Newser Story Index from November, 2008

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.

Want to Get Into College? Try These Student Tips
Wall Street Journal | Nov 30, 08 9:16 PM CST
(Newser) - Applications continue to flood into top US colleges despite the economic slowdown. With admissions as competitive as ever, the Wall Street Journal talks to six people who know—college freshmen—and asks for their advice: Don't let naysayers deter you from your dream school: "It pays off to keep on going for it even if...

Obama Will Make Adults 'Cool' on TV
Los Angeles Times | Nov 30, 08 9:14 PM CST
(Newser) - 60 Minutes is killing the competition, Mad Men is grittier by the episode, and even Gossip Girl 's bimbos are growing up—thanks mostly to the adult air of Barack Obama, Mary McNamara writes in the Los Angeles Times . After 8 years of President Bush, whose folksiness and privilege inspired reality TV's "clique-navigating competitions,"...

High Schoolers Cheat, Steal, Say Morals A-OK
Associated Press | Nov 30, 08 8:53 PM CST
(Newser) - Almost a third of US high schoolers are thieves and two thirds are cheaters, a new study says. Among nearly 30,000 students surveyed, 64% admitted to cheating on a test, 30% to shoplifting, and 23% to stealing from family. "The competition is greater," said one education official. "The pressures on kids have increased dramatically."...

Pols Flout Ethics Law on Trip to Carib Isle
New York Post | Nov 30, 08 8:18 PM CST
(Newser) - Six US lawmakers, all members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have been caught rubbing shoulders with lobbyists on a trip that violates federal ethics laws, the New York Post reports. Joining them were three New York officials, including the state's governor—who avoided breaking the law by paying his own expenses. The annual conference...

$20B Yahoo Search Deal 'Total Fiction': Exec
All Things Digital | Nov 30, 08 8:03 PM CST
(Newser) - A report that Microsoft will buy Yahoo's search business and give two Internet execs a 30% share is "total fiction," one of the execs tells Kara Swisher at AllThingsDigital. Swisher agrees that the $20 billion deal, reported by the London Times , is likely non-existent. After all, board member Carl Icahn would know about it—and his...

'21st Century Girls' Force Scouts to Evolve
Time | Nov 30, 08 7:30 PM CST
(Newser) - Sporty, ambitious, and tech-savvy, the modern American girl is forcing a century-old program to change its ways, Time reports. Sagging cookie sales and plummeting membership have compelled Girl Scouts to merge councils, sell off lucrative campsites, and redefine its relevance for "21st century girls," says Mary Connell, a Girl Scout executive....

Plax to Plead Not Guilty on Weapon Charge
New York Daily News | Nov 30, 08 7:03 PM CST
(Newser) - Plaxico Burress will turn himself in to police tomorrow and plead not guilty on a felony weapon charge, the New York Daily News reports. If convicted, the New York Giant receiver—who accidentally shot himself in the leg on Friday—would face a minimum 3-1/2 year sentence for carrying an illegal, concealed handgun in New York. Fellow Giant...

Finish My Fight With Big 3: Gore to Obama
Newsweek | Nov 30, 08 6:34 PM CST
(Newser) - Al Gore doesn't want a White House job, but he does have advice for Barack Obama: Use the bailout plan to transform the Big Three automakers. As vice-president, Gore rolled out a billion-dollar program to pay for fuel-efficient Detroit vehicles—"but as soon as they felt they were off the hook, they pulled the plug and walked away," Gore...

Betancourt Back in Colombia for Anti-FARC Tour
AFP | Nov 30, 08 6:04 PM CST
(Newser) - Former FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt returned to Colombia yesterday to kick off a tour aimed at getting the rebels to disarm, AFP reports. "I am so very happy to be here," said Betancourt, who has received death threats from FARC and will keep her Colombia visit brief. She met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and is slated to meet...

Meet India's New Security Chief
Wall Street Journal | Nov 30, 08 5:38 PM CST
(Newser) - A shakeup following the Mumbai terror attacks has put India's finance minister in charge of security, the Wall Street Journal reports. As home minister, ex-finance chief Palaniappan Chidambaram is expected to forge an anti-terror task force and may station commandos around the country. His predecessor, who had spoken repeatedly of a maritime terrorist...

