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Most popular news on 24 June 2009 |
Computer failure may have caused D.C. train crash
AP - Investigators looking into the deadly crash of two Metro transit trains focused Tuesday on why a computerized system failed to halt an oncoming train, even though there is evidence that the operator tried to slow it down.
EPA plan targets vast DDT deposit off Calif. coast
AP - A plan to cap a vast, long-neglected deposit of the pesticide DDT on the ocean floor off Southern California got its first public airing Tuesday — nearly four decades after the poison was banned from use.
Intensified crackdown mutes protests in Iran
AP - Overwhelmed by police and left with limited alternatives, Iranian demonstrators resorted Tuesday to more subtle ways of challenging the outcome of the presidential election: holding up posters, shouting from rooftops and turning on car headlights.
Kate Gosselin says marriage 'irretrievably broken'
AP - Kate Gosselin says in divorce papers that her marriage to Jon is "irretrievably broken." The star of TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8" filed for a no-fault divorce Monday in Montgomery County Court outside Philadelphia. She said in papers that she's willing to "negotiate a fair and reasonable" settlement with her husband of 10 years.
Perez Hilton not backing down for using gay slur
AP - Perez Hilton isn't apologizing for using a gay slur.
Assassination in Pakistan exposes Taliban rifts
AP - The assassination of the leader of a renegade Pakistani Taliban faction by one of his own men Tuesday underscores a growing rift in the ranks of the militant group as it braces for an impending army assault in the volatile northwest.
Iran cracks down as reformists call for mourning
Reuters - A security crackdown appears to have quelled street rallies against Iran's disputed poll, but the leadership faced a new challenge on Wednesday from calls by reformist clerics for national mourning for dead protesters.
Minn. teen says he's angry about continuing chemo
AP - A 13-year-old boy with cancer who fled Minnesota to avoid chemotherapy said Tuesday he is angry a judge has ordered him to continue the treatment because doctors say it has significantly shrunk the size of his tumor.
Locusts swoop down on Ethiopia
AFP - Crops in large swathes of Ethiopia risk being destroyed by swarms of locusts coming from northern Somalia, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Tuesday.
GM to cut 4,000 more white-collar jobs by year end
AP - About 4,000 more salaried workers at General Motors Corp. will lose their jobs by the end of the year as the automaker continues to downsize.
Jon & Kate on the Road to Splitsville for Two Years?
E! Online - Have Jon and Kate Gosselin been forcing those camera-ready smiles for some time?
Reality romance cursed? Check out the track record
AP - In case you live under a boulder, Jon and Kate Gosselin of TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8" are splitting up. The Gosselin divorce, after 10 years of marriage and eight kids, is nothing new in the world of reality TV, where romances have crumbled on — and off — camera. Here's a look at some other notable breakups:
Obama condemns violence against Iran protesters
AP - Dramatically hardening the U.S. reaction to Iran's disputed elections and bloody aftermath, President Barack Obama condemned the violence against protesters Tuesday and lent his strongest support yet to their accusations the hardline victory was a fraud.
Iraq to mark US pullback from cities with holiday
AP - The Iraqi government on Tuesday declared a public holiday to mark next week's withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Baghdad and other cities.
700 NYC teachers are paid to do nothing
AP - Hundreds of New York City public school teachers accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct are being paid their full salaries to sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that's what they want to do.
SC governor to return to work after mystery trip
AP - After a political mystery — "Where in the World is South Carolina's Governor?" — Mark Sanford's aides said he was stunned by all the fuss over his five-day absence and would cut short a secretive hike along the Appalachian Trail.
Study: Women look away more from abnormal babies
AP - Puzzling new research suggests women have a harder time than men looking at babies with facial birth defects. It's a surprise finding. Psychiatrists from the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, who were studying perceptions of beauty, had expected women to spend more time than men cooing over pictures of extra-cute babies. Nope.
The first Europeans were cannibals: archaeologists
AFP - The remains of the "first Europeans" discovered at an archaeological site in northern Spain have revealed that these prehistoric men were cannibals who particularly liked the flesh of children.
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