Newser Story Index from February, 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.
Pointing Toward March 4, Dems Think Small
Burlington Free Press
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Feb 19, 2008 7:21 PM CST
(Newser) -
With the days when 23 delegates were no big deal a distant memory, Hillary Clinton isn't conceding Vermont to Barack Obama, the Burlington Free Press reports. She has sent three staffers to open a field office in a state where her opponent has seven paid workers, four offices, and the backing of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry's.
Musharraf Plans to Stay Prez Despite Loss
Wall Street Journal
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Feb 19, 2008 6:55 PM CST
(Newser) -
Pervez Musharraf wants to stay president despite his party's crushing defeat in Pakistan's national election, he told the Wall Street Journal today. He said he hopes to aid the country's transition to democracy and cooperate with the next prime minister. "We have to move forward in a way that we bring about a stable democratic government to...
Is He Against Torture?
Los Angeles Times
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Feb 19, 2008 6:45 PM CST
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The LA Times editorial board today slammed John McCain for a vote the paper feels undermines the senator’s “admirable” opposition to torture in interrogations. McCain, whom the Times endorsed earlier this month, voted against legislation that forbids CIA interrogators from using waterboarding or other methods banned by the Army...
Florida Schools Must Teach Evolution
Tallahassee Democrat
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Feb 19, 2008 6:18 PM CST
(Newser) -
Teachers in Florida's public schools must for the first time teach evolution, but they must present it as a "scientific theory" rather than a fact, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. The state's Board of Education approved the new curriculum standards today. The old ones made no mention of evolution. Religious leaders and conservative lawmakers...
10 Key Factors in Wisconsin Vote
Slate
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Feb 19, 2008 5:48 PM CST
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With Wisconsin voting winding down, "it's anybody’s state,” says Slate’s Chadwick Maltin. Here are five reasons Clinton could win. (Obama's follow): The demographics are perfect: 90% are white, and most are lower-income moderates. Polls here are seesawing, and they’re due to swing in Hillary’s favor....
South Florida Quiet After Castro Resigns
Miami Herald
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Feb 19, 2008 5:16 PM CST
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Few South Florida Cubans bothered to celebrate Fidel Castro's retirement today, the Miami Herald reports. Exile leaders dismissed the power shift to Castro's brother Raul as politics as usual for the island nation. "Just because he has given up a title, doesn't mean he has given up power,'' lawmaker Mario Diaz-Balart said.
Police: War Hero Preys on Neighbor
Associated Press
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Feb 19, 2008 4:55 PM CST
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A Holocaust hero who with his brothers saved 1,200 Jews in one of the largest armed rescues during World War II is accused of bilking a survivor of about $250,000, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Aron Bell dumped a 93-year-old Catholic survivor at a nursing home in Poland and then spent her money, Florida prosecutors allege.
Homeless Look to Foreclosures
Associated Press
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Feb 19, 2008 4:52 PM CST
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As the nation's spate of foreclosures leaves more people homeless, more homeless people are finding shelter in those newly abandoned buildings, the AP reports. The stock of foreclosed homes in hard-hit areas may well outnumber people on the street, leading many to chance arrest or a run-in with drug dealers for a roof over their heads.
Silicon Valley Deletes Middle-Income Jobs
New York Times
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Feb 19, 2008 4:23 PM CST
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Silicon Valley is bleeding middle-income jobs, the New York Times reports. Clerks, secretaries, service reps and others earning $30,000 to $80,000 a year fell from 52% to 46% of workers from 2002 to 2006, according to a new report. The trend threatens the region's upward-mobility track, one author of the 2008 Index of Silicon Valley report said:...
$100 Oil Extinguishes Rally
Wall Street Journal
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Feb 19, 2008 4:11 PM CST
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After three-digit Dow gains, today's record surge in oil prices knocked out a broad rally, and the major indexes closed in the red. Analysts say the market won't be able to sustain a prolonged rally for some time. "The rallies we're seeing now are just bounces, not a new trend," a strategist tells the Wall Street Journal . The Dow ended...
Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out
New Yorker
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Feb 19, 2008 3:57 PM CST
(Newser) -
The days when drug use could derail a Supreme Court nomination or make a hairsplitting presidential candidate look ridiculous are long gone, Hendrik Hertzberg writes in the New Yorker, and Barack Obama has broken yet another barrier: He is apparently "marginally less of a pothead than he has made himself out to be."
Court Nixes Gag Order in Britney Case
People
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Feb 19, 2008 3:35 PM CST
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Britney Spears will get no help from LA's family court in dodging the paparazzi, People reports. The commissioner overseeing her custody case today declined her lawyers' request for a gag order. Spears' legal team had requested a media blackout because the hordes of photographers were "dangerous" to the troubled singer "physically...
Colleges Explore Mormonism
Boston Globe
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Feb 19, 2008 3:15 PM CST
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Academics, including those at most theological seminaries, have long ignored the study of Mormonism. But now, possibly because of a certain presidential candidate—or a certain HBO show—it's on the radar in religion departments and scholarly publishing houses, the Boston Globe reports. Harvard Divinity School just added its first course,...
Paris Tweens Get Their SexyEdBack
Los Angeles Times
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Feb 19, 2008 2:55 PM CST
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Worried that the French approach to sex education isn't very, well, French, a new exhibit in a Paris science museum is teaching kids what happens when the lights go out in the City of Lights. The museum exposes the anatomical, biological, and mushy sentimental mysteries of sex through exhibits that range from practical to goofy, the LA Times reports.
Foes 'Question Our Blackness,' Clintonites Say
Washington Post
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Feb 19, 2008 2:40 PM CST
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Hillary Clinton’s African-American supporters may once have thought they were making the safe choice, but now that the black community is rallying behind Barack Obama, her boosters' instincts and loyalty are being questioned, the Washington Post reports. The heat is so high that 25 senior boosters had a conference Friday to rally against what...
Medical Breathalyzer Tracks Disease
Rocky Mountain News
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Feb 19, 2008 2:19 PM CST
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Diagnosing diseases such as asthma and cancer may become quicker and easier thanks to a new device that analyzes a patient's breath. By shooting lasers as the gas molecules in a person's breath, doctors will be able to analyze the composition of the gas and search for biological markers of disease, reports the Rocky Mountain News.
Supreme Court Won't Hear Wiretapping Case
Los Angeles Times
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Feb 19, 2008 1:50 PM CST
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The Supreme Court has dismissed the ACLU's legal challenge of President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, reports the Los Angeles Times . The ACLU had said that by issuing a secret order that allowed wiretapping without abiding by a 1978 law, the president was directly disobeying US law. The court today issued a one-line order declining to hear...
Soaring Prices Lure Oilmen Back to Oil City
Wall Street Journal
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Feb 19, 2008 1:30 PM CST
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The world’s first commercial oil well was in Oil City, Pa., which saw its fortunes fall along with the crude supply. Now that prices are at historic highs, Oil City is part of a renaissance. The easy crude is long gone, but a motley assortment of would-be barons is using everything from nuclear scanners to dynamite to churn up those last few...
Suitors Keep Lines Open to Superdelegates
Los Angeles Times
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Feb 19, 2008 1:20 PM CST
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Sometimes superdelegates respond to politics, ideology, or longstanding alliances. Other times, they're won by girl talk. For one Philadelphia party official, a morning call from Michelle Obama sealed the deal, the LA Times reports. The would-be first lady covered everything from strategy to motherhood. “She was talking to me like you would...
How Bad Is Northern Rock?
Financial Times (UK)
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Feb 19, 2008 1:08 PM CST
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The subprime crisis has forced the British government to do what it dreaded: nationalize a bank. What's the fallout from the Northern Rock takeover? Gordon Brown "put quite a good face" on an unpalatable decision, says Philip Stephens of the Financial Times. Nationalization hasn't hurt him much, but the dithering has. Result: An...
