Good Morning! - Morning Headlines

[Caro]

Morning headlines brought to you by

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Top Story

Bombs kill at least 52 people in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two nearly simultaneous bombs struck a predominantly Shiite commercial area in central Baghdad, killing at least 52 people and wounding dozens, police said.

The Heretik

The World

U.S. Toll in Iraq Is 27 for Deadly Weekend
The deaths of two marines on Sunday followed 25 deaths on Saturday, the third deadliest day for U.S. forces since the war began.

U.S. intel sparks Iraqi shift on militia
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister has dropped his protection of an anti-American cleric's Shiite militia after U.S. intelligence convinced him the group was infiltrated by death squads, two officials said Sunday.
And we know how great U.S. intelligence is. It’s now so political that the intelligence agencies say whatever the Bush administration wants them to say. —Caro

Iran announces new missile tests
TEHRAN, Iran - Determined not to budge under pressure, Iran announced new tests of short-range missiles Sunday, and hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed criticism that the country's economy has been hurt by U.N. sanctions imposed for its suspect nuclear program.

Taliban to Open Schools in Afghanistan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - The Taliban said they will open their own schools in areas of southern Afghanistan under the group's control, an apparent effort to win support among local residents and undermine the Western-backed government's efforts to expand education.

Suicide bombing in Pakistani tribal region kills 4 troops, officials say
A suicide car bomber attacked a military convoy in northwestern Pakistan, killing himself and at least four soldiers, an intelligence official said, raising fears of renewed fighting in the volatile tribal regions of Waziristan.

Police patrol riot-hit Bangalore, IT firms operate
BANGALORE (Reuters) - Federal police were deployed and schools were shut in India's technology hub of Bangalore on Monday after communal rioting between Hindus and Muslims left one 12-year-old boy dead and dozens of people hurt.

Fresh fighting kills five in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO (AFP) - Tamil Tiger rebels have shot dead two soldiers and two policemen in Sri Lanka's embattled northeast as security forces dug in at a town seized from the guerrillas, the defence ministry has said.

Eco-funding deal reached for Canadian rainforest
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - International environmental groups and Canadian officials said on Sunday they have struck a C$120 million ($103 million) deal to help fund environmentally friendly businesses in Canada's Pacific coast rainforest.

Chavez to U.S. officials: 'Go to hell'
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez told U.S. officials to "Go to hell, gringos!" and called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "missy" on his weekly radio and TV show Sunday, lashing out at Washington for what he called unacceptable meddling in Venezuelan affairs.
Chavez is starting to sound like George Bush. —Caro

In Somalia, New Government Faces Old Problem: Clans
Whether Somalia pulls itself together now or explodes into bloodshed again will depend on the governments ability to address clan factionalism.

The Nation

Poll: Most think country on wrong track
WASHINGTON - Americans seem sour on the state of the union in advance of President Bush's address on the subject. A poll finds most believe the country is on the wrong track — a complete flip from five years ago.

Bush expected to stress energy security
WASHINGTON - A year after warning America of its addiction to oil, President Bush is expected to renew concerns about energy security in his State of the Union address. But will the rhetoric be followed by action? Up to now, the record has been mixed.

Webb would defund rebuilding Iraq
"How can we keep sending billions of dollars over to Iraq and not fund a really energetic effort to help places like New Orleans?" Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., asked in an interview Friday. Webb said that Iraq and what he sees as the precarious state of the nation's economy and infrastructure are two of the topics he'll tackle in his speech.

Senators seek support for Iraq resolution
WASHINGTON - Two leading Senate Democrats are seeking to dispel concerns that a resolution on Iraq doesn't go far enough, saying it would make a strong statement to President Bush that a troop increase is wrong.

Sen. Biden warns against space arms race
WASHINGTON - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman warned on Sunday against fostering an arms race in space after China was reported to have conducted an anti-satellite weapons test.

Senators to explore airline merger
US Airways' hostile bid for Delta Air Lines moves into the political realm this week when a U.S. Senate panel explores the potential effect of industry consolidation on fares, air service and jobs.
How refreshing! Something other than the financial bottom lines of the two companies will be considered. —Caro

High Court to hear campaign finance case
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court agreed Friday to referee a challenge to limits on pre-election ads, a key provision of the landmark campaign finance law that the court upheld in 2003.

Official faults Bush stem cell funding limits
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. National Institutes of Health official said on Friday President George W. Bush's limits on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research have blocked potential medical breakthroughs.

TSA to track rail shipments with toxic cargo
The government for the first time will monitor rail shipments of potentially deadly cargo passing through cities to make sure cars vulnerable to attack don't sit unguarded for too long.

State inmates outlive people on outside
WASHINGTON - State prison inmates, particularly blacks, are living longer on average than people on the outside, the government said Sunday.
How long will it be before one of the right-wing-crazy radio talk show hosts claims that imprisoning minorities is for their own good? —Caro

Economy & Business

Stocks are mixed on earnings reports
NEW YORK - Stocks closed narrowly mixed Friday after profit reports and forecasts from blue chip names like International Business Machines Corp. and General Electric Co. failed to impress Wall Street and sent investors searching for other catalysts to drive the markets higher.

January consumer sentiment jumps to 3-year high
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer sentiment improved to a 3-year high in early January, propelled by falling gasoline prices and a favorable view of personal finances and economic growth, a survey showed on Friday.

Venture industry likes health, Web, energy
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. venture capital investments rose 8 percent to $25.75 billion in 2006, the highest level in five years, according to a survey released on Monday by market research firm VentureOne.

