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That all ended with the bursting of the property bubble, as home prices fell by nearly half. Today new homes sit vacant with dead lawns and boarded-up windows. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, calls the Inland Empire a "ground zero" for the nationwide housing bust. To first-time home buyers, though, its blighted cul-de-sacs appear as promising as the orange groves did to Dust Bowl refugees. Armed with an $8,000 tax credit and low mortgage rates, they have flocked to cities like Riverside, where auctioneers sell off foreclosed properties...
...solving brainteasers each day add up to much of anything? In a study published in April in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, scientists at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Southern California used standardized memory tests to assess 487 healthy adults over the age of 65, half of whom were asked to complete Posit's two-month brain-fitness program. The results of the Posit-funded study show that the software users improved their mental speed by about 60% compared with 7% in the control group...
Afterward, nearly half of the Posit users noted improvements in everyday situations like remembering names or following conversations in a noisy restaurant, but so did 40% of the control group - and all they had to do during the study was watch the History Channel and get quizzed...
...What They're Protesting in Australia: Australian sheep farmer Peter Spencer, 61, has spent more than a month and a half on a hunger strike to protest a climate-change policy that prohibits him from clearing vegetation from his farm. Spencer--with the support of hundreds of other protesters--has argued that the laws, instituted to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, have reduced the commercial viability of his land. He is demanding compensation for his losses, something the government says should be decided by the courts...
...held in debt bondage in the poorest regions of South Asia, some are trafficked in the midst of thriving development. Such is the case here in Africa's wealthiest country, the host of this year's World Cup. While South Africa invests billions to prepare its infrastructure for the half-million visitors expected to attend, tens of thousands of children have become ensnared in sexual slavery, and those who profit from their abuse are also preparing for the tournament. During a three-week investigation into human-trafficking syndicates operating near two stadiums, I found a lucrative trade in child...