The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in August, jumped 7.4 percent, and is 8.8 percent higher than August 2007. Lower interest rates and bargain home prices pushed the August total to the highest level in 14 months.
Pending Home Sales Rise Unexpectedly
New Ford Car Key Lets Parents Limit Teen’s Speed
Talk about a back-seat driver! Ford Motor Co. has created a device which allows parents to control how fast their teenagers drive, limits the volume on the car radio and makes sure their seat belts are fastened. It’s called “MyKey”…
Va. Governor Slashes Own Office Budget, Takes Pay Cut
Responding to the economic slowdown, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is giving himself a pay cut. Demonstrating to Wall Street CEOs how to act when times are tough, the Democrat announced yesterday he’s cutting his own salary by five percent and the executive budget by 1.4 million dollars.
Cuts include “the grocery list for the Executive Mansion by one-fourth; less dry cleaning for drapes in the mansion; and fewer official trips by Kaine and first lady Anne Holton.” (More Details at WAVY-TV.com)
Bailout Bill Benefits Green Consumers and Renewable Energy Industries
Whatever you think about the financial rescue package the US Congress and president passed into law last week, it also includes incentives and benefits for consumers and businesses helping to expand energy conservation and renewable energy in America.
The bill provides a $3,000 tax credit toward the purchase of a fuel-efficient, plug-in hybrid vehicle. Additional tax credits boost industries pushing alternative fuels, geothermal and wind, but the big winner by far was solar.
Hundreds of New Marine Species Discovered by Australian Scientists
Hundreds of new marine species and previously uncharted undersea mountains and canyons have been discovered in the depths of the Southern Ocean, Australian scientists said today. A total of 274 species of fish, ancient corals, molluscs, crustaceans and sponges new to science were found in icy waters up to 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) deep among extinct volcanoes, they said.
Voting Starts in Historic Maldives Elections
The people of the Maldives are voting in their first multi-party democratic presidential election, which sees the Indian Ocean archipelago choosing whether to replace Asia’s longest-serving leader, President Gayoom who is seeking a seventh term. The polls are the culmination of reforms introduced by President Gayoom who waited in line for over an hour before casting his vote on Wednesday.
Service Dog Helps Soldier With Post Traumatic Stress (Video)
As one soldier deals with the trauma of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he’s finding the treatment he needs from an unlikely source — a service dog that was trained by prison inmates. “Yankee” keeps Jim calm in trying times.
American Hero Gets New Home (Video)
An Army Sergeant who lost three limbs in Iraq and his family have a brand new home thanks to 8,000 Metal industry workers. The ceremony to honor his service and award the new steel-frame house took place in Baltimore, the third year a wounded soldier has received a home.
Computers Help Docs Spot Breast Cancer on X-rays
A computer can safely replace a medical expert in a revolutionary way of interpreting a breast X-ray – according to a Cancer Research UK funded study.
A new study, published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, has shown that a single trained expert plus a computer is just as effective at detecting breast cancer as the two experts who traditionally read a mammogram in the UK. In the United States and some other European countries only a single expert reads mammograms. This means that single readers using the computer aided detection program (CAD) will be even more effective at detecting breast cancer.
Taliban Seeking Peace, has Split with Al Qaeda
Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country’s conflict — and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN. The talks — the first of their kind aimed at resolving the lengthy conflict in Afghanistan — mark a significant move by the Saudi leadership to take a direct role in Afghanistan, hosting delegates who have until recently been their enemies. (CNN – World News)
African Governance Improving: Study
Around two thirds of African countries have improved in the field of governance and human rights over the past year, according to the latest study released Monday by the Ibrahim Index, founded by British billionare Mo Ibrahim. (Thanks to Bill F. for the tip!)
Chicago Charter Schools Defy Expectation for Poor Students
An inner city public high school consisting of poor students — mostly immigrants — has become a remarkable example of what a school can do. One hundred percent of the students graduate, and almost all go to some of the nation’s top colleges. Noble Street College Prep is one of seven in Chicago’s network of charter school campuses on which longer school days, longer school years and mandatory weekend tutoring prepare the students for college. Dress codes are part of life for the small student body, under 500 kids per school. (Read or listen to the report at National Public Radio)
2 Share Nobel Prize for Work on AIDS and Cancer
Three European scientists shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for separate discoveries of viruses that cause AIDS and cervical cancer, breakthroughs that helped doctors fight the deadly diseases. They will share the prize money.
(Associated Press)
Russian Troops Start Dismantling Their Posts in Georgia
Russian troops began dismantling positions Sunday in the so-called security zones inside Georgia they have occupied since August’s brief but intense war, a Georgian Interior Ministry official said. (Oct. 5 Video)
Aussies Save Man From Car’s Icy River Plunge
A street sweeper who helped save a driver whose car plunged into a Gold Coast river says he is not a hero. “Undoubtedly, without the help of these three people from the Gold Coast community, that victim would have drowned,” he said. (News.com.au in Australia)
Man Decorates Basement with $10 Worth of Sharpie Pens
This makes me want to start doodling on my walls. . . A central Kentucky man decorates his cream color walls with Sharpie drawings of columns, bookshelves and more. Great panoramic (VR) photos at the Lexington Herald-Leader website… (Tip: Make the picture move faster by grabbing and dragging with your mouse)
Man Becomes Hero to Nation of Farmers
Almost everyone knows Shykh Seraj in Bangladesh, where farming offers a lifeline to most of its 140 million people, half of whom live on less than one U.S. Dollar a day.
He teaches impoverished farmers how to better work their fields and rise above grinding poverty.
A decade ago the journalist, interested in agriculture, launched a TV show and YouTube channel, more recently, focusing on farmers and giving solutions for their problems.
“Every day there is new reports, new techniques, and new crops.”
1875 Pound Pumpkin Headed for World Record
A Taunton Massachusetts man is an extreme gardener, growing a 1,800-pound pumpkin, according to his estimate, that he plans to have weighed Oct. 11. He’s going for a spot in the Guinness World Records. (Taunton Daily Gazette) Refresh your page if you don’t see the photo of the pumpkin patch … Thanks to Sun Star for the link.
90,000 Homes To Be Powered By Chicken Manure
The world’s largest biomass power plant running exclusively on chicken manure has opened in the Netherlands, converting one-third of all chicken manure residue there into green energy. The power plant will deliver renewable electricity to 90,000 households. (Environmental News Network)
Plant Tweak Could Let Toxic Soil Feed Millions with New Crops
Thanks to a genetic breakthrough, a large portion of Earth’s now-inhospitable soil could be used to grow crops — potentially alleviating one of the most pressing problems facing the planet’s rapidly growing population. Scientists at the University of California, Riverside made plants tolerant of poisonous aluminum by tweaking a single gene. This may allow crops to thrive in the 40 to 50 percent of Earth’s soils currently rendered toxic by the metal. (Wired Magazine online )