Five former U.S. secretaries of state said on Monday the next American administration should talk to Iran, a foe President George W. Bush has generally shunned as part of an "axis of evil."
Engaging Iran is important because Washington's military options against Tehran are unsatisfactory, said the diplomats, who worked for Republican and Democratic administrations.
The five -- Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher, James Baker and Henry Kissinger -- all said they favored talking to Iran as part of a strategy to stop Tehran's development of a nuclear weapons program.
Five former U.S. state secretaries urge Iran talks
Scientists get images of planet with sun-like star
Scientists have snapped the first images of a planet outside our solar system that is orbiting a star very much like the sun.
In findings announced on Monday, University of Toronto scientists said they used the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to take direct pictures of the planet, which is about the size of Jupiter but with eight times the mass.
Oceans are 'too noisy' for whales
Levels of noise in the world's oceans are causing serious problems for whales, dolphins and other marine mammals, a report warns.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) says undersea noise blocks animals' communication and disrupts feeding. Naval sonar has been implicated in the mass deaths of some cetaceans.
The rising cost of the Iraq 'surge'
Despite strong evidence to the contrary, it has become established conventional wisdom among mainstream Washington journalists that the “surge” was the singular reason for the recent decline in Iraq’s violence. It’s also agreed that McCain deserves great credit for pushing the “surge” idea early.
As we’ve reported previously, other brutal factors – that the Washington press corps almost never mentions – help explain the decline in violence:
US plans to sell Israel 1,000 bunker-buster bombs
The U.S. plans to sell Israel 1,000 buster-bunker bombs which Israeli military experts said Monday could provide a powerful new weapon against underground arsenals in Lebanon or Gaza. The experts said they doubted, however, that the bombs could be used to deliver a crippling blow against Iran's nuclear program.
In announcing the proposed $77 million deal, which still needs Congressional approval, the U.S. Defense Department said the sale of the Boeing GBU-39 smart bombs would be consistent with the U.S. interest of assisting Israel "to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability."
Newer Antipsychotics No Better in Kids
Widely prescribed, newer-generation antipsychotic drugs are no more effective for the treatment of schizophrenia in children and teens than older, cheaper drugs, a government-funded study shows.
Under the direction of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), researchers compared two of the newer drugs, known as atypical antipsychotics, to an older-generation antipsychotic. They found no major differences in treatment outcomes, but big differences in side effects among young patients taking the newer and older drugs.
Warning sounded on web's future
The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science, says the creator of the World Wide Web.
Talking to BBC News Sir Tim Berners-Lee said he was increasingly worried about the way the web has been used to spread disinformation.
Sir Tim spoke prior to the unveiling of a Foundation he has co-created that aims to make the web truly worldwide.
It will also look at ways to help people decide if sites are trustworthy and reliable sources of information.
TVNL Comment: No such concerns over the disinformation spread in the broadcast media? How interesting that they want to fact check the fact checkers...but the establishment sources are free to create and maintain a false reality.
Financial havoc wallops US dollar and stocks
The Fed on Monday said it would begin accepting equities as collateral for emergency loans for the first time as it tried to ease the spiralling crisis. The steps would likely help surviving financial institutions to find cash but may not do much to boost global confidence in the U.S. financial system.
"The mere fact that they are forced to do this -- and they may still yet do some more -- indicates the breadth and depth of the trouble that the system is in," said V. Anantha Nageswaran, head of investment research, Asia-Pacific with Bank Julius Baer in Singapore.
Secrets of 'sexed-up' WMD dossier must be told, watchdog orders ministers
The Information Commissioner ordered civil servants to release undisclosed emails and memos about a draft of the dossier which supposedly set out the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
Richard Thomas flatly rejected Government claims that the comments - kept under wraps during a three-year legal battle - could jeopardise national security.
He said it was clearly in the public interest to know what alterations to the dossier were proposed in the days before it was published.
This was because the undisclosed material could provide 'evidence that the dossier was deliberately manipulated in order to present an exaggerated case for military action'.
Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly heard that last-minute changes to the draft were suggested by Tony Blair's spin supremo Alastair Campbell, and subsequently adopted by intelligence chiefs.
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