Newser Story Index from November, 2009

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.

Lobbyists See Advisory Roles Clipped by New Obama Rule
Washington Post | 7 minutes ago
(Newser) - An Obama administration rule taking effect over the next few months will take potentially thousands of those oh-so-evil Washington lobbyists off panels advising federal officials on everything from consumer protection to environmental policy. The panels’ web is so tangled, the Post reports, that the feds aren’t even sure how many there...

Taliban Makes Surprise Return in N. Afghanistan
New York Times | 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
(Newser) - With US and Afghan forces focused on the southern regions of Afghanistan, the Taliban has popped up in the country’s northern Kunduz province—not only far from its home area but until recently seen as peaceful enough that soldiers and policemen have been transferred from the area to help in other hot spots. And, the New York Times reports,...

Sleep in Tomorrow; Better Bargains Begin Sunday
New York Times | 2 hours, 3 minutes ago
(Newser) - Black Friday ain’t what it used to be. “Stay at home and shop online,” a Saks exec advises, as retailers shift away from the traditional after-Thanksgiving bargain stampede to discounts spread throughout the holiday season. Most in-store deals tomorrow, especially in electronics, will be on lower-end products on the verge of obsolescence,...

Crisis at Dubai Flagship Roils World Markets
Wall Street Journal | 2 hours, 51 minutes ago
(Newser) - A move today by the government of Dubai to take over its flagship company, Dubai World, caused ripples of panic throughout the region, and translated into a selloff in bank stocks in Europe and Asia. The government also aims to delay payments on $60 billion in debt, a request that caused the price of insuring debt in emerging economies to soar, the...

Brazil: 'Gringos' Must Pay to Keep Rainforests
Associated Press | 3 hours, 13 minutes ago
(Newser) - Brazil's president says "gringos" should pay Amazon nations to prevent deforestation, insisting rich Western nations have caused much more past environmental destruction than the loggers and farmers who cut and burn trees in the world's largest tropical rain forest.

Party-Crashers Got Close to Obamas Before
Washington Post | 3 hours, 45 minutes ago
(Newser) - The Secret Service admitted the obvious today, saying that security measures “weren’t followed” at Tuesday’s White House dinner, which a Virginia couple auditioning for a reality show crashed. And, the Washington Post reports, it appears the couple got pretty close to the president-elect during inauguration festivities,...

Aussies Will Kill 6K Thirsty Camels Besieging Town
Associated Press | 4 hours, 13 minutes ago
(Newser) - A town in the Australian outback is “under siege by 6,000 marauding, wild camels,” says a local official: Record-breaking drought drove the thirsty creatures to trample fences, smash water tanks, and terrorize locals, the AP reports. To stop the rampage, the government plans next week to herd the camels into the desert outside the town...

In Meteor, NASA Sees Best Evidence Yet of Life on Mars
Times UK | 4 hours, 56 minutes ago
(Newser) - A Martian meteorite that hit Antarctica 13,000 years ago offers “very strong evidence of life on Mars,” say NASA scientists after concluding that microscopic worm-like structures in the rock are almost certainly fossilized bacteria. The meteorite, which broke off the Red Planet millions of years ago, also shows evidence of liquid water,...

UN Nuclear Agency Blasts Iran Stonewalling
New York Times | 5 hours, 51 minutes ago
(Newser) - The United Nations’ nuclear agency had unusually harsh words for Iran today, saying its investigation into Tehran’s nuclear program was at “a dead end” after more than a year of stonewalling. Ahead of a vote on a resolution criticizing Iran for failing to disclose a uranium enrichment plant, the agency's departing head said...

Climb the Golden Gate Bridge? Maybe Soon
San Francisco Chronicle | 7 hours, 13 minutes ago
(Newser) - Facing giant budget holes and tired of constantly jacking up tolls in futile efforts to fill them, officials may offer tourists the chance to scale San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The model is Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, where $200 gets you a guided climb to the top. What San Francisco’s version might look like is unclear, but ideas...