Christmases Chokes Australia at Box Office
Variety | Nov 30, 08 5:06 PM CST
(Newser) - Four Christmases iced the competition over the long Thanksgiving weekend and raked in $46.7 million, Variety reports. Box office numbers stayed strong overall—up 2% to 3% over last year's holiday—as Twilight ($39.5 million), Bolt ($36 million), and Quantum of Solace ($28.1 million) filled out the top four. Highly-anticipated ...

Steelers' D Shackles Patriots
Associated Press | Nov 30, 08 4:39 PM CST
(Newser) - The once-dominant New England Patriots ran into the NFL's top-ranked defense on a rainy, cold day in Foxboro today, the AP reports: The Patriots were sacked four times and gave up five turnovers against the Pittsburgh Steelers—in the second half alone. Ben Roethlisberger tossed two TDs and Jeff Reed kicked four field goals in Pittsburgh's...

Rerouted Shuttle Lands in Calif.
Associated Press | Nov 30, 08 4:03 PM CST
(Newser) - Space shuttle Endeavour touched down at Edwards Air Force Base in California today, after dangerously high wind prevented the crew from landing at its home base in Florida, and NASA ordered the astronauts to take a detour and head for the Left Coast. Endeavour touched down at 4:25pm EST, wrapping up a 16-day trip that left the International Space Station...

10K in Zimbabwe Hit by Cholera: UN
Daily Telegraph (UK) | Nov 30, 08 3:31 PM CST
(Newser) - The UN says more than 400 Zimbabweans have died and 10,000 are ill as a result of cholera, the London Telegraph reports. But critics like opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai accuse the government of fudging even those high numbers, insisting that more than 500 have died and half a million are sick. The unprecedented outbreak has spread from rural...

$125K Diamonds Are Winona's Missing Friend
Daily Mail (UK) | Nov 30, 08 2:58 PM CST
(Newser) - Winona Ryder can't find a $125,000 bracelet and ring set lent to her by Bulgari for a magazine event, and now the company has reportedly called the cops, the Daily Mail reports. Ryder says she handed the jewelry over to staff at her Madrid hotel, but management says there's no security footage to back up her story.

Bailout Harks Back to FDR, With More Risk
Los Angeles Times | Nov 30, 08 2:37 PM CST
(Newser) - Washington's latest $1 trillion injection into the economy echoes Depression-era and WWII revival plans, but with a dangerous twist, writes Jim Puzzanghera in the Los Angeles Times . Even if the bailouts succeed, the government's mountain of debt will likely bury the next generation in high interest rates and inflation. And unlike Depression-WWII...

Wal-Mart Death a Fitting Symbol of the Times
New York Times | Nov 30, 08 1:54 PM CST
(Newser) - When shoppers charged into a Long Island Wal-Mart at the stroke of 5am Friday and trampled to death a temp who happened to get between them and the $388 flatscreen TVs inside,“it was a tragedy, yet it did not feel like an accident,” Peter Goodman writes in the New York Times . Goodman notes that just as the Depression had its breadlines,...

Auction Houses Counting on Russians
Economist | Nov 30, 08 1:28 PM CST
(Newser) - With dwindling sales and empty showrooms, art auction houses are increasingly relying on what they have dubbed RR: rich Russians. Houses are hoping the record price drawn by a Kasimir Malevich painting earlier this month is proof that the Russian market will escape the downturn that's affecting other sectors. Of the three major houses, Sotheby's has...

Ga.'s Chambliss on Runoff: 'We'll Win Again'
Politico | Nov 30, 08 12:48 PM CST
(Newser) - Despite failing to muster 50% of the vote Nov. 4, Sen. Saxby Chambliss said he would prevail in Tuesday’s runoff against Democrat Jim Martin. “We’ll win again,” the Georgia Republican declared on Fox News Sunday . But Chambliss declined to say he would benefit from the lower black voter turnout predicted by polls, Politico...

Brit's Back, Big Time
New York Daily News | Nov 30, 08 12:12 PM CST
(Newser) - While Britney Spears' life has resembled something of a sideshow over the past couple of years, her newest release is a welcome return to her musical roots, writes Jim Farber in the New York Daily News . And for Glenn Gamboa, writing in Newsday,  Circu s can't just be called a comeback: "Not only is "Circus" (Jive) the best...