New E. coli Strains Could Spell Epidemic
Telegraph (UK)
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Feb 19, 2008 12:57 PM CST
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New drug-resistant strains of E. coli have doctors worried that the mutant bacteria could become a superbug to rival MRSA, the drug-resistant form of staphylococcus that kills hundreds hospital patients each year, the Daily Telegraph reports. The spread of the new E.coli strains must be carefully tracked to avoid an epidemic, Canadian scientists...
Microsoft to Engineer Proxy Fight for Yahoo's Board
New York Times
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Feb 19, 2008 12:49 PM CST
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Rather than raise its $44.6 billion hostile takeover bid, Microsoft will start a proxy fight at Yahoo, with an eye to nominating a slate of directors for the board by mid-March. The hardball tactic will cost less than upping the bid—$20 million or $30 million will pay a proxy solicitor and buy shareholder mailers—but it comes with real...
Parents Feel Negative About New New Math
Washington Post
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Feb 19, 2008 12:40 PM CST
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What happens when parents can't help their first-graders with their math homework? They get upset, as parents in Virginia have over the latest "new" math, which emphasizes problem-solving and visualization over memorization and drills. Many are pressing the school district to dump its new math textbook series, the Washington Post reports,...
US Should Have Hugged Castro to Death
Newsweek
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Feb 19, 2008 12:23 PM CST
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Fidel Castro has left power, but his legacy endures because the US never did what it took to eliminate his regime: embrace it. Fidel survived for decades because his people were afraid of the angry superpower to the north, writes Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey. Had America embraced him, the Cuban people might have dared to hope for more than...
Your Boyfriend Does Mind If You Smoke
Der Spiegel
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Feb 19, 2008 12:09 PM CST
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A German man was so sick of his girlfriend's smoking that he turned a fire extinguisher on her, Der Spiegel reports. The 42-year-old gave a few warning shouts before spraying the apartment the two share, and he hadn't stopped yelling by the time police arrived to escort him to the station.
And Baby Makes ... Too Many?
New York Times
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Feb 19, 2008 12:01 PM CST
(Newser) -
Fertility doctors are beginning to wonder whether they're too successful. With in vitro fertilization prompting a 70% increase in the rate of multiple births since 1980, some are espousing a switch to single-embryo transfer. The procedure lowers the success rate but also lowers the rate of multiple births, with their attendant health risks, the New...
'Saint Factory' Slows Down Production
BBC
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Feb 19, 2008 11:57 AM CST
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The Vatican is moving to slow traffic on the road to sainthood, the BBC reports. Critics accused the Vatican of becoming a "saint factory" under the late Pope John Paul II, who created more saints than all his predecessors combined. The new, more rigorous guidelines under Benedict XVI require candidates to have "a true reputation for...
Patent Battle Breaks Out Between Motorola, RIM
Wall Street Journal
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Feb 19, 2008 11:45 AM CST
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A patent battle has flared between BlackBerry maker RIM and Motorola after the two failed to agree on terms to renew an existing licensing agreement, reports the Wall Street Journal .The friction comes as each company is intruding into the other's turf: Motorola by building Blackberry-like email devices, RIM by developing cell phones.
'Silent' Song Tops Kiwi Charts
Reuters
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Feb 19, 2008 11:40 AM CST
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A song that only dogs can hear has hit the top of the charts in New Zealand and may be headed for the US, Reuters reports. "A Very Silent Night," a charity single to benefit the country's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was recorded at a frequency audible only to dogs and got enough tails wagging to make it the nation's...
How Obama Is Like a Dot-Com
Der Spiegel
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Feb 19, 2008 11:35 AM CST
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Barack Obama may be generating excitement across America, but so did tech stocks during the late-'90s bubble, writes Der Spiegel ’s Gabor Steingart. "The rhetoric all sounds strangely familiar," he warns, comparing Obama’s campaign to that absurd era in the market’s history. Just as the bubble stocks had no use for pesky...
Now on eBay: 6 Million Songs for Just $50M
Idolator Blog
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Feb 19, 2008 11:20 AM CST
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Record collector supreme Paul Mawhinney has put his collection of over 6 million songs on eBay, but with its value estimated at $50 million and a $3 million starting bid, bidders could be rarer than some of the jewels in the collection, the Idolator writes. "It's the history of music," Mawhinney says of the colossal music archive he spent...
