Obama’s Second Choice to Run Commerce Withdraws
Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire abruptly withdrew Thursday as the nominee to be commerce secretary, saying he had “irresolvable conflicts” with President Barack Obama over his economic stimulus plan and a concern over what many fellow Republicans believe is the politicization of the 2010 census.
Willem Kolff, Inventor of Kidney And Heart Machines, Dies at 97
Dr. Willem J. Kolff, a resourceful Dutch physician who invented the first artificial kidney in a rural hospital during World War II, using sausage casings and even orange juice cans, and went on to build the first artificial heart, died Wednesday at his home in Newtown Square, Pa. Kolff, whose work has been credited with saving millions of lives, was 97.
Charting Bird Migrations by Using Tiny Backpacks
Birds are famous for airborne speed and endurance. Some have been clocked flying 60 mph or more. Others make annual migrations from Alaska to New Zealand, nonstop.
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Gov. John Lynch of New Hampshire on Thursday proposed closing a quarter of the state’s district courts as part of a plan to deal with a $500 million two-year budget gap.
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A spate of attacks on Thursday, including the assassination of a Sunni Arab political leader in the violent northern city of Mosul, killed at least 13 Iraqis and left 39 wounded, security officials said.
New Research Focuses on Cure for Common Cold
Curing the common cold, one of medicine’s most elusive goals, may now be in the realm of the possible.
Pakistan Backtracks On Mumbai Terrorist Attacks
Pakistan acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that parts of the Mumbai terrorist attacks were planned on its soil and said that six suspects were being held and awaiting prosecution.
Return to Winter
After not cracking 40°F (4°C) for the entire month of January, February in contrast has brought us a taste of spring so far. Maximum temperatures during the past two days have been in the 50s°F, but don’t expect that to last. A cold front moved through the area yesterday morning, ushering in more seasonable conditions. Where we had only a few showers with the frontal passage, parts of the South experienced severe weather and early-season tornadoes that killed several people.
Trimmed Bill Still Offers Vast Sums for Education
The economic stimulus bill that is expected to win passage in the Senate on Tuesday would provide about $83 billion for child care, public schools and universities.
Obama Aides Clashed Over Bank Bailout Plan
The Obama administration’s new plan to bail out the nation’s banks was fashioned after a spirited internal debate that pitted the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, against some of the president’s top political hands.
Obama Makes Case As Stimulus Bill Clears Hurdle
President Barack Obama took his case for his $800 billion economic recovery package to the American people on Monday, as the Senate cleared the way for passage of the bill and the White House prepared for its next major hurdle: selling Congress and the public on a fresh plan to bail out the nation’s banks.
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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.
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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.
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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.