Murdered Brooklyn Rabbi, Wife to Be Buried in Israel
New York Daily News | Nov 30, 08 11:50 AM CST
(Newser) - The Brooklyn-raised rabbi and his wife who were murdered in the Mumbai attacks will be buried in the Holy Land, the Daily News reports. Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, had wrapped the bodies of slain hostages in prayer shawls before being shot himself. The couple’s orphaned son marked his second birthday yesterday with his grandparents. “He had...

Swiss Legalize Heroin Injections
BBC | Nov 30, 08 11:00 AM CST
(Newser) - Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a safe-injection program for heroin addicts today, BBC reports. The referendum, backed by 68% of voters, makes permanent a 14-year-old Swiss program that allows doctors to shoot up heroin users while attending to their medical and mental health needs. Switzerland will be the first nation to make such a program official...

Is Your Kid a Sprinter or Footballer? Gene Test Knows
New York Times | Nov 30, 08 10:48 AM CST
(Newser) - The answer to whether a kid would make a better linebacker or long-distance runner might lie in a simple genetic test—but many experts worry it could lead parents in the wrong direction, the New York Times reports. Based on a study that pointed to one gene’s role in athletic ability, the $149 test being pioneered in Colorado aims to determine...

Boy, 8, Mulling Deal in Dad's Death
Arizona Republic (Phoenix) | Nov 30, 08 10:33 AM CST
(Newser) - An 8-year-old Arizona boy who is accused of shooting his father and a tenant to death is considering a plea deal in the double killing, reports the Arizona Republic . "We would have to decide if that's something in our client's best interest, and it's too early to be able to say that," said the boy's attorney.

Who Needs CNN?
New York Times | Nov 30, 08 9:47 AM CST
(Newser) - Witnesses of the Mumbai terror attacks didn’t wait for CNN to get information: They captured it themselves, the New York Times reports, the latest example of citizen journalists using technology to put themselves on the frontlines of news. “I felt I had a responsibility to share my view with the outside world,” said one witness...

Mumbai Photog: 'I Only Wish I Had a Gun'
Belfast Telegraph | Nov 30, 08 9:15 AM CST
(Newser) - The photographer who took pictures of Mumbai terrorists seen worldwide snapped his train-station shots as armed police stood by, he told the Belfast Telegraph . “At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, 'Shoot them, they're sitting ducks!' but they just didn't shoot back,” he said. Sebastian D’Souza...

Pakistan Pressures West to Rein in India
Times (UK) | Nov 30, 08 8:34 AM CST
(Newser) - In a thinly veiled message to the US, Pakistan officials have threatened to withdraw troops fighting Islamists along Afghanistan if India builds up forces along the border it shares with Pakistan. Furious Indian officials have linked the deadly Mumbai terror operation to Pakistan. "If something happens on that front, the war on terror won't be...

Hopeless Is Hot in Hollywood
On Faith | Nov 30, 08 7:57 AM CST
(Newser) - Bleak is the new chic in Tinseltown, writes Dan Zak in the Washington Post . Cloverfield' s crowd-trampling monster, the psycho serial killer of No Country for Old Men , and the twisted oil entrepreneur of There Will Be Blood (need we mention the Dark Knight ?) highlight the "raw misery of the human condition," sniffs Zak. "Big...

Scrambling, GM Offers Equity for Debt
Wall Street Journal | Nov 30, 08 7:24 AM CST
(Newser) - GM officials are pushing bondholders to swap out the debt they hold for equity in the troubled corporation, reports the Wall Street Journal . The unique strategy represents a last-ditch attempt to stave off creditors and obtain federal aid to survive. A debt swap could leave unsecured debtholders with major losses. Many bonds have been trading at...

We Aimed to Murder 5,000: Mumbai Terrorist
Daily Mail (UK) | Nov 30, 08 6:55 AM CST
(Newser) - The lone Mumbai terrorist captured alive said months of training had prepped him and his cohorts to kill 5,000 people, the Daily Mail reports. Describing the massacre to police, Azam Amir Kasab of Pakistan, 21, said his instructions were to “target whites, preferably Americans and British.” He was told to "kill to my last breath."...

