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...presidential nod on Tuesday toward the creation of what some are calling a "truth commission" to ferret out the origin of the harsh interrogations is likely to get renewed traction. Democrats Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Representative John Conyers of Michigan, who head the two congressional judiciary committees, have argued for such a panel, modeled on the widely respected one that studied 9/11. Having sparked the current conflagration by releasing the memos, Obama can only hope that creating such a commission could tamp it down - and keep this political firestorm from sucking up the valuable political oxygen he needs...
...very small human ancestor made a very big splash back in 2004, when researchers discovered the remains of Homo floresiensis, a 3-ft., prehuman "hobbit," in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores. The origin of the species and the route it took to Flores have been much discussed since then. Earlier this month, researchers presented work at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, in Chicago, suggesting that H. floresiensis may have left Africa a full million years earlier than any other hominids were thought to have ventured out from the home continent. (Read...
...unwanted by the country where you've settled. That's how Freitas and other Brazilians feel since the Japanese government started the program to pay $3,000 to each jobless foreigner of Japanese descent (called Nikkei) and $2,000 to each family member to return to their country of origin. The money isn't the problem, the Brazilians say; it's the fact that they will not be allowed to return until economic and employment conditions improve - whenever that may be. "When Nikkei go back and can't return, for us that's discrimination," says Freitas, who has lived...
...says authorities almost never detect the origin of the laundered funds, in part because the people who are caught refuse to rat out their higher-ups. "They prefer to take the [jail] sentence than tell us the truth," says Liu. He also admitted that fear often paralyzes further investigation. In one case, a Colombian woman was caught at the airport with some $140,000 and sentenced to six years in prison. Liu says that after the trial last year, the woman's lawyer advised Liu not to investigate any further. Liu followed the advice, and says the people the woman...
...generally attend, along with other notables ranging from Beltway celebs (Attorney General Janet Reno read attendees a story called "Queen Janet from the Bunny Planet" in 1997) to full-on stars (the Jonas Brothers performed last year). And, of course, there is egg rolling - a European custom of murky origin wherein a hard-boiled egg is pushed, dragged, flung or otherwise propelled across a lawn with a long-handled spoon. Every child leaves with a wooden souvenir egg bearing the printed signatures of the day's hosts, the President and first lady. (See pictures of colorful religious festivals...