Newser Story Index from June, 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.

Kennedy Is Swing Vote as Supreme Court Shifts Right
New York Times | Jun 30, 07 7:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - As the Supreme Court wrapped up its first term under Chief Justice John Roberts Friday, the new court's conservative bent was obvious: the Court swung to the right in most of the ideological cases decided this year by a 5-4 margin. Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered the swing vote, making him the key to the new majority. 

Hong Kong Poised to Become Asia's Big Apple
Newsweek | Jun 30, 07 7:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Hong Kong is in decline as Asia's premier shipping hub, but the dip in dockyard activity is nothing to fret over, Newsweek reports. The city is on the brink of becoming one of the world's financial capitals—on par with London and New York. Economic shifts are reconfiguring the political landscape as well: a rising middle class is clamoring...

Richardson Fundraising Heats Up
Associated Press | Jun 30, 07 6:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - Democratic contender Bill Richardson raised $7 million in the second quarter of this year, beating  his first quarter take, the AP reports, and giving him a solid fourth place in the competition for funds. The New Mexico governor, who has benefited from clever advertising, has also gained in polls in early states Iowa and New Hampshire.

News Anchor Shreds Script, Hailed as Hero
Guardian (UK) | Jun 30, 07 12:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - Bloggers, who normally revel in afflicting TV news anchors, have made one a star. MSNBC newsreader Mika Brzezinski won legions of fans in the blogosphere when she refused, despite prodding from her co-hosts, to read a news item about Paris Hilton Wednesday morning, and then shredded the script. “I have a new hero, and her name is Mika Brzezinski,”...

Car Rams Glasgow Airport
BBC | Jun 30, 07 11:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - A burning Jeep Cherokee was driven at high speed into the main terminal building at the Glasgow airport today. Two men in the vehicle, described as Asian, survived the crash and were taken into custody, the BBC reports. The airport was evacuated and all flights were suspended.

Chinese PR Combats Export Rap
Wall Street Journal | Jun 30, 07 11:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - China is on a public relations blitz to keep its exports solvent after nonstop coverage of unsafe toothpaste, fish and even tires in the US, China's largest customer, last week. Beijing broke its pattern of protest over the coverage, shutting down 180 offending factories and promising consumers that tainted food represents a fraction of US imports...

Oldest European Human Fossil Discovered
BBC | Jun 30, 07 10:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - A million-year-old tooth belonging to a distant human ancestor has been unearthed in northern Spain, the BBC reports. Scientists touted the pre-molar as western Europe’s “oldest human fossil remain” by more than 200,000 years. The tooth was found Wednesday at the Atapuerca site, where caves have already yielded evidence of prehistoric...

Best Celebrity Websites
PC Magazine | Jun 30, 07 10:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - The editors at PC magazine gave high marks to sites they found imaginative (Jeff Bridges), surprising (Pat Sajack), or loaded with great content (Beck). And they dismissed money-hungry sites with a lot of gated content. Here, their faves: Jeff Bridges (www.jeffbridges.com) Tyra Banks (www.tyrabanks.com) Ken Jennings (www. ken-jennings.com...

Movie Critic Joel Siegel Dead at 63
Hole Card Blog | Jun 30, 07 10:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - Joel Siegel, the veteran film critic for Good Morning America known for concision and wit, died yesterday after a long battle with colon cancer. Siegel's good humor and enthusiasm for movies didn't stop him from delivering a well-aimed pan.  "No one had more fun writing about a bad movie than Joel,"  one station manager told the...

Bonds Hits 750, 5 from Record
Associated Press | Jun 30, 07 10:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barry Bonds smacked his 750th home run last night, bringing him just 5 shy of Hank Aaron’s record. The Giants lost to the Diamondbacks 4-3, but Bay Area fans were thrilled enough with the milestone to overlook the team’s third straight loss.

Taliban Could Engulf Pakistan
New York Times | Jun 30, 07 10:04 AM CDT
(Newser) - Al-Qaeda and the Taliban have a foothold in remote regions of Pakistan that could explode into a takeover of that volatile country, the Times reports. A leaked memo from Pakistan's interior ministry warned military president Pervez Musharraf that Taliban fighters active on the Afghanistan border are spilling into the country and seriously threatening...

Cheez Whiz Redoes Rushmore
Associated Press | Jun 30, 07 7:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - Troy Landwehr of Little Chute, Wisconsin has carved a block of cheese weighing over 600 pounds into a replica of Mt. Rushmore.  The project was commissioned by Cheez-It snack crackers, on whose products the mountain of cheese will eventually be served.  Troy hits the road shortly to promote his cheese mountain. 

