Shorts (left)
For nearly three decades, the Federal Trade Commission’s rules regarding the relationships between advertisers and product reviewers and endorsers were deemed adequate. Then came the age of blogging and social media.
First Doses of Swine Flu Vaccine Reach An Anxious Nation
The fear of swine flu is being compounded by new worries, this time among primary care doctors who say that they are swamped by calls from patients seeking the new vaccine, and that they are ill-prepared to cope with the nationwide drive to immunize everyone, particularly children and chronically ill adults.
As Job Losses Rise, Obama Aides Act to Fix Safety Net
With unemployment expected to rise well into next year even as the economy slowly recovers, the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are discussing extending several safety net programs as well as proposing new tax incentives for businesses to renew hiring.
Algae May Have Made a Speedy Rebound After Deadly Strike
The asteroid that struck the planet 65 million years ago was very bad for the dinosaurs, as everyone knows, but it wasn’t too good for smaller things, either. Even algae and other primary producers in the ocean were affected, probably because atmospheric debris from the impact reduced the sunlight available for photosynthesis.
October in New England: A Meteorological Grab Bag
October has begun! Historically this month has been home to a wide variety of weather conditions for the New England region. This time of year has seen weather ranging from snowfall (on October 2, 1899), to 90 degree temperatures (on October 12, 1954), to hurricane landfalls (on October 20, 1770). As we transition from a warmer, calmer summer weather pattern to the cold, stormy winter pattern, it’s possible to experience all kinds of weird phenomena.
Shorts (left)
For most of the last two decades, a clear majority of Americans has supported the right to abortion. A new poll, though, suggests that support for abortion may have declined, with the public almost evenly divided over the issue.
China Celebrates, Worldless On Traumas in Their Past
Unlike in other cities taken by the People’s Liberation Army during China’s civil war, there were no crowds to greet the victors as they made their triumphant march through the streets of this industrial city in the heart of Manchuria.
Iran Agrees to Key Concessions On Nuclear Fuel
Iran agreed on Thursday in talks with the United States and other major powers to open its newly revealed uranium enrichment plant near Qum to international inspection in the next two weeks and to send most of its openly declared enriched uranium to Russia to be turned into fuel for a small reactor that produces medical isotopes, senior U.S. and other Western officials said.
Sen. Ensign Helped Husband of Ex-Mistress Find Work
Early last year, Sen. John Ensign contacted a small circle of political and corporate supporters back home in Nevada — a casino designer, an airline executive, the head of a utility and several political consultants — seeking work for a close friend and top Washington aide, Douglas Hampton.
Quake Toll Reaches 1,100 in a Chaotic Indonesia
No tractors were available to move the rubble that was their office building before Wednesday’s mighty earthquake felled this modest port city, so workers started digging feverishly with their bare hands.
Shorts (right)
Federal employees will not be allowed to text while driving, according to an executive order signed Wednesday night by President Barack Obama.
It’s Raining Pumpkins!
Fall is officially here! There are several ways one may have noticed that the seasons changed. First of all, Halloween merchandise is all over the stores (time to start planning your costume). Yesterday’s cool temperatures were another hint, a trend that will continue today. Finally, this weekend is the “Great Glass Pumpkin Patch,” in which the MIT Glass Lab displays and sells over 1,000 handblown glass pumpkins. Unfortunately, the weather may not cooperate this weekend and we may have a wet and rainy pumpkin patch.
William Safire, Political Columnist, Dies At 79
William Safire, a speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon and a Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for The New York Times who also wrote novels, books on politics and a Malaprop’s treasury of articles on language, died at a hospice in Rockville, Md., on Sunday. He was 79.
Report on Russia-Georgia War to Fault Both Sides
After a lengthy inquiry, investigators commissioned by the European Union are expected to conclude that Georgia ignited last year’s war with Russia by attacking separatists in South Ossetia, rejecting the Georgian government’s explanation that the attack was defensive, according to an official familiar with the investigators’ work.
Europe’s Socialists Suffering Even in Bad Capitalist Times
A specter is haunting Europe – the specter of socialism’s slow collapse.
Shorts (left)
Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court tossed out terrorism charges against the prominent human rights activist Jestina Mukoko on Monday, ruling that she herself had been terrorized when state security agents abducted and tortured her.
More Cows, Producing More Milk, and More Headaches
Three years ago, a technological breakthrough gave dairy farmers the chance to bend a basic rule of nature: no longer would their cows have to give birth to equal numbers of female and male offspring. Instead, using a high-technology method to sort the sperm of dairy bulls, they could produce mostly female calves to be raised into profitable milk producers.
Shorts (right)
Corporate mergers and acquisitions all but dried up during last year’s financial crisis. But on Monday, Wall Street bounded higher on signs that companies once again had enough cash, credit and confidence to undertake big-ticket deals.
Iran Tests Longer-Range Missiles
Locked in a deepening dispute with the United States and its allies over its nuclear program, Iran said Monday that its Revolutionary Guards test-fired missiles with sufficient range to strike Israel, parts of Europe and American bases in the Persian Gulf.