Banish Men From Childbirth: Doc
BBC | 8 hours, 31 minutes ago
(Newser) - Men should make themselves scarce when women are giving birth, says a French obstetrician who will argue his case at a midwives summit this week. Michel Odent says men make women so stressed they stop producing the oxytocin hormone, which eases deliveries, reports the BBC . This results in more C-sections.

A Great Day for Parades
Associated Press | 8 hours, 56 minutes ago
(Newser) - Along with food and football, Thanksgiving brings a heaping serving of parades, from the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade, the country's longest-running at 90, to the Macy's tradition in Manhattan, which today bypassed Broadway for the first time in its 83 years. Miss America Katie Stam shared the Statue of Liberty float in the Macy's parade with...

iPhone Hacker Gets Job Writing Apps
Sophos.com | 9 hours, 8 minutes ago
(Newser) - The 21-year-old who created the first-ever iPhone worm has landed a job developing apps for the phone. Ashley Towns revealed via his Twitter account that he's been hired by Australia's monogeneration. Towns has said he created the "ikee" worm—it changed users' wallpaper into a photo of Rick Astley—to point out flaws and has not...

Gabby Katie Ruins New Moon for Fans
Fox411 | 9 hours, 43 minutes ago
(Newser) - Katie Holmes is apparently chatty. A little too chatty for New Moon fans. Mrs. Tom Cruise and two friends went to check out the flick in a NYC theater, reportedly gabbing all through the ticket-buying process and, alas, the entire movie. Fans were miffed, but fearing retribution, kept it zipped, reports Fox411 .

Iran Takes Nobel Winner's Peace Prize
Los Angeles Times | 10 hours, 7 minutes ago
(Newser) - In what would be a dastardly first, Norway has accused Iranian authorities of stealing a Nobel Peace Prize. The prize belongs to Iranian national Shirin Ebadi, a human rights lawyer who received the honor in 2003. “The medal and the diploma have been removed from Dr. Ebadi’s bank box, together with other personal items,” said Norway’s...

Biden the Second Most Powerful Vice Prez
New York Times | 10 hours, 26 minutes ago
(Newser) - Joe Biden is surely not as powerful as Dick Cheney was, writes James Traub. But because Cheney so radically expanded the office of vice president, Biden has been able to scale it back and still become arguably the second most powerful VP in history. Biden has no portfolio—he acts more like a troubleshooter, jetting here and there to solve problems...

China Pledges to Cut Greenhouse Gases
Associated Press | 10 hours, 48 minutes ago
(Newser) - China said today that it plans to ramp up efforts to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and that Premier Wen Jiabao will attend next month's climate conference in Copenhagen. The announcement comes a day after President Obama said he, too, would attend to lay out US reductions. The developments raise hopes that the conference will yield meaningful progress...

Worst Modern VP Picks
The Atlantic | 11 hours, 21 minutes ago
(Newser) - Sarah Palin's critics say she was unqualified to be vice president, but don't be too quick to label her the worst pick ever, writes Matthew Cooper. In the Atlantic , he runs down others since WWII who need to be part of the conversation: Spiro Agnew: Nixon's VP had to resign on bribery charges and had scant experience before being picked. "In...

A Teen Boy's Guide to Love, Via New Moon
San Francisco Chronicle | 11 hours, 49 minutes ago
(Newser) - When it came to being cool and hitting it off with girls, Mick LaSalle had it hard as a teen—he had to figure out what width belt to wear and such without the benefit of Twilight as a primer. Herewith, some "empirical data" helpful to 15-year-old boys he gleaned from New Moon and offers in the San Francisco Chronicle : "Keep...

Web Goes Wild for Risqué Bride
Daily Telegraph (UK) | 12 hours, 5 minutes ago
(Newser) - The hottest photo on the Web is a shot of a bride whose outfit, frankly, looks a little drafty. The dazed-looking newlywed is so popular that the photo blog that brought her fame, Wedinator, is crawling. The bride—she's "believed to be Russian," according to the Telegraph —wears long white gloves, a long white skirt, and the...

