BitchNews Headline News

AP reports here at Yahoo News: WASHINGTON – The House has voted to rush an additional $2 billion into the popular but financially strapped “cash for clunkers” car purchase program. See also Money for your gas guzzler.

CNN reports here: A legal battle has put the future of Skype in jeopardy, according to eBay, which owns the online communications system.

Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans, Amazon.com Review & Book Description:

The hidden history of a haunted and beloved city told through the intersecting lives of nine remarkable characters.

After Hurricane Katrina, Dan Baum moved to New Orleans to write about the city’s response to the disaster for The New Yorker. He quickly realized that Katrina was not the most interesting thing about New Orleans, not by a long shot. The most interesting question, which struck him as he watched residents struggling to return, was this: Why are New Orleanians—along with people from all over the world who continue to flock there—so devoted to a place that was, even before the storm, the most corrupt, impoverished, and violent corner of America?

Here’s the answer. Nine Lives is a multivoiced biography of this dazzling, surreal, and imperiled city through the lives of nine characters over forty years and bracketed by two epic storms: Hurricane Betsy, which transformed the city in the 1960’s, and Katrina, which nearly destroyed it. These nine lives are windows into every strata of one of the most complex and fascinating cities in the world. From outsider artists and Mardi Gras Kings to jazz-playing coroners and transsexual barkeeps, these lives are possible only in New Orleans, but the city that nurtures them is also, from the beginning, a city haunted by the possibility of disaster. All their stories converge in the storm, where some characters rise to acts of heroism and others sink to the bottom. But it is New Orleans herself—perpetually whistling past the grave yard—that is the story’s real heroine.

Nine Lives is narrated from the points of view of some of New Orleans’s most charismatic characters, but underpinning the voices of the city is an extraordinary feat of reporting that allows Baum to bring this kaleidoscopic portrait to life with brilliant color and crystalline detail. Readers will find themselves wrapped up in each of these individual dramas and delightfully immersed in the life of one of this country’s last unique places, even as its ultimate devastation looms ever closer. By resurrecting this beautiful and tragic place and portraying the extraordinary lives that could have taken root only there, Nine Lives shows us what was lost in the storm and what remains to be saved.

CNN reports here: Sunbeds pose a similar cancer risk as cigarettes and asbestos, according to an international cancer research agency.

In NEWS JUNKIE, the cutthroat worlds of journalism, politics, and high finance are laid bare by Jason Leopold, whose addictive tendencies led him from a life of drug abuse and petty crime to become an award-winning investigative journalist who exposed some of the biggest corporate and political scandals in recent American history.

Leopold broke key stories about the California energy crisis and Enron Corporation’s infamous phony trading floor as a reporter for the Dow Jones Newswires. While he exposed high-rolling hucksters and double-dealing politicians, Leopold hid the secrets of his own felonious past, terrified that he would be discovered.

When the news junkie closed in on his biggest story-one that implicated a Bush administration member-he found himself pilloried by angry colleagues and the President’s press secretary, all attempting to destroy his career.

Jason Leopold introduces us to an unforgettable array of characters, from weepy editors and love-starved politicos to steroid-pumped mobsters who intimidate the author into selling drugs and stolen goods.

In the end, News Junkie shows how a man once fueled by raging fear and self-hatred transforms his life, regenerated by love, sobriety and a new, harmonious career with the independent media.

BBC News reports here: Some iced coffees being sold on the high street contain as many calories as a hot dinner, a cancer charity warns.

How Wired Gadgets Encroach on Privacy, Spiegel Online reports here: With every high-tech gadget we buy, we give up a little more privacy. Many devices today are in constant communication with their manufacturer. And it’s not just consumers who are losing their rights — the technology gives authoritarian states whole new ways of keeping tabs on individuals.

CNN reports here: LONDON, England – Pharmacies in England are reporting a run on supplies like surgical masks, thermometers and anti-bacterial gels by customers concerned about swine flu amid a surge in the number of people infected by the virus.

CNN reports here: “There were 100,000 new cases of swine flu in England last week, nearly double the number from the previous seven days, authorities announced Friday.”

Recommendations from the WHO:
What can I do to protect myself from catching influenza A(H1N1)?

The main route of transmission of the new influenza A(H1N1) virus seems to be similar to seasonal influenza, via droplets that are expelled by speaking, sneezing or coughing. You can prevent getting infected by avoiding close contact with people who show influenza-like symptoms (trying to maintain a distance of about 1 metre if possible) and taking the following measures:

* avoid touching your mouth and nose;
* clean hands thoroughly with soap and water, or cleanse them with an alcohol-based hand rub on a regular basis (especially if touching the mouth and nose, or surfaces that are potentially contaminated);
* avoid close contact with people who might be ill;
* reduce the time spent in crowded settings if possible;
* improve airflow in your living space by opening windows;
* practise good health habits including adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and keeping physically active.