Iran Stalls Nuclear Talks, Wants France Out

A series of multiparty talks that began on Monday over Iran's nuclear program stalled on Tuesday. Among the obstacles were Iran's refusal to reduce its unranium enrichment activities and its insistance that it would not deal directly with France, one of the key partners in the negotiations. This week's talks were meant to finalize details of a deal outlined earlier in October. In the deal, Iran would send some of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, which would convert the nuclear material into radioactive components for medical research and send those components back to Iran. But on Tuesday, Iran's foreign minister and other Iranian officials "accused Paris of reneging on contracts to deliver nuclear materials in the past," Reuters reports. To rescue the talks, "the parties were considering a face-saving compromise drafted by the U.N. nuclear watchdog," a senior diplomat tells the news agency. Under that compromise, Iran would deal directly only with Russia, which would then subcontract necessary work to France.

Reuters | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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Public College Costs Surge Despite Recession

The average annual tuition and fees at a four-year public college now exceeds $7,000, an increase of 6.5 percent from 2008, according to a report by the College Board. The costs increased faster than in the past—annual increases were just 4.9 percent annually over the past decade—and at a greater pace than for private colleges, which raised their tuition and fees 4.4 percent over last year, says the Washington Post. The price hikes also come during a year in which the Consumer Price Index—a general indicator of overall cost of goods and services—dropped 2.1 percent, says the New York Times. When you include room and board, the average annual cost for public colleges exceeds $15,200, or 5.9 percent higher than last year. Larger financial aid packages, however, could defray some of the higher "sticker prices."

The Washington Post | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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Is a Respectable Afghan Runoff Possible on Two Weeks' Notice?

Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed to a runoff vote against his rival, Abdullah Abdullah, on Tuesday. Karzai announced that the runoff would take place on Nov. 7. But a runoff on just two weeks' notice "would be extremely difficult to conduct and—for it to inspire confidence—would require an immediate, major mobilization of people, money, and institutions," Ben Arnoldy writes at the Christian Science Monitor. The U.N. needs to make funds available to pay for the international observers and poll workers, the Afghan election commission must rehire those workers and replace those who abetted fraud in the first election, and local and international troops need to prepare their poll station defenses. "Security remains a top concern because it has a big impact on the ultimate question hanging over any runoff: Would anyone even show up to vote?" asks Arnoldy. "We just voted one time, and we are not going to vote again, because in our province of Baglan, the Taliban cut the fingers off our friends because they voted," a university student in Kabul tells him. "If we vote again, next time the Taliban will cut our heads off."

The Christian Science Monitor | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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"Larry King Effect" Strongest in Poorer States

In Arkansas, 10 percent of married people have been married three or more times, a rate five times higher than in New Jersey, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. Over at the Atlantic, Richard Florida parses these and other trends in what he dubs the "Larry King Effect." It turns out that these serial wedders are much more common in working class states, poor states, and religious states, according to Florida's analysis. (Florida cautions that his associations do not equal correlations.) That makes King—an agnostic, wealthy New Yorker with eight marriages to seven wives—quite the outlier. 

The Atlantic | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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California Sues Bank for $200 Million

California Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a lawsuit Tuesday suing Boston-based State Street Bank and Trust for $200 million. Brown contends that State Street bankers defrauded California's two largest public pension funds by overcharging for foreign currency trades since 2001, according to the Los Angeles Times. "Over a period of eight years, State Street bankers committed unconscionable fraud by misappropriating millions of dollars that rightfully belonged to California's public pension funds," said Brown, a former California governor who is considered a leading candidate to assume that position again if he runs in the 2010 election. While California says the total fraud amounts to about $50 million, the state is seeking an additional $150 million in triple-damages and penalties. A State Street spokeswoman said the investment firm "categorically [denies] any allegations of wrongdoing."

The Los Angeles Times | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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Don't Fear Artificial Sweeteners

On Oct. 18, 1969, the U.S. announced its first ban on an artificial sweetener, cyclamate. After studies linked the sugar replacement to cancer in chicken embryos and other animals, the government decreed that cyclamate could not be added to any food product. Now, 40 years and many other artificial sweeteners later, however, scientists have scant evidence that moderate intake of the sweeteners does any harm to humans, according to an article in Time magazine. Aspartame, for instance, was the victim of a scare in the 1990s "that linked the chemical to everything from multiple sclerosis to Gulf War Syndrome," but aside from a group of people who cannot metabolize a certain amino acid, "it has been tested more than 200 times, and each test has confirmed that your Diet Coke is safe to drink." And if you have hankering for the still-banned cyclamate, you can still find it in Canada's version of Sweet'N Low.