British Treasure Find Worth $5.4M
Associated Press | 12 hours, 22 minutes ago
(Newser) - An amateur British treasure hunter and the owner of the field where he struck gold are in for a big payday: His find turns out to be a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon cache of the precious metal. The collection is worth about $5.4 million, British Museum tells the AP . The treasure—all 1,500 pieces of it—was found this summer in Staffordshire...

Icebergs Drift Toward New Zealand
BBC | 12 hours, 38 minutes ago
(Newser) - A rare flotilla of icebergs is slowly drifting toward New Zealand from Antarctica. Shippers have been warned that more than 100 giant chunks of ice are in the area. Experts believe most of the icebergs will break up before they hit the coast. Enterprising Kiwis are arranging helicopter tours to take visitors to view the icebergs, the closest of which...

Shaq Foots Bill for Shaniya's Funeral
Fayetteville Observer (NC) | 12 hours, 53 minutes ago
(Newser) - Touched by the girl's story, Shaquille O’Neal paid for the funeral of Shaniya Davis. More than 2,000 people gathered Sunday to mourn the slain North Carolina 5-year-old, allegedly prostituted by her mother and raped and asphyxiated by another man. Shaq got in touch with the girl’s father after her body was identified. The funeral director...

Sex Abuse by Irish Priests 'Hidden for Decades'
Daily Telegraph | 13 hours, 9 minutes ago
(Newser) - Catholic authorities in Ireland covered up sexual abuse by priests for decades in an effort to protect the church, according to a damning government report. The report, which looks into allegations of child sex abuse against 46 Dublin-area priests over a 30-year period, will "shock us all," said Dublin's archbishop.

Holiday Shopping Tip: Money Can Buy You Love
Washington Post | 13 hours, 23 minutes ago
(Newser) - Christmas is coming, and the "voluntary December calamity" of destruction of billions of dollars in value is under way, writes George Will. People will splurge on gifts their relatives and friends don't want or need, and the discrepancy between the cost of the present and its value to the recipient adds up to wasted billions, Will writes...

Lambert, GLAAD Cry Bias—About CBS and ABC
Reuters | 13 hours, 38 minutes ago
(Newser) - After being booted from a scheduled Good Morning America appearance because of his American Music Awards antics, Adam Lambert was snatched up by CBS’ Early Show , where he contended the controversy was motivated by his sexuality: “If it had been a female pop performer doing the moves that were on the stage, I don't think there'd be nearly...

Clintons Strive to Avoid Conflict of Interest Claims
Washington Post | 13 hours, 53 minutes ago
(Newser) - Bill and Hillary Clinton live largely separate professional lives but still end up dealing with many of the same leaders and issues. The secretary of state, keen to avoid any accusations, downplays her husband's influence, but Team Clinton sometimes still works together. The couple's combined energies have paid off on projects like aid for Haiti and...

UK Weighs Super-Tough Bank Bonus Laws
Guardian (UK) | 14 hours, 10 minutes ago
(Newser) - British bankers will soon face the toughest bonus rules in the world, according to the author of a report the government is pushing to implement. Bonus payments will be delayed for up to 5 years under the planned legislation, and banks will have the power to "claw back" bonuses in the event of misconduct, Bloomberg reports.

White House Backs Senate On 'Cadillac' Health Tax
New York Times | 14 hours, 25 minutes ago
(Newser) - The White House has come down firmly on the Senate's side over big discrepancies between the House and Senate health bills. Senior advisers to President Obama said yesterday an excise tax on expensive, "Cadillac" health plans and a commission to control Medicare spending were among the “four pillars" essential to containing the...

NYC Man Jumps to His Death—In Front of Kids
New York Post | 14 hours, 40 minutes ago
(Newser) - A New York man leapt from his apartment window to his death last night while his young daughters looked on in horror. “There were never any signs of problems,” a friend tells the Post . “I'd never expect anything like this from him.” The 53-year-old died instantly after falling 16 stories from the Upper West Side apartment...

