Shorts (right)
Many doctors may lose their ability to prescribe 24 popular narcotics as part of a new effort to reduce the deaths and injuries that result from these medicines’ inappropriate use, federal drug officials announced Monday.
Shorts (left)
A female suicide bomber hiding among refugees fleeing the war zone in northern Sri Lanka killed at least 20 soldiers and eight civilians at a checkpoint on Monday, the government said.
In Anbar, Election Slogans Replaced By Language Of War
The postelection curfew has been lifted, the threats of violence muted after the intervention of envoys from the Iraqi army, the central government and the U.S. Marines. A cacophonous bustle has returned to the filthy, shattered streets of this provincial capital, once a base of the Sunni insurgency.
Warm Advection to the Rescue
Everybody knows it gets warmer when the sun is out, but sometimes we get some help from the wind. Normally people associate a winter wind with cold, since the flow of air removes heat generated by the body. However, when a strong, persistent wind blows from the southwest, the wind may transport warm air from the southern part of the country to New England. Meteorologists call the transport by wind of an atmospheric property (in this case heat) advection.
Palestinians Stop Paying Israeli Hospitals for Patients
Scores of Palestinian patients being treated in Israeli hospitals, a rare bright spot of coexistence here, are being sent home because the Palestinian Authority has stopped paying for their treatment, partly in anger over the war in Gaza.
Somali Pirates Get Ransom And Begin to Leave Ship
The saga over the Ukrainian arms freighter hijacked off Somalia’s coast more than four months ago drew to a close on Thursday almost exactly the way the pirates had predicted: with the booty.
Shorts (right)
There was a time — was it only two months ago? — when people would have been proud to be on a list of Bernard L. Madoff’s customers. They had made the cut, and their money was getting the Madoff touch, growing steadily and solidly in good times and bad.
Women Set to Surpass Men In Labor Force
With the recession on the brink of becoming the longest in the postwar era, a milestone may be at hand: Women are poised to surpass men on the nation’s payrolls, taking the majority for the first time in American history.
Al-Maliki’s Party Wins in Iraq, But Will Need to Form Coalitions
The Dawa Party of Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki was the overwhelming winner of Iraq’s provincial elections, the first official results show. But while candidates in the slate backed by Dawa garnered the most votes of any party in nine of Iraq’s provinces, the party fell short of being able to operate without coalition-building. The initial results reflect a vast majority, but not all, of the votes.
Shorts (left)
President Obama signed an executive order on Thursday to create a revamped White House office for religion-based and neighborhood programs, expanding an initiative started by the Bush administration that provides government support — and financing — to religious and charitable organizations that deliver social services.
Scientists Study Possible Link Between Dam, Quake in China
Nearly nine months after a devastating earthquake in Sichuan province, China, left 80,000 people dead or missing, a growing number of American and Chinese scientists are suggesting that the calamity was triggered by a 4-year-old reservoir built close to the earthquake’s geological fault line.
Caterpillars Infest West Africa, Menacing Crops
A bizarre swarm of caterpillars is munching its way through the forests, cocoa and coffee fields of Liberia, threatening crops and forcing thousands to leave their homes because the bugs have contaminated the drinking water from rivers and lakes.
Chilly Ring Premiere, Weekend Warm-Up
Sophomores waiting in line for the Class of 2011 Ring Premiere tonight will have to endure cold temperatures as the chilly weather the region has experienced this week continues. While continued high pressure will present clear, sunny skies, the high temperature this afternoon will reach only the mid 20s˚F and proceed to fall to around 16˚F overnight. However, a relative improvement in conditions can be expected over the weekend, as sunny skies will persist with temperatures rising steadily through Saturday and Sunday. Highs in the low to mid 40s˚F can be expected for Saturday, while Sunday could see highs nearing 50˚F. Don’t get too comfortable, however, as temperatures will drop below freezing once again when school resumes on Monday.
Obama’s Promise of Ethics Reform Faces Early Test
During almost two years on the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyists from his administration and usher in what he would later call in his Inaugural Address a “new era of responsibility.” What he did not talk much about were the asterisks.
Internet Money in Fiscal Plan: Wise or Waste?
Perhaps no line item in the nearly $900 billion stimulus program offers a better window into the tricky balancing act of how best to jolt the economy than the billions pegged to expand broadband Internet service to rural and underserved areas.
Shorts (left)
Sea explorers probing the depths of the English Channel have discovered what they say is a legendary British warship that sank in a fierce storm in 1744, losing more than 900 men and possibly four tons of gold coins that could be worth $1 billion.
Obama Set to Add Republican To Cabinet
If a new political breeze is blowing in the capital, perhaps the best evidence can be found in this: A Democratic president selects a Republican senator to serve in the Cabinet. The Democratic governor with the power to fill the Senate seat signals that he will leave it in Republican hands, depriving his party of a chance to reach 60 votes, a magic number when it comes to passing legislation.
Daschle Apologizes Over Taxes as Allies Give Support
Tom Daschle offered a public apology on Monday evening for his failure to pay income taxes on use of a luxury car and driver, and Senate Democrats rallied behind him, saying they intended to win his confirmation as secretary of health and human services.
Shorts (right)
Boron is a simple atom: five protons, five or six neutrons, five electrons. It is not as ubiquitous as hydrogen. It does not, as helium does, make your voice sound like Donald Duck. It is not as famous as carbon, its neighbor to the right on the periodic table.