Fed Quietly Loans Billions to US Banks
Financial Times (UK)
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Feb 19, 2008 11:10 AM CST
(Newser) -
US banks, struggling with liquidity and hesitant to lend to each other in the wake of the subprime crisis, have hit up the Fed for nearly $50 billion, the Financial Times reports. The loans, issued under a 2-month-old program that, one analyst says, lets them "borrow money against all sort of dodgy collateral,” are fueling fears that...
Absolut Cans Bottle Ads, Sees Sales Soar
Advertising Age
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Feb 19, 2008 10:55 AM CST
(Newser) -
Absolut is selling a lot more vodka now that it's dumped one of the world's best-known ad campaigns, Advertising Age reports. The Swedish brand and its arty ads featuring the iconic bottle had been a big hit since entering the US market in 1979, but sales were flat before the launch of the "Absolut World" campaign last year. Now global...
Croc Hunter Jr. 'Proud' of First Snakebite
Associated Press
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Feb 19, 2008 10:40 AM CST
(Newser) -
It's going to take more than a snakebite to scare the Crocodile Hunter's son out of his dad's footsteps, the AP reports. Robert Irwin, 4, was "proud to have copped his first hit" after being bitten on the finger by a baby boa constrictor, said his mother, Terri. "He said, 'I hope it wasn't venomous,' so I assured Robert I wouldn't actually...
Violence Erupts in Split Kosovo
Reuters
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Feb 19, 2008 10:25 AM CST
(Newser) -
Hundreds of Serbs torched government and UN buildings in Kosovo today in the worst violence since the country declared independence on Sunday, raising fears of an ethnic split, Reuters reports. Seemingly well-organized gangs rampaged near the border, driving off peacekeepers who tried to intervene. No injuries were reported. “We are inches from...
Suicides Spike Among Middle-Aged
New York Times
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Feb 19, 2008 10:10 AM CST
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Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have spiked dramatically in recent years, in contrast to flat or declining rates in younger and older demographics, mystifying experts, reports the New York Times . For people 45 to 54, the rate jumped 20% between 1999 and 2004; for women, the increase was 31%. Theories about the cause include lack of...
Malaria: Africa's Success Story
Washington Post
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Feb 19, 2008 9:45 AM CST
(Newser) -
A new anti-malaria effort will provide a mosquito net to every Tanzanian child under age 5, reports the Washington Post. President Bush visited northern Tanzania yesterday to announce the program, spotlighting Africa's hugely successful fight against malaria, with committed African and Western governments collaborating on the well-funded strategy....
Gecko Toes Inspire New Surgical Tape
MSNBC
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Feb 19, 2008 9:20 AM CST
(Newser) -
Inspired by geckos' sticky feet, MIT scientists have developed a bandage that could soon be used in place of stitches or staples during surgery. The waterproof material, coated with a sugar-based adhesive that has the nano-scale hills and valleys found on lizard feet, is flexible enough to be used on internal organs, MSNBC reports. Live studies have...
Hawaii Expects Record Turnout
Honolulu Advertiser
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Feb 19, 2008 8:51 AM CST
(Newser) -
It's caucus day in the Aloha state, and Hawaiian election officials are expecting a record turnout, writes the Honolulu Advertiser —due in part to interest in native son Barack Obama, as well as the competitiveness of the race for the nomination. Neither candidate left wintry Wisconsin, which also votes today, but Obama's sister and Chelsea...
Homes Raided Nationwide in German Tax Fraud Probe
Times (UK)
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Feb 19, 2008 8:23 AM CST
(Newser) -
The fallout from Germany's enormous tax evasion scandal continued yesterday as police began a nationwide raid of the homes and offices of over a hundred people. More than 1,000 rich Germans are suspected of cheating the German treasury out of $5 billion by transferring huge sums to banks and dummy foundations in the tax haven of Liechtenstein. So far...
