News Nuggets 736

A grizzly bear and cub already in the snow at Yellowstone.  From National Geographic.

A Successful Post-Bush Foreign Policy (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"There have been a lot of bumps and bruises, especially in the global economy. But if you step back from the daily squawk box, some trends are clear: Alliances are stronger, the United States is (somewhat) less bogged down in foreign wars, Iran is weaker, the Arab world is less hostile and al-Qaeda is on the run."

Libya Turns From Africa to the West from Voice of America
"Moammar Gadhafi’s Libya was known for cultivating support in Africa and tangling with Europe, the United States and moderate Arab governments. But now there appears to be a big foreign-policy shift toward the West in the air."

Libya: Gaddafi Sons and Loyalist Convoys 'Have Fled Strongholds' from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Rebel leaders in town of Tahouna say convoys seen leaving military bases ahead of assault on town expected in days."
Try your hand at the north African version of "Where's Waldo?"

Iran Watching Syria With Increasing Concern from Radio Free Europe
"Syria is Iran's main strategic partner in the Middle East. Analysts say the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad's regime would be a serious blow to the Islamic republic."

The Detroit Riots of 1967 Hold Some Lessons for the UK (Gary Younge) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"After America's deadliest riots, a journalist and a professor proved that many assumptions about the looters were wrong."

The End of WikiLeaks As We Know It (adam Clark Estes) from the Atlantic
"Julian Assange has a disaster on his hands. After government officials and former WikiLeaks media partners broadly condemned the organization's release of over a quarter of a million unredacted diplomatic cables, Assange could face prosecution and jail time in Australia for having revealed the identity of at least one of the country's intelligence officers."

Who gets hurt by this data dump?  See for yourselves:
Leaked Cables Offer Glimpses Into Relations of U.S. and China from the New York Times
"American embassy cables posted on the Wikileaks Web site could lead to serious consequences for Chinese citizens who talked frankly to American officials."

Julian Assange Faces Arrest in Australia Over Unredacted WikiLeaks Cables from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Government says at least one intelligence official identified after complete cache of cables was published."

The High Cost of Protecting America (Doyle McManus) from the Los Angeles Times
"There's no such thing as too much security. But there is such a thing as security that's too expensive."

Law School Admissions Decline as New Grads Face Shaky Job Market from the Washington Post
"Post-graduate employment rates are at their lowest levels in 15 years. The typical student leaves school nearly $100,000 in debt. And after several years of recession-driven enrollment gains, applications to law schools nationwide are down nearly 10 percent this year."

In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores from the New York Times
"Evidence is scarce that expensive technology in schools is improving educational outcomes."

Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult from Truthout
"But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP."

Tea Party Forces Influence In GOP 2012 Race from the Huffington Post
"Bulling its way into 2012, the tea party is shaping the race for the GOP presidential nomination as candidates parrot the movement's language and promote its agenda while jostling to win its favor. That's much to the delight of Democrats who are working to paint the tea party and the eventual Republican nominee as extreme."

Pass, Fail and Politics (Frank Bruni) from the New York Times
"I’m less troubled by how thickheaded Perry may be than by how wrongheaded we already know he is on issues like evolution, which he says is just a theory, and homosexuality, which he has likened to alcoholism."

END OF SUMMER PHOTO NUGGET!!
Surfing New York's Shores (PHOTOGRAPHS) from the New York Times
"The waters off Long Island, outside New York City, will be the site of an Association of Surfing Professionals competition beginning in Long Beach Sunday."

INTER-GALACTIC NUGGET!!
Super-Earth on 'Edge of Habitability' from MSNBC
"Planet-hunters say they've developed a relatively simple method for determining how livable a faraway world might be, and they've used the formula to identify a top candidate: a super-Earth that's 36 light-years away."

PENGUIN NUGGET!!
Happy Feet Gets Released in Antarctica (VIDEO) from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"A lost emperor penguin named Happy Feet who turned up on a beach in New Zealand has been taken home after under-going life-saving surgery. The 3ft bird, who was left desperately ill after eating sand that he thought was snow, was taken back to the Antarctic on a research ship."

ENDANGERED SPECIES NUGGET!!
Stem Cell Breakthrough Offers Hope for Endangered Animals from the Atlantic
"The goal will be to use stem cells to create gametes, and thus, new embryos, not simply cloned versions of existing animals. And the breakthrough is new. Using human stem cells, the kind already used in research for human applications, scientists have been able to generate stem cells using the skin cells of endangered animals like the rhino and the drill."
It sounds like human stem cells can be used for ... non-humans!