Surgery Looms for Teen Mom's Conjoined Newborns
Daily Mail (UK) | Nov 30, 08 6:07 AM CST
(Newser) - A medical decision will be made this week on when and how to separate the conjoined newborns of an 18-year-old London mom. The baby girls are joined from chest to navel and share a liver, but have two hearts, reports the Daily Mail. "They're little fighters," said the mom, who named the babies Faith and Hope. After their birth she said...

Town Bans Lights to Save Milky Way
Boston Globe | Nov 30, 08 5:33 AM CST
(Newser) - Stargazing is more than an idle pleasure on Mount Desert Island, Maine. It's also a tourist attraction protected by law. Voters on the island recently banned new outdoor lights that aim upwards and contribute to obstructing the island's rare view of the naked Milky Way. The goal is to draw tourists who have never seen the night sky unhindered by city...

Just in Time for Holidays: No Job
New York Times | Nov 30, 08 5:03 AM CST
(Newser) - Few things ruin the holidays like losing a job. Yet that's what's happening to thousands of Americans just as they were planning to treat friends and families to gifts and holiday gatherings. The turnaround is excruciating as families struggle to save traditions on extremely tight budgets, reports the New York Times . Lavish feasts are being transformed...

Bill Reveals Donors to Clear Path for Hillary
Associated Press | Nov 29, 08 10:20 PM CST
(Newser) - President-elect Barack Obama plans to nominate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state on Monday, said Democratic officials. To clear the way for his wife to take the job, former President Bill Clinton agreed to disclose the names of every contributor—more than 200,000 in all—to his foundation. He'll also refuse donations...

Female In-Laws Suffer the Most: Study
Guardian (UK) | Nov 29, 08 7:48 PM CST
(Newser) - Mother-in-law jokes focus on the husband's pain, but female in-laws wage the biggest family battles, the Guardian reports. A 20-year study of hundreds of families shows that 60% of women blame their female in-law for feelings of stress and misery. Mothers-in-law complained of feeling isolated and unappreciated, while daughters-in-law were shocked...

Why Wasn't India Prepared?
New York Times | Nov 29, 08 7:10 PM CST
(Newser) - With Mumbai's bloody 3-day siege over, questions are arising about India's failure to anticipate and quickly repel the attack on its financial capital, the New York Times reports. A gang of only 10 terrorists caused widespread carnage, infiltrating three buildings, fighting off security forces, and fooling them into believing there were hostages....

Reporter's Preteen Daughter Gets Pirates to Talk
BBC | Nov 29, 08 6:40 PM CST
(Newser) - After a BBC reporter failed to get Somali pirates on the phone, her 12-year-old daughter begged for a chance to call them. "Mummy, mummy," she said from the back seat of their car. "I want to phone the pirates." At the end of her rope, the frazzled mother agreed—and soon heard her girl giggling on the phone with pirates on-board...

The 11th Commandment: 'Thou Shalt Not Forge'
Los Angeles Times | Nov 29, 08 6:06 PM CST
(Newser) - Fraudulent biblical artifacts come a dime a dozen, but reputable archaeologists are turning out to be far less common, Nina Burleigh writes in the Los Angeles Times . The latest example involves an Israeli collector who claimed to have relics from the time of Christ. Declaring the items forgeries, authorities prosecuted the man, but a judge’s...

US Health Care Bleeds $1T, But Can Be Saved
Washington Post | Nov 29, 08 5:35 PM CST
(Newser) - What America needs is another preemptive strike, executives say—in the world of health care. As Barack Obama gears up to reform the industry, several health care leaders say that up to half of the nation's $2.3 trillion health budget is wasted. In a broad consensus, they call for a pay-for-results plan that includes electronic records, incentives...

Grenade Blast Hurts 46 Thai Protesters
Reuters | Nov 29, 08 5:08 PM CST
(Newser) - A grenade blast at the prime minister’s compound in Bangkok has wounded 46 anti-government protesters, at least two critically, Reuters reports. A leader of the party leading the protest blamed pro-government forces for the attack, which comes as demonstrations at the Government House and Bangkok's international airport garner worldwide attention. ...