Lawyer Blasts 'Astronaut Diaper' Report
Houston Chronicle | Jun 29, 07 5:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - The most attention-getting detail to emerge from the astronaut love triangle story is also the "biggest lie," Lisa Nowak's lawyer said today. The ex-astronaut did not drive from Houston to Orlando wearing a diaper, and that information, which originally appeared in the police report about the incident that ended Nowak's road trip, was "an...

Stock Sell-Off Rings Out 2nd Quarter
Associated Press | Jun 29, 07 5:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Stocks slipped slightly today as the tumultuous second quarter ended in a cloud of uncertainty and contradictory economic reports. The Dow fell 13.66 to close at 13,408.62, up over 1,000 points since April, after an early surge in response to optimistic inflation and construction-spending reports. But oil prices soon topped $70 a barrel, cooling things...

US Shuts Out Troublemaking Syrians
Reuters | Jun 29, 07 4:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - President Bush moved to boost the Lebanese government today, barring officials who have acted to undermine the precarious regime from entering the US. The ban applies to some high-level Syrian officials and five former Lebanese cabinet ministers, Reuters reports. An NSC spokesman said the goal is "to demonstrate to Syria our desire for them to...

China Fuels Boom in Backyard Fireworks
Wall Street Journal | Jun 29, 07 3:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - Inexpensive fireworks imported from China have led to a resurgence in do-it-yourself, backyard fireworks displays in the US, even as public shows have been scaled back due to post 9/11 regulations. Fireworks sales are soaring in this country, with revenue up to $900M last year, reports the Wall Street Journal .  At the same time, injury rates...

Hamas Kills Off Farfour, the Cuddly Jihadist
Associated Press | Jun 29, 07 3:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - The lovable Farfour, a Mickey Mouse knockoff who taught Palestinian tots to take up the fight against Israel, has met a bloody end in his series on Hamas frequency Aqsa TV. An Israeli land-grabber characterized as a "terrorist" murdered Farfour in the show's finale, broadcast throughout the Palestinian territories today.

California Ranked Worst for Traffic
Reuters | Jun 29, 07 3:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - California ranks No.1 in the US for interstate traffic jams, says a new study which focused on congestion around big cities. With traffic snarled on 83.3% of its urban roadways, the Golden State edged out runners-up Minnesota and New Jersey. Surprisingly, New York—gridlock central—only came in 37th. New Jersey also had the worst road system...

Isolated Gaza Goes Hungry
Globe and Mail | Jun 29, 07 3:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Fuel shortages have become familiar, and now food staples like flour and sugar are increasingly hard to come by in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Aid agencies are doing their best to forestall an impending humanitarian crisis, the Globe and Mail reports, but with the main commercial crossing from Israel closed indefinitely, they are having trouble...

Long Trips Double Risk of Developing Blood Clots
BBC | Jun 29, 07 2:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - Travelers who don't move around during long trips double their risk of developing a dangerous blood clot, the World Health Organization says. Deep-vein thrombosis is usually associated with air travel, but train, bus, and car passengers who sit for 4 hours or longer also risk the formation of clots, which usually afflict the lower legs and, more dangerously,...

Al-Qaeda Behind Bomb Attempt
Guardian (UK) | Jun 29, 07 1:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Al-Qaeda or al-Qaeda-spawned extremists orchestrated the failed bombing attempt in central London today, British authorities say. The car bomb found near a London nightclub resembled improvised explosives used in Iraq, and the Guardian reports al-Qaeda has long nurtured plans to attack nightclubs in the west.

Salmonella Prompts Recall of Veggie Booty
Associated Press | Jun 29, 07 1:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - A snack popular with health-conscious junk-food fans because it contains kale and spinach may also contain salmonella, according to the FDA and CDC, and the manufacturer of Veggie Booty has issued a nationwide recall. Fifty-one people, many of whom had eaten the green-colored rice and corn curlicues, reported symptoms consistent with salmonella poisoning.

Cruise Can Film in Germany Despite 'Cult' Status
Hollywood Reporter | Jun 29, 07 12:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - Tom Cruise will be allowed to shoot his new movie, about a German military officer who tried to assassinate Hitler, on German soil. Earlier reports said the megastar would be banned because of his ties to Scientology, which Germany regards as a threat to democracy and keeps under "official observation,"  as it does neo-Nazi groups, reports...

North Korea Agrees to Fold Nuke Factories
Associated Press | Jun 29, 07 12:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - North Korea reached a promising accord with the UN today, pledging to shut its main nuclear reactor in exchange for economic aid and political compromise from the US and its allies. IAEA inspectors returned today from the Yongbyon nuclear complex—the first visit since monitors were expelled in 2002—and will flood the site in several weeks.

Swedish Court: Let Them Have Porn
Der Spiegel | Jun 29, 07 11:21 AM CDT
(Newser) - Sex offenders in Sweden can now have porn in their cells, after a ruling by Stockholm's highest administrative court. The judges told a prison in the northern part of the country that a rapist's rehabilitation was not a good enough reason to screen his reading material any more than that of other inmates. But some critics are calling the ruling downright...