Programs let homes produce green power
HYDE PARK, N.Y. - When the sun shines bright on their home in New York's Hudson Valley, John and Anna Bagnall live out a homeowner's fantasy. Their electricity meter runs backward.

Rising ranks of US rich highlight social dilemma
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A booming US economy has led to an explosion in the ranks of the wealthy unseen in a century, creating a surging market for luxury goods as well as a new era of philanthropy, researchers say.

Media

It's the Talent, Stupid
Over the past four years, radio has averaged revenue growth of less than 1 percent. During that time, radio has also seen its share of audience erode. Radio needs to invest in the thing that can help, most of all, to retain and grow audience. That, of course, is quality and engaging content. Unfortunately, the industry has been moving in the opposite direction.

Little: I won't mention Iraq at WH correspondents' dinner
Impersonator Rich Little (left) says White House Correspondents Association dinner organizers made it clear to him they don't want a repeat of last year's controversial appearance by Stephen Colbert. "They don't want anyone knocking the president. He's really over the coals right now, and he's worried about his legacy." Little promises to play it safe. "I won't even mention the word 'Iraq.'"

Dick Morris reportedly planning to "Swift Boat" Sen. Clinton
In his January 20 column, nationally syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak wrote that "Former Clinton Adviser" Dick Morris is "asking for a contribution between $25 and $100 or more to finance a critical film documentary of Sen. Hillary Clinton." According to Novak, in a mailing sent out by The Presidential Coalition, a group run by Republican activist and discredited former congressional staffer David Bossie, Morris wrote: "If you liked how the Swift Boat Veterans turned the tide against John Kerry, you understand how a top Clinton aide can turn the tables and stop a Clinton-style liberal from becoming the next president of the United States."

Cavuto Caption: "Nation in a Deep Freeze: What Global Warming?"
Fox News host Neil Cavuto displays either alarming ignorance or awesome disingenuousness when touting cold weather in the U.S. Southwest as possible "proof that all this hype over global warming could be just that—hype?" Seifter patiently explains what anyone with a national platform to report on the subject should be expected to know:

Surge is the Word
When it comes to describing President Bush’s plan for increasing U.S. troop levels in Iraq, a turn of phrase can mean a lot. A search of the media coverage in several databases shows that so far, the word “surge”—which is favored by war supporters—is showing up about twice as often as “escalate,” which conjures up bad memories of Vietnam.

Yahoo News is the 2006 online traffic winner.
Thanks in part to a major redesign, Yahoo News finished 2006 with a substantial lead in unique visitors over other major news web sites, according to newly released data. Newspaper websites also grew substantially last year, according to the data, and two British news sites are now among the 25 most popular in the U.S.

Murdoch paper has reporters always thinking about Google
Reporters at Rupert Murdoch's Times of London are trained to write in a way that makes their articles more likely to appear among Google's unpaid search results. "You make sure key phrases and topic words are embedded in the top paragraph and headlines," says the paper's digital-media chief.

SacBee staff now gets daily reports on most-viewed stories
"We are doing this to give you an idea of the types of stories that attract online readers most," Sacramento Bee executive editor Rick Rodriguez tells his staff. "We will not allow web traffic statistics to dictate story play in the newspaper." He notes that coverage of the fatal water-drinking contest "is drawing some of the largest numbers in Sacbee.com history."

Owens: J-students should just assume their future is online
Journalism schools should design their curriculum and publication efforts accordingly "be even more dismissive of print than mainstream pubs are right now," says Howard Owens, Gatehouse Media's director of digital publishing. "I think these are exciting times, a chance to be at the vanguard of creating journalism for a new era, and in a far more competitive environment than most journalists have known over the past 30 to 50 years."

No Decision Yet On Tribune Co. Offers
The Tribune Company committee of independent directors mulling what can only be called disappointing offers for the Chicago media giant ended a highly anticipated meeting over the weekend with no decision on its future.

NY Times: No Intention of Going Private
The New York Times Co. has no intention of taking itself private, says CEO Janet Robinson. "We have benefited from being a public company." Would the Times Co. consider selling off the struggling Boston Globe? "We are very pleased with this asset," she says. "We truly consider it an asset."

Science & Technology

Independent record labels sign MySpace deal
CANNES, France (Reuters) - Merlin, the new agency representing the world's independent music sector, has agreed a deal with digital music company Snocap which will allow its labels' music to be sold from Web sites such as MySpace.

IBM renews Microsoft rivalry with new Web software
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM's Lotus unit will introduce on Monday a set of social networking services that functions like a MySpace for office workers and which analysts say marks a renewed challenge to Microsoft Corp..

Creators put politics into video games
ATLANTA - Ian Bogost takes some of the fun out of video games — and replaces it with opinion. The Georgia Institute of Technology professor creates games — or "playable editorial cartoons," as he calls them — that are packed with political messages.

Invisible 'Radio' Tattoos Could Identify Soldiers
Somark Innovations announced biocompatible RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) ink, which can be used to tattoo cattle and laboratory rats and can be read through animal hair. It might even be used on humans eventually.

It's official. Wii use can cause weight loss
LOS ANGELES, Jan 19 (Reuters Life!) - Video gamers who'd rather battle virtual villains than fight the flab can take heart. Use of the new Nintendo Wii can lead to weight loss.

Are you a giver? Brain scan finds the truth
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Altruism, one of the most difficult human behaviors to define, can be detected in brain scans, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday. They found activity in a specific area of the brain could predict altruistic behavior -- and people's own reports of how selfish or giving they are.