Scientists from the United States, France, Japan, Britain and Russia met in secret during the past nine months to pore over data collected by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to U.S. and foreign officials. Recently, the group, whose existence had not been previously reported, definitively matched samples of the highly enriched uranium […]

Wow:

Bush approval ratings
Approve 36 (42)
Disapprove 58 (52)
As Think Progress notes, these are lower numbers than Nixon during Watergate.
At this point of his second term, Clinton was at 59 percent. Reagan was at 60 percent. Nixon at 39. (Though to be fair, the Nixon numbers were Gallup, while this poll is ARG.)
(Daily Kos)
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Now, Stefan Kaufmann, director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, Germany, and colleagues have devised a way of boosting BCG’s power. Their souped-up vaccine was 10 times more effective than conventional BCG in protecting mice from infection. And it slashed the presence of “drug-resistant” TB bacteria to about 1% of its […]

Scientists for the first time have turned ordinary skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells — without having to use human eggs or make new human embryos in the process, as has previously been required, a Harvard research team announced Sunday.
(San Francisco Gate)
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Gov. Bob Taft became the first Ohio governor found guilty of a crime Thursday as he pleaded no contest to charges that he broke state ethics law by failing to report golf outings and other gifts.
Taft told Franklin County Municipal Judge Mark Froehlich he chose not to plead guilty but was taking responsibility for ethics […]

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has filed a secret lawsuit against Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham that contends he should forfeit his Rancho Santa Fe home to the government because it was purchased with illegally obtained money. (signonsandiego.com)
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The world’s first pure batch of nerve stem cells has been created in Edinburgh.
It is hoped the cells, which were fashioned recently from human stem cells , will eventually help scientists find new treatments for diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
The Evening Times.
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Pastors for Peace announced a partial victory today when its 16th caravan crossed the International Bridge from Reynosa, MX into Hidalgo, TX after returning from Cuba. But there is still no word about release of the computers seized from the caravan’s cargo last week. (Caravan for Cuba blog)
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We all know that U.N. opinions don’t mean anything, but at least the Cuban 5 are getting some international attention:

The U.S. detention of five Cubans convicted in a Miami trial of being spies is arbitrary and in violation of international law, according to a U.N. panel ruling obtained by The Associated Press Thursday.
The judgment by […]

If you don’t see much good news here over the next week or so, don’t panic. It’s not that there’s no good news to report, but that I’m on vacation and may not be online much.
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