United States

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Norway Summit to Debate Cutback in Polar Bear Hunts

Hunters kill 3% of polar bears each year

(Newser) - World leaders meet tomorrow in Norway to consider reducing polar bear hunting, reports the Independent. Conservation organizations estimate the polar bear population, particularly hard hit by global warming, will drop two-thirds to the brink of extinction over the next 50 years. Greenland, the US and Russia permit hunting by Inuit...

Passport Security Easy to Breach: Govt. Probe

(Newser) - A US passport is easy to obtain using fake or fraudulent documents, even with extensive post-9/11 security reforms, the AP reports. At the request of a Senate committee, a government investigator went undercover and quickly obtained multiple passports, using the identities of a dead man, a 5-year-old, and two fictitious...

US Household Wealth Falls Record $5.1T

Combined five-quarter drop is nearly as big as US GDP for 2008

(Newser) - The wealth of US households fell at a record pace in the last quarter of 2008, as drops in home values and stock prices accelerated, Bloomberg reports. Net worth for households and non-profits fell $5.1 trillion to $51.5 trillion, nearly twice the decline between the second and third...

Report: US Gets Less Health for More $$$

Other nations in better health despite spending less

(Newser) - If the global economy were a 100-yard dash, the US would start 23 yards behind its competitors because its health care costs too much—about $2.4 trillion a year—and delivers too little, says a report out today. The authors and leading CEOs say the US funnels away resources...

Survey: Religion Shrinks in US
 Survey: Religion Shrinks in US 
Mar 9, 2009 7:00 AM CDT

Survey: Religion Shrinks in US

Most groups lose members; Christianity falls 11%

(Newser) - A new survey shows sweeping changes in US religious attitudes over the past 18 years, with most religions losing members despite population growth, USA Today reports. Those identifying themselves as Christians have dropped 11% in a generation; mobility and marriage patterns have uprooted many religious affiliations. “More than ever...

Discomgollifusticated? Check This Dictionary of Vernacular

(Newser) - The Dictionary of American Regional English, a 40-year lexicographical labor of love, will be competed next year, Good reports—with compilers finally making it to Z. The tome, which revels in local disparities, has been a boon not only to word lovers; it helped bring down the Unabomber through his...

Madoff May Plead Guilty
 Madoff May Plead Guilty 
updated
Mar 6, 2009 11:03 AM CST

Madoff May Plead Guilty

Lawyers indicate that a plea deal is pending

(Newser) - Prosecutors filed court papers today indicating Bernard Madoff may be ready to plead guilty to charges arising from one of the biggest financial frauds in history. Madoff, 70, is scheduled for court twice next week, including a Tuesday appearance to waive any potential conflicts of interest involving his lawyer and...

US Will Collapse by 2010: Russian

(Newser) - The “collapse of the American dream” is complete, says a Russian scholar, and President Obama will declare martial law and the US will splinter into six regions by the end of 2010, the AP reports. Igor Panarin, the dean of Russia's Foreign Ministry school, cited school shootings, the prison...

Clinton Visits West Bank, Names Syrian Envoys

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton met separately with the Palestinian president and prime minister in the West Bank today, after sitting down with Israeli leaders yesterday, and announcing the appointment of two senior envoys to Syria. Palestinian leaders implored Clinton to push for a freeze on expanding Israeli West Bank settlements, and open...

Clinton Signals Engagement With Syria

(Newser) - In a signal likely to be parsed all over the Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shook hands and shared “very pleasant” words today in Egypt with her Syrian counterpart, the Times reports, a meeting that did not likely happen by accident. Some think the US could try...

US Gun Dealers Arm Mexican Drug Wars

Softer American laws lead to cross-border flood of weapons

(Newser) - More than 6,000 Mexicans died in drug wars last year, and violence has surged recently as gangs battle the police and each other. But because of Mexico's strict gun laws, cartels have to get their weaponry from elsewhere: the United States. Ninety percent of guns recovered in Mexico originated...

Would Better Laws Have Caught Salmonella Scare?
Would Better Laws Have Caught Salmonella Scare?
ANALYSIS
Feb 23, 2009 6:33 PM CST

Would Better Laws Have Caught Salmonella Scare?

(Newser) - A third of US states do not require testing of the salmonella bacteria involved in reported illnesses, possibly hampering national efforts to identify outbreaks, MSNBC reports. If testing were mandatory, proponents say, a strain’s widespread dissemination could be more quickly identified and the source more easily pinpointed. But states...

Iraqi Kurds Fear a Resurgent Baghdad

Arab-Kurdish tensions intensify as country's safety improves

(Newser) - Now that violence between Sunni and Shia Arabs is declining across Iraq, tensions are mounting again between Arabs and Kurds, who want Barack Obama to step in to cool off conflicts, the Economist reports. Oil and land disputes, political losses and an empowered central government have weakened the Kurds, who...

Obama, Harper Launch 'Clean Energy Dialogue'

(Newser) - President Obama and PM Stephen Harper today announced an environmental partnership between the US and Canada, the Globe and Mail reports. Harper spoke of a “clean energy dialogue” between top officials to “collaborate on the development of clean energy science and technology.” Said Obama, who was making...

Songbirds Faster Than We Thought

(Newser) - Researchers have tracked the migratory paths of songbirds for the first time, using small data-gathering “backpacks,” the Washington Post reports. The avian wanderers, who are so small they cannot be tagged with transmitters, move about 3 times as a fast as previously thought. The recovered data shows that...

Exxon Breaks Own Profit Record With $45B Haul

The oil behemoth shattered the annual profit record despite slow fourth quarter

(Newser) - Buoyed by last year's spike in crude prices, Exxon Mobil Corp. today reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a US company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33%  from a year ago. The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion,...

Storm Kills 19, Cuts Power to 600K in South, Midwest

Winter bears down (again) on Northeast, trigger travel troubles, and worse

(Newser) - A storm sweeping from the middle of the country into the Northeast today has left at least 19 dead and cut power to 600,000 people, the AP reports. In hard-hit states like Arkansas, where power companies warned service might not return for days, 3 inches of ice weighed down...

Consumer Confidence Finds a New Low in January

Conference Board's index at half its year-ago value

(Newser) - Americans' mood about the economy darkened even more in January, sending a widely watched barometer of consumer sentiment to yet another new low as people worry about their jobs and watch their retirement funds dwindle. The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index edged down to 37.7 from a...

Obama Rebukes Bush, Assures World in Speech

Rejects policies, advocates diplomacy, warns enemies

(Newser) - Barack Obama offered a clear rebuke of George Bush's policies and signaled a sharp break with his predecessor's strategy abroad in his inaugural address today. “We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,” the new president said, referring obviously to torture of detainees and...

Bush Leaves Customary Oval Office Note for Obama

Continuing a tradition begun by Reagan, Bush pens encouragement to his successor

(Newser) - Continuing a White House ritual begun by Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush left a note in the Oval Office for President-elect Barack Obama, wishing him well as he takes the reins of the executive branch. The White House declined to provide specific details of the message, saying only that Bush...

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