Mumbai-Style Terror Poses Threat to Western Cities
Guardian (UK) | Nov 29, 08 4:43 PM CST
(Newser) - Counter-terror officials say they fear for Western cities after analyzing the Mumbai terror attack, the Guardian reports. The strike was far more sophisticated than the self-radicalized, self-selected suicide attackers seen in London. “The Mumbai operation was planned, premeditated and executed under a command and control apparatus,”...

Strapped Budgets Make for Better Gifts
Los Angeles Times | Nov 29, 08 4:10 PM CST
(Newser) - Tight budgets are forcing Americans to skirt the season's traditional buying frenzy and make gifts that put "emphasis on people, not stuff," Melissa Magsaysay writes in the Los Angeles Times . She's creating "a creative signature gift" of Ugandan beads that she's turning into bracelets: The one-size-fits-all present "will...

Couple Saves First Kiss for Wedding Day
Chicago Tribune | Nov 29, 08 3:42 PM CST
(Newser) - A kiss was more than just a kiss for one Chicago couple, who vowed that they would not smooch—or engage in any other kind of physically amorous activity—until today, their wedding day, the Chicago Tribune reports. “It really tested us and encouraged us to grow closer in our hearts and our minds, just expressing things verbally,”...

Murdoch Relies More on Impulse Than Vision
Age (Aust.) | Nov 29, 08 3:13 PM CST
(Newser) - Rupert Murdoch may be a titan of the media world, but don't look too deeply to figure out what motivates him. In fact, the "most radical idea" in a new biography of Murdoch by Newser founder Michael Wolff is "that there was never a vision or a broad strategy in the creation of the giant News Corporation," writes Ian Munro in the...

Star Receiver Shoots Himself by Mistake
Fox Sports | Nov 29, 08 3:04 PM CST
(Newser) - Plaxico Burress' troubled season continued last night when he accidentally shot himself in the leg in a nightclub, Fox Sports reports. Details are yet to emerge, and Yahoo! Sports reports that someone may have shot the New York Giants receiver, but his injuries are not said to be life threatening. The 31-year-old spent the night in the hospital...

Make Your Case on Anti-Terror, Mr. Bush
Weekly Standard | Nov 29, 08 2:39 PM CST
(Newser) - Republicans have fallen out of favor, and there’s probably nothing George W. Bush can say in his final days to change that. “But he could do his party—and the nation—a service by reminding Americans of our successes fighting the war on terror,” writes William Kristol. If Bush publicly explains how his detention, interrogation,...

Japanese Told to Work Less, Have More Sex
Guardian (UK) | Nov 29, 08 2:10 PM CST
(Newser) - Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, thanks, health experts say, to an overworked populace too tired to have much sex. Surveys show that married Japanese couples under 50 have sex an average of 45 times a year, less than half the global average. Now some groups are calling on employers to give workers more time off to procreate, lest...

Batman (Apparently) Killed Off
BBC | Nov 29, 08 1:47 PM CST
(Newser) - Bruce Wayne appears to have fought his last crime. This week’s Batman #681, the conclusion of the ominously titled Batman RIP story, sees Batman ( spoiler alert ) apparently blown up on a crashing helicopter, in a confrontation with a villain who may or may not be his father. But no body is ever shown, and DC Comics is sending mixed signals...

Mom Hatches Sexy Plan to Free Convicted Son
New York Times | Nov 29, 08 1:22 PM CST
(Newser) - A Brooklyn mother's bid to have her son's murder conviction overturned reads like a Hollywood script. The married 46-year-old got a makeover, hit the gym, rented an apartment under an alias, then strutted around a juror's neighborhood in six-inch heels and a push-up bra. She taped their flirtatious encounters and got him to admit that he knew...

Killers Aim for Mumbai Dream
New York Times | Nov 29, 08 12:58 PM CST
(Newser) - A Mumbai native and 9/11-era New Yorker asks a familiar question in the wake of India's attacks: Why do they hate us? The beloved city he still calls Bombay "stands for lucre, profane dreams, and an indiscriminate openness." It's a sensual, vibrant place that understands money and feels no guilt about it. This "appalls...