UK Man Busted in Teen Jockeys' Arson Deaths
Independent (UK) | 14 hours, 56 minutes ago
(Newser) - British police investigating the deaths of two promising young jockeys in a fire have arrested a man on suspicion of arson. Irish jockey Jamie Kyne, 18, died along with Jan Wilson, a Scottish 19-year-old, when fire ripped through an apartment complex housing young riders in September, the Independent reports.

US Seeks 10K Allied Troops in Afghanistan
New York Times | 15 hours, 17 minutes ago
(Newser) - The US is struggling to convince its allies to commit 10,000 more troops to the war in Afghanistan, according to federal sources. Allied leaders are willing to provide only half that figure for an operation increasingly unpopular with their citizens, particularly amid concerns about corruption in the Afghan government. The Obama administration views...

Even Preschool Girls Worry About Weight
Daily Telegraph | 15 hours, 45 minutes ago
(Newser) - Girls as young as 3 years old are concerned about their looks and being overweight, stunned researchers have found. Up to 50% of preschool girls studied were already anxious about their looks. A third said they were "almost always" worried about their appearance and wanted to lose weight or change their hair color, the study found.

Utah Caver Stuck Upside-Down Dies
Associated Press | 16 hours, 11 minutes ago
(Newser) - Frantic efforts by dozens of rescuers failed to save a man stuck upside down in a Utah cave. The caver, 26, died after spending 28 hours upside down in the Nutty Putty cave, wedged into a crevice 150 feet below ground so tightly that rescuers couldn't pull him out or reach through to assist him. It wasn't immediately clear what killed the caver, though...

Polanski to Be Moved to House Arrest
Independent | 16 hours, 40 minutes ago
(Newser) - Swiss authorities have decided not to appeal a decision to grant bail to Roman Polanski and the director will definitely be moved from his prison cell to his chalet in an Alpine resort within days. Polanski will have to wear an electronic bracelet and remain under house arrest during extradition proceedings by US authorities seeking to force him to...

LA Mayor Calls for Limits on Pot Spots
Los Angeles Times | 17 hours, 15 minutes ago
(Newser) - The Los Angeles City Council has voted to allow dispensaries to continue selling medical marijuana, but the mayor wants to stop the outlets from sprouting like weeds. Antonio Villaraigosa is insisting a cap be placed on the number of dispensaries within city limits, and he wants the council to include limits in its medical marijuana ordinance, the...

NYC Cops Find Dead Baby of Hooker Slave
New York Daily News | 17 hours, 42 minutes ago
(Newser) - Brooklyn police have discovered the body of a baby belonging to a woman forced into prostitution by a sex trafficking couple. The tiny body of the 2-month-old baby boy was encased in cement in a cooler in a flophouse. The baby's mom, an illegal Mexican immigrant, was beaten and forced into prostitution and was not allowed to obtain medical help when...

Siberian Tigers Vanishing
BBC | 18 hours, 10 minutes ago
(Newser) - The last remaining wild population of Siberian tigers is rapidly declining, researchers warn. A study of a portion of the tiger's range found just 56 tigers when the average of the last decade had been 95. Researchers blame the decline on poaching and habitat loss, and believe only a few hundred of the tigers remain, the BBC reports.

Kid Lit Goes Political
CQPolitics | 18 hours, 40 minutes ago
(Newser) - Hyper-partisan children’s books are on the rise, bringing the culture wars to an age group typically sheltered from political extremes. Katharine DeBrecht's new Help! Mom! Radicals are Ruining My Country!— which lampoons liberals—is but the latest example. While political books for kids are nothing new, “the ones we saw starting...

Politician Busted for Philippine Massacre
BBC | 19 hours, 14 minutes ago
(Newser) - A politician suspected of organizing the slaughter of 57 rival supporters and journalists this week has surrendered to authorities in the southern Philippines. Andal Ampatuan Jr., who was planning to run for a provincial governorship, was at the scene when gunmen stopped a convoy heading to register a rival candidate, forced people out of their vehicles,...

