlled by what Business Week calls "pariahs and basket cases," the area now looks stable (compared to the Middle East, that is) and is a good deal closer to Western Europe than the Persian Gulf....

Prosecutor Keeps an Eye on Cheney
Washington Post | May 30, 07 9:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - Scooter Libby is about to be sentenced, but the government prosecutor and lawyers for the VP's ex-chief of staff aren't letting up, the Washington Post 's Dan Froomkin blogs today. The jousting continued in a court filing last week in which, Froomkin posits, "the special counsel evidently felt obliged to put Libby's crime in context. And that...

Chinese Stocks Plummet After Trading Tax Tripled
New York Times | May 30, 07 8:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - Chinese stocks plummeted today, after the finance ministry tripled a tax on trades in an effort to deflate a worrisome stock market bubble. A week ago, the ministry publicly pledged not to raise the tax. The reversal opens the government to heavy criticism if it triggers a serious rout.

Alaska and Georgia Move Up Primaries
Associated Press | May 30, 07 8:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Georgia and Alaska have moved their presidential primaries up to February 5, making a total of 15 states that will vote that day. Five more states are also close to making a switch. "We're going to be on Feb. 5, along with what appears to be over half the country," says the Alaska Republican chairman, with modest overstatement.

American Al-Qaeda Returns
ABC News | May 30, 07 7:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - Accused terrorist and viral Internet star Adam Gadahn resurfaced yesterday in a new video communique as "Azzam the American." Gadahn, 28, a California native who has become a major Al-Qaeda mouthpiece, appeared in widescreen format to promise that the group will continue its "defensive jihad" unless American troops are removed from...

Bush Asks Congress to Double AIDS Effort
Washington Post | May 30, 07 6:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Bush wants to double the funding of a U.S. program that battles the global AIDS crisis. Bush will ask Congress today to commit $30 billion over the next five years after the current program expires in 2008. The extra cash could save the lives of 1.5 million more people.