What Our Gut Microbes Say About Us
What if it’s not just our genes or our lifestyle, exactly, that makes us skinny or fat, healthy or sick? What if it’s also the makeup of the bacterial ecosystem that inhabits our gut? A growing pile of scientific studies is pointing us in that direction. Researchers in this hot new field describe the microbes [...]
Mexican Crime Reporters Risk Becoming The Story
Mexico is reeling from another round of brutal murders of journalists. Four journalists and photographers who covered the police beat have been killed in eastern Mexico’s crime-ridden state of Veracruz. There’s a new call for the federal government to take measures to protect journalists in a country where more and more reporters censor themselves out [...]
Why Chen’s Blindness Is ‘The Central Fact’ Of The Chinese Activist’s Life
For two weeks now, the world has been following the story of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng. And in nearly all reports, the phrase “blind activist” is used at least once. Friday, Alan Greenblatt wrote for us about why some say Chen’s blindness is just one factor in “a much larger life.” Today, NPR’s Louisa Lim, [...]
Double Agent In Underwear Bomb Plot Produced Intelligence Coups
More details are emerging about the plot to put another “underwear bomber” aboard a U.S.-bound passenger jet and what the CIA says was its successful foiling of the operation: As NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reported on Morning Edition: – The Saudi double agent who authorities say infiltrated al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and ended up handing [...]
Russian Plane Missing In Indonesia; New Jet Was On Demonstration Flight
“A Sukhoi SuperJet 100, the first new Russian passenger plane in more than two decades” has gone missing while on a “demonstration flight” in Indonesia, Bloomberg News writes. Russia’s RT News adds that “hijacking and a high-altitude crash into a mountain have not been ruled out.” A search is underway. According to The Associated Press, [...]
Greece’s Left Wing Tries To Form A Government
In debt-burdened Greece, the president has given a left-wing coalition a mandate to form a new government, but it faces an uphill battle following an election in which no single party was dominant. The Coalition of the Radical Left, known as Syriza, vehemently opposes the austerity program imposed by international creditors. Syriza finished second in [...]
For Afghan Soldiers, A Battle For Respect
Last month, the Taliban carried out their largest coordinated attack across Afghanistan, including three sites inside the capital Kabul. It took an 18-hour gunfight to end the assault. But even as they took cover, Kabul residents saw something new – their own soldiers taking the lead, with limited help from NATO. Television footage showed Afghan [...]
Palestinians Rally Around Prisoners On Hunger Strike
At least 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are on hunger strike in a growing protest movement that has captured the imagination of the Palestinian public. Daily demonstrations are taking place in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in solidarity with the hunger strikers. The protest outside the West Bank’s Ofer prison this past [...]
Recipe For Safer Drinking Water? Add Sun, Salt And Lime
Sun, salt and lime sounds like the beginnings of a cocktail recipe, but for some, it could mean cleaner, life-sustaining water. In many developing countries, the only source of water is contaminated with viruses and bacteria. In fact, the United Nations estimates that 1 in 6 people don’t have access to enough fresh drinking water. [...]
Clinton Hopes To Soon Welcome Chinese Activist Chen To The U.S.
Though she won’t put a timetable on when activist Chen Guangcheng will be able to leave China with his family and go to the United States, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said today that “we’re certainly making progress.” And she hopes to soon “be welcoming Mr. Chen to the United States to pursue the [...]
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