5 Painful Stages of Thanksgiving With Family
Maxim | 19 hours, 49 minutes ago
(Newser) - Thanksgiving is about the journey as much as the destination, and by journey, we're referring to that important stuck-in-the-car time when you run down the list of topics that must not be uttered around Grandma. Maxim runs down the five glorious, hilarious-because-they're-true stages of Thanksgiving: Get to the meal: To do so, fork over...

Va. Socialites Crashed Obama's State Dinner
Washington Post | Nov 25, 09 9:29 PM CST
(Newser) - A wealthy Virginia couple angling for a spot on reality TV somehow talked their way into last night’s White House state dinner despite not being on the list—getting through extensive layers of security to rub elbows with President Obama, India’s prime ministers and scores of other political, showbiz and media hotshots. Tareq and Michaele...

Hot Rumor: Tiger's Cheating
Media Take Out | Nov 25, 09 9:05 PM CST
(Newser) - Low-level buzz on the Internet has it that Tiger Woods is cheating on his wife of 5 years, with Media Take Out reporting that the National Enquirer is going public with details of the golfer’s relationship with one Rachel Uchitel. Nothing online yet from the Enquirer , which, to remind you, did get that John Edwards story right.

Blair Knew Iraq Had No WMD 10 Days Before War Began
Times (UK) | Nov 25, 09 8:16 PM CST
(Newser) - Prime Minister Tony Blair was told Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction 10 days before ordering British troops into the country in 2003, but Blair pushed ahead anyway, a panel investigating the war was told today. But, said a key intelligence official, the information didn’t weaken the case for the US and British invasion; rather, “it...

This Year's Top Liberal Turkeys
Michelle Malkin Blog | Nov 25, 09 8:01 PM CST
(Newser) - As we await tomorrow’s feast, conservative pundit Michelle Malkin gives us something to gnaw on, running down the year’s top turkeys: The stimulus: The “Generational Theft Act” isn’t even a turkey, but a “Turbaconducken—the heart attack-inducing dish of roasted chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside...

Mumbai Marks First Anniversary of Terror Rampage
BBC | Nov 25, 09 6:48 PM CST
(Newser) - Candlelight vigils and other memorial remembrances are underway in India to mark the first anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks. The three-day rampage left 166 dead, plus nine Islamic militant gunmen. Particularly poignant was a ceremony at the city’s Jewish center, where a rabbi and his pregnant wife were killed, and where walls pockmarked...

Your Skin Can Help You Hear, Study Finds
Boston Globe | Nov 25, 09 5:37 PM CST
(Newser) - What you feel can influence what you hear, a new study suggests. People were better able to identify aspirated sounds—those requiring a puff of air, like “pa” or “ta”—when the sound was paired with a puff of air on the back of the hand or neck. If that puff of air accompanied non-aspirated sounds likes "ba"...

AIG Settles With Ex-CEO: Will Pay Fees, Return Rug
Wall Street Journal | Nov 25, 09 5:20 PM CST
(Newser) - AIG is done fighting with former CEO Hank Greenberg and will give him his Persian rug back. The taxpayer-owned insurance giant agreed to settle all legal disputes with Greenberg and former CFO Howard I. Smith. The company agreed to pay up to $150 million in legal fees to the two men, with the exact amount to be determined by a third party, reports...

Animal Collective Doesn't Care About Cool
Pitchfork | Nov 25, 09 4:54 PM CST
(Newser) - Merriweather Post Pavilio n made Animal Collective one of the most hyped bands of 2009, but the follow-up Fall Be Kind EP sounds almost aggressively unconcerned with indie cred. The first song includes a flute solo from Zamfir, one of those ubiquitous infomercial pan-flute players, while a later track samples the Grateful Dead. "Cool? These...

Bachmann, Palin to Address Tea Party Convention
MinnPost.com | Nov 25, 09 4:34 PM CST
(Newser) - Conservative heavyweights Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin will speak at the first-ever Tea Party Convention in February. Bachmann will give a breakfast speech, while Palin is scheduled for the keynote address at the Nashville event. Tickets to the weekend convention are $549, and that doesn't include accommodations at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, the...