Supremes Will Hear Gitmo Cases
Reuters | Jun 29, 07 10:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two Guantanamo Bay detainees will have their say before the Supreme Court, which today unexpectedly agreed to hear their cases in the term that begins this fall. The prisoners want permission to challenge their indefinite confinement in federal court. The high court had rejected an identical appeal in April, and the reversal is the first such action...

Young Officers Challenge Brass on Iraq
Wall Street Journal | Jun 29, 07 10:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - A growing number of young military officers are offering critiques of what went wrong in Iraq, revealing a generational divide between officers on the ground and the generals who deploy them, the Wall Street Journal reports. In an scathing essay in Armed Forces Journal ,   Lt. Col. Paul Yingling charged that top brass failed to prepare for...

Bush 0 for 4 on 2nd-Term Goals
Washington Post | Jun 29, 07 10:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - The immigration bill that died in the Senate yesterday was President Bush's last hope to salvage any one of his four domestic policy goals for the second term, the Washington Post reports. The goals laid out after 2004 reelection included Social Security and tax overhauls,  a curb upon "excessive litigation," and immigration reform. 

Battle for Tech-Savvy New Grads Heats Up
Bloomberg | Jun 29, 07 9:36 AM CDT
(Newser) - Demand for students and recent grads with top-notch tech skills is higher than it's been in over a decade, thanks in part to banks and securities firms waging the recruiting wars alongside Silicon Valley giants such as Google. Bloomberg goes inside the process of wooing the so-called millennials, born between 1982 and 2002 and currently writing their...

Dems Fret Over School Ruling
Washington Post | Jun 29, 07 8:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court decision limiting the role of race in public-school assignments was the talk of the town yesterday—even at the Democratic debate. The agenda at historically black Howard University was minority issues, and although attention naturally fell on Barack Obama, his seven competitors also had their moments in the spotlight, the Washington...

Scientists on the Brink of Artificial Life
Daily Telegraph (UK) | Jun 29, 07 7:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The first artificial life could be created within months as researchers emboldened by "species transplant" experiments prepare to insert synthetic genomes into a host bacterium, the Daily Telegraph reports. Maryland scientists have been replacing one bacterium's DNA with another, transforming the host  into the invader, and now plan...

The Cat Did Not Walk by Himself
Washington Post | Jun 29, 07 6:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - Unlike most animals who were domesticated by man, cats, you cat owners will not be surprised to learn, domesticated themselves.  A study published in Science concludes that some 12,000 years ago cats, attracted by mice, who were themselves attracted by grain which man had just figured out how to cultivate, decided to settle down with us.

London Car Bomb Disarmed
BBC | Jun 29, 07 6:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - A car bomb was found and disarmed in busy central London today. The police were tipped off by an ambulance crew who saw smoke coming from a silver Mercedes in Haymarket. The car was packed with gasoline, gas cannisters, and nails, and could have caused serious damage if it had exploded, police say.

House Cat Hisstory Traced to 5 Mideast Matriarchs
New York Times | Jun 29, 07 6:04 AM CDT
(Newser) - The origin of 600 million house cats has been traced to five matriarchal lines in the Mideast, where the first wildcats moved close to families some 10,000 years ago and earned their keep eating vermin,  the New York Times reports. House cats share striking DNA similarities with wildcats in Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and...

Panel to Shield Journal Editors
MarketWatch | Jun 29, 07 5:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - A watchdog committee, not would-be owner Rupert Murdoch, would hire and fire editors under a tentative pact to protect the editorial independence of the Wall Street Journal ,  a source familiar with details of the deal tells MarketWatch. Members of the panel would be chosen by Murdoch's News Corp., Dow Jones, and the Bancroft famiiy.

Hot-Dog-Eating Champ Out With Strained Jaw
Associated Press | Jun 29, 07 5:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Will the 4th of July ever be the same? For 5 years, the day has belonged to Takeru Kobayashi, the unstoppable winner of Nathan's annual hot dog eating contest. But the chow champ—a Japanese professional eater nicknamed "tsnuami" for his technique—is in a pickle. He can barely open his mouth due to an arthritic jaw.

Wiki Twist in Benoit Horror
Sydney Morning Herald | Jun 29, 07 5:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - In a disturbing twist, police report that Wikipedia contributors in the U.S. and Australia made note of the death of wrestler Chris Benoit's wife 14 hours before her body, Benoit's, and their son's had been discovered. The first edit stated Benoit missed an event "due to personal issues, stemming from the death of his wife Nancy."

