BitchNews Headline News

The Washington Post reports here: Google Inc., which runs the largest ad network on the Internet, is making millions of dollars a year by filling otherwise unused Web sites with ads. In many instances, these ad-filled pages appear when users mistype an Internet address, such as "BistBuy.com." This new form of advertising is turning into a booming business that some say is cluttering the Internet and could be violating trademark rules. It also has sparked a speculative frenzy of investment in domain names, pushing the value of some beyond the $1 million mark.

Sunday Times reports here:  The European Medicines Agency has recommended Acomplia the weight-loss pill be approved for public use. The drug Acomplia attacks obesity and other addictive behaviour by blocking a pleasure centre in the brain. People on the drug eat less.

The Associated Press reports here at the WP website: The oil industry’s massive first-quarter profits this week triggered another round of election-year outrage from President Bush and members of Congress, who spoke up on behalf of angry constituents feeling pinched at the pump.

There’s little that either lawmakers or the industry can do in the short-term about the high oil prices that yielded those profits, however, as long as energy markets stay tense and the global economy is expanding. Instead, it would take a decision by consumers and businesses to consume less fuel, a choice they have yet to make, analysts said.

Senator John McCain writes here at Spiegel Online: The United States and Europe may have their differences, the American senator argues, but we still have common political interests. Working together, we can help keep Iran from building a nuclear bomb, we can foster true democracy in Russia, Belarus and China and we can stop mass killings in Africa. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

CBS News writes here: contraception for men may finally become a commercial reality within the next few years, experts suggest. Research offers reassuring evidence that it is not only effective, but reversible.

Researchers from UCLA and the University of Sydney analyzed sperm data from male hormonal birth control studies conducted over the last two decades. They found that most men’s sperm counts returned to normal within four or five months of stopping treatment. It is one thing to know that male hormonal contraception works, and another thing to know that fertility can be easily restored when a man chooses,” says researcher Peter Y. Liu, Ph.D., M.D. “This is an important step in the evolution of male contraception.”

The Washington Post writes here: Exxon Mobil Corp. reported $8.4 billion in first-quarter profit yesterday, as members of Congress outraged over high gasoline prices hastened to propose measures that would boost taxes on oil firms, open new areas to drilling and provide rebates to taxpayers but would not necessarily alter prices at the pumps.
Meanwhile CNN reports here: President Bush on Thursday said he wants to raise fuel-efficiency standards on automobiles, as members of both parties jockeyed for political position on the issue of rising gas prices.

"This is ridiculous," said Jackie Tarone, a retired homemaker and Bush voter who was filling up a Mercedes SL500. "The oil companies keep giving money to the politicians to keep them in there — that’s the way the system works. It’s a shame." See this story here " Pain at Pumps May Be Felt at Polls" from The Washington Post for more.

In this predictably wretched season of sneezing, sniffling, coughing and itchy, watery eyes, meet Andrea Theis. The Silver Spring mother moved here in the late 1990s from her native Utah, where she suffered spring and fall from the gunk in the air. She was warned to expect the worst: Even people without allergies, she was told, get them in Washington.  ……..  For more read this article here from the Washington Post and please let us know what you think.

Yahoo reports here: A television writer has filed a lawsuit saying Jennifer Lopez and UPN stole his idea for a series based on his move from Brooklyn to Miami and involvement with the modeling and nightclub scenes. Jack Bunick’s lawsuit claims "South Beach," a TV series executive-produced by Lopez that debuted Jan. 11 on UPN, mirrors a script he wrote in 1999 for a pilot episode of a show that would have been called "South Beach Miami."