Church Launches 'Sex Challenge'
St. Petersburg Times
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Feb 19, 2008 7:51 AM CST
(Newser) -
A Florida church has issued a 30-day "sex challenge" to its members that's likely to be a much bigger hit with those who are married—at least the husbands among them—than the singles, the St. Petersburg Time s reports. The Relevant Church wants married couples to have sex every day for 30 days, and singles to abstain for the...
Credit Suisse Cuts Profits $1B on Trader Errors
Bloomberg
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Feb 19, 2008 6:58 AM CST
(Newser) -
Credit Suisse share prices plummeted 10% today after the bank announced that some traders had overvalued asset-backed securities, prompting the bank to take a $2.85 billion writedown and drop first-quarter profit projections by $1 billion, Bloomberg reports. Switzerland’s second-largest bank suspended the traders and said it would review 2007...
Stolen Art Found in Parking Lot
Guardian (UK)
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Feb 19, 2008 6:55 AM CST
(Newser) -
The four 19th-century paintings stolen from a Swiss museum have reportedly been found in an unlocked car parked outside a Zurich psychiatric hospital. Although police have not yet confirmed the find, Swiss media are reporting that the $168 million worth of loot—one work each by Cézanne, Degas, Monet, and van Gogh—has been recovered....
Delta-Northwest Merger Close to Takeoff
Wall Street Journal
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Feb 19, 2008 6:27 AM CST
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Directors at Delta and Northwest meeting tomorrow could announce a marriage of the two airlines by day’s end if a crucial deal with the airlines’ 11,000 unionized pilots can be reached, reports the Wall Street Journal. The resulting company would be the largest airline in the world, and would almost certainly face tough scrutiny from...
FDA Approved Wrong China Firm
Washington Post
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Feb 19, 2008 6:26 AM CST
(Newser) -
The Chinese facility that supplied the active ingredient of the blood-thinner heparin, linked to hundreds of adverse reactions and four US deaths, was never inspected by the FDA because the agency confused it with another plant of the same name, the Washington Post reports. The company was given approval based on an earlier FDA inspection of the...
Peace Talks Snag on Jerusalem
Reuters
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Feb 19, 2008 6:14 AM CST
(Newser) -
Peace talks between Israel and Palestinians were set to resume today as leaders were already entangled in a first major clash: over whether or not they agreed that Jerusalem would be part of the discussion. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has claimed the Palestinians agreed to put off discussing Jerusalem. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insisted...
Bomb Dogs Will Ride Amtrak
Associated Press
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Feb 19, 2008 5:33 AM CST
(Newser) -
Amtrak is stepping up security, with random screening of carry-on bags and security teams packing machine guns and leading bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling platforms and trains, reports AP. The new system, beginning this week, echoes stricter security procedures at the nation's airports. Amtrak insists there should be no additional departure delays .
8-Limbed Indian Tot Walking
Telegraph (UK)
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Feb 19, 2008 5:10 AM CST
(Newser) -
Three months after she underwent an intensive, 27-hour hour operation to remove her parasitic twin's four limbs, 2-year-old Indian tot Lakshmi Tatma, is beginning to walk with assistance, reports the Daily Telegraph . "When she was put in the baby walker she started pushing herself backwards with her legs and burst into laughter with a huge grin...
Nude Lohan Pics Clone Epic Monroe Shoot
Associated Press
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Feb 19, 2008 4:56 AM CST
(Newser) -
Celebrity photographer Bert Stern has proved that he still prefers his blonds nude, snapping revealing pictures of Lindsay Lohan for New York magazine in a recreation of his famous 1962 Marilyn Monroe photo shoot. In the original, Monroe posed with only a few scarves and a glass of champagne. Blond wig notwithstanding, Lohan appears as bare as Monroe,...
Bhutto Loyalist Frontrunner to Be Pakistan PM
Times (UK)
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Feb 19, 2008 4:31 AM CST
(Newser) -
President Pervez Musharraf's party has admitted defeat after losing a resounding two-thirds of its seats in parliament in Pakistan's parliamentary elections. Although final results are still not in, Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League have crushed the president's faction, which placed a distant third. The likely...