Police Arrest Two in Case of Missing Maddy
Guardian (UK) | Jun 29, 07 4:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - Police in Spain have arrested two people in an extortion plot connected to the disappearance of British tot Madeleine McCann. The pair, one of them an Italian man wanted in France for child abuse, were arrested near Gibraltar after trying to blackmail the McCann family, the Guardian reports. The four-year-old was abducted 56 days ago on a family...

Harry Potter Work$ His Magic
Associated Press | Jun 29, 07 4:34 AM CDT
(Newser) - Advance orders for the final book in the Harry Potter series are up 17% over the last installment, British publisher Bloomsbury reports. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will bring down the curtain on one of the biggest money makers in publishing history  on July 21. The latest Potter movie, which has already premiered in Tokyo,...

Bad US Loans Sink London Hedge Fund
Financial Times (UK) | Jun 29, 07 4:26 AM CDT
(Newser) -  A London hedge fund is the latest casualty of the US subprime mortgage crisis that has already hit American investment companies, the Financial Times reports. After losing 53% of its value, Caliber Global Investment will sell its assets and try to repay $900 million to investors over the next year.

HealthSouth Boss Gets 7 Years for Bribery
Wall Street Journal | Jun 29, 07 4:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Richard Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth, was sentenced to almost 7 years in prison for giving the governor of Alabama $500,000 in exchange for a seat on the state hospital regulatory board, the Wall Street Journal reports. Former governor Don Siegelman was sentenced to over 7 years, and both men must pay restitution.

Oden Is No.1 Draft Pick
ESPN | Jun 29, 07 4:13 AM CDT
(Newser) - Portland chose conventional wisdom over daring in the 2007 NBA draft, picking defense-first Ohio State center Greg Oden over Texas's scoring prodigy Kevin Durant. Division rival Seattle nabbed Durant and traded the team's leading scorer, Ray Allen, to Boston for two players and the draft's #5 pick, which became Georgetown forward Jeff Green.

Bags of Corn, Beer Make for Fun in the Midwest
Wall Street Journal | Jun 28, 07 6:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - An uncomplicated game called Cornhole is sweeping the Midwest, attracting players  from bars to church picnics. Competing teams toss 1lb bags of dry corn at a 6-inch hole carved into a wooden platform. Said to have originated in Cincinnati as a backyard diversion, Cornhole is now spreading to such cities as Milwaukee and Chicago, says the Wall...

FDA Flags Chinese Seafood
Associated Press | Jun 28, 07 6:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Add farmed seafood to the list of unsafe goods imported from China. The FDA will detain three varieties of fish as well as shrimp and eel, the agency said today, after tests revealed the presence of antibiotics and antifungals that aren't approved in the US for use in aquaculture. The level of contamination and risk to consumers are low.

White House Stonewalls on Subpoenas
New York Times | Jun 28, 07 5:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - The White House shot down attempts to subpoena internal documents concerning the US attorney firings today by invoking executive privilege. Though not a surprise, the refusal moved the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to accuse the administration of "Nixonian stonewalling." If the committee doesn't back down, the Times reports,...

Journal Employees Stage Anti-Murdoch Protest
Forbes | Jun 28, 07 5:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Wall Street Journal employees around the country were intentionally late for work today in a job action to protest News Corp.'s impending purchase of Dow Jones. The union representing reporters coordinated the demonstration, Forbes reports, to give a collective thumbs-down to Rupert Murdoch and to protest recent developments in ongoing labor...

Egypt Outlaws Female Genital Mutilation
Reuters | Jun 28, 07 4:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - A legal loophole allowing girls to undergo genital cutting for "health reasons" has been eliminated in Egypt, strengthening an earlier ban. Seen as a rite of passage and a way to lessen sexual desire, the practice had been fairly widespread. But after a heavily sedated girl died during the operation, the health ministry banned it completely.

Spice Girls Back for World Tour
Times (UK) | Jun 28, 07 3:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - In a blast from the British past, all five of the Spice Girls reunited today in London for the first time since 2001 to kick off an 11-date, 8-country world tour, which starts in December. "The time is right," said Sporty Spice. "We want to have some fun and wanted to keep this announcement mysterious."

Hillary Hunts for the Human Touch
Slate | Jun 28, 07 3:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - Hillary Clinton has experience and leadership to spare, but she’s battling innate appearances just to be liked, Slate’s John Dickerson says. No one thinks Clinton's a shrinking violet—pollees call her tougher than former POW John McCain—but she struggles on the "softer" qualities, like, say, appearing human.

Eagle Flies Off 'Threatened' List
Bloomberg | Jun 28, 07 3:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - The national bird is no longer threatened with extinction, an achievement the Interior Department celebrated today by letting a bald eagle frolic in the skies above the Jefferson Memorial. Thanks in large part to conservation laws, the number of nesting pairs has grown more than 20-fold since 1963; the bird had been threatened (in less peril than endangered)...