How Industrial Farming ‘Destroyed’ The Tasty Tomato

If you bite into a tomato between the months of October to June, chances are that tomato came from Florida. The Sunshine State accounts for one third of all fresh tomatoes produced in the United States — and virtually all of the tomatoes raised during the fall and winter seasons. But the tomatoes grown in [...]

Experts: Housing Price Rise Isn’t A Trend (Yet)

Realtors are hoping an uptick in home prices reported on Tuesday is the beginning of a turnaround, but industry experts say it’s too soon to tell if the improvement is anything other than a seasonal blip. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index reported that prices in April rose in 13 of the 20 cities [...]

Patient Vigilance Can Help Thwart Errors In Doctors’ Offices

Serious medical errors that result in malpractice payments are almost as common in outpatient settings like physicians’ offices and urgent care clinics as they are in hospitals, according to a recent study published in JAMA. Of nearly 11,000 malpractice claims paid on behalf of doctors in 2009, 48 percent were for problems that occurred in [...]

Christine Lagarde Will (Almost Certainly) Run The IMF

“I am pleased to announce our decision to support Christine Lagarde to head the International Monetary Fund,” Tim Geithner said in a statement this morning. Lagarde, the French finance minister, already had the backing of most of Europe, as well as China. Support from the U.S. effectively seals the deal: Lagarde will run the IMF. [...]

Job Worries Keep Consumer Confidence Down

A private research group reported Tuesday that U.S. consumers’ confidence declined to a seven-month low as job worries increased. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index slipped to 58.5 in June, down from a revised 61.7 in May. Economists had expected the figure to edge up to 61. The results follow an almost six-point drop from [...]

Flotilla To Challenge Israel’s Blockade Of Gaza

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists from the U.S., Europe and Canada are organizing a 10-ship flotilla to challenge Israel’s economic blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent smuggling of arms into Gaza. Hanging over the mission is the dark shadow of last year’s flotilla that ended with an Israeli commando [...]

Evacuations Ordered As Fire Threatens Los Alamos

Firefighters in northern New Mexico were battling on Tuesday to stall a raging wildfire before it reaches the town that is home to the government laboratory that produced the first atomic bomb. The 44,000-acre Las Conchas wildfire burned in the mountains above Los Alamos as firefighters spent much of their time putting out spot fires, [...]

An ‘Untold Story’: What If Princess Diana Survived?

In 2003, Writer Monica Ali made a literary splash with a debut novel, Brick Lane, about a young immigrant woman who longs for home. Today, Ali is once again attracting attention — this time with a novel about a world-famous royal trying to get as far away from home as possible. In Untold Story, Ali [...]

Fraud Ruling Throws Afghan Parliament Into Disarray

President Obama’s announcement last week that U.S. troops will begin leaving Afghanistan this summer has prompted questions about whether the country’s democracy can stand on its own. Those questions come as the Afghan government has been thrown into disarray. A tribunal appointed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai has revoked 25 percent of the seats awarded [...]

High Court OKs Sales Of Violent Video Game To Kids

The U.S. Supreme Court, wrapping up its current term, has struck down California’s ban on the sale of violent video games to children. A divided court majority said the law violates the Constitution’s guarantee of free expression. In 2005, California enacted a law that imposed a $1,000 fine on retailers any time they sold a [...]