Time | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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Amazon Rival Unveils "Kindle-Killing" E-Reader

It will induce "a giant dose of buyer's remorse" among people who bought Amazon's Kindle. Its book-lending capability "has the potential to destroy the Kindle model." It's "already starting to look like the real internet to the Kindle's AOL." The product drawing such superlatives from Wired.com's Gadget Lab is Barnes & Noble's "Nook," a dual-screen e-reader. B&N unveiled details and photographs of the product on Tuesday, after early photos and information about the Nook had leaked over the past few days. So far, the Nook seems particularly well-received for a crowded market that has produced little real competition to the Kindle.

Wired | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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NASA Preps Sleek New Rocket for Liftoff

The Ares I-X is the slimmer, taller replacement for NASA's classic space shuttle, which has only six missions remaining before retirement. On Tuesday, the agency placed the 327-foot rocket on a launching pad in preparation for take-off next week. This version of Ares I-X, the first new NASA rocket to launch in 34 years, has a real booster but the rest is largely a "a mock-up, and no person or payload will be on board," according to the Associated Press. Next Tuesday, a test launch will send the rocket into a 2 .5-minute flight before falling back into the Atlantic.

Associated Press | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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Chamber of Commerce Spends Big Against Government Reform

According to a newly released Senate report, the Chamber of Commerce spent a record $34.7 million lobbying the federal government in the third quarter. The total spending of the next 18 largest filers is $30.9 million. Politico's Jonathan Allen says that the increased spending is because of proposed government intervention in the areas of health care, finance, and energy. In so many words, officials from the chamber agreed: "Clearly, it's because the Congress has been dealing with the most important issues facing our nation," spokeswoman Tita Freeman remarked. "We are front and center on them, as we always have been." Spending has also been spurred by the administration's efforts to avoid dealing with lobbyists, instead preferring to deal directly with business leaders. Since June, Politico reports, White House officials have contacted 55 CEOs personally rather than communicate with them through lobbyists.

Politico | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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Despite Hype, AIDS Vaccine Results Prove Modest

Last month, a Thai AIDS vaccine trial was celebrated as a medical breakthrough after results showed that the vaccine could reduce chances of contracting the disease by 31 percent—just high enough to prove that the result wasn't a fluke. Now, two new analyses of the data have proved that when other factors are accounted for, the results are much more modest. During the trial, new infections appeared in 51 of the 8,197 people who received the vaccine, while they appeared in 74 of the 8,198 who were given placebos. However, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine, when the study was examined by how the treatment actually went (whether or not participants received the full regime of drugs) the probability of chance increased greatly. However, this doesn't rule out the trial entirely. "Taken together, these data are consistent with a modest protective effect of vaccine in this study," the authors argue.

Wall Street Journal | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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Catholic Church Takes Measures To Woo Anglicans

Pope Benedict XVI has created a new structure within the Catholic Church designed for those who want to join the Anglican church but disagree with some of its more recent policies, such as ordaining women, sanctioning gay marriage, and allowing openly gay men to serve as bishops. The structure, Personal Ordinariates, will create a pocket within the church for conservative Anglicans without forcing them to compromise their values. In a kind of liturgical logic puzzle, the provision will "allow married Anglican priests to become ordained Catholic priests. ... However, married Anglicans [can't] become Catholic bishops." The 77-million-strong Anglican community has been sharply divided over the subject of gay bishops, which has proved one of the most contentious issues in recent church history. The move is seen as a means of luring thousands of discontent Anglicans over to the Catholic Church.

Associated Press | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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Supreme Court To Hear New Guantanamo Uighur Case

The Supreme Court will hear a case from the Guantanamo Uighurs, a group of Chinese Muslims who are still in U.S. custody despite the fact that they are no longer labeled enemy combatants. The case stems from a ruling last year that enabled federal judges to release detainees in accordance with security considerations. When a judge tried to act on this ruling and release the Uighurs into the U.S., the case was overturned, and the Uighurs were left in legal limbo. The court will hear the case in early 2010, although if diplomatic efforts to relocate the Uighurs succeed before then, it is likely to be dismissed. For now, a number of Uighurs—a who mainly live in the landlocked Xinjiang region of China—have been embraced by tropical island nations. Four have been released to Bermuda, while another six have accepted offers to move to the Pacific island of Palau.

Associated Press | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

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