Direct to Discovery News Top level news categories include: earth; space; tech; animals, dinosaurs; archeology; history; and human. A collection of nearly 400 videos is also a part of the site. Discovery News also have a href="http://twitter.com/Discovery_News">Twitter feed and Facebook page. One RSS feed is also available. Search results pages include ...
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From the Article: Authorities threw the book at 12 people Tuesday, accusing them of checking out pricey textbooks from a public library system outside Washington to sell for quick cash. The Prince George's County Memorial Library System in Maryland lost $87,000 worth of material from thefts between November 2008 and July ...
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In a new post on the SLA Blog, SLA member and Alignment Ambassador, Jill Strand, provides a number of stats and facts about who was surveyed and by what method, during the alignment process. The blog post opens with this paragraph: Would you do your job without trying to understand the ...
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From the Article: It's a complicated story. But if you want to know why the Newport Jazz Festival has been so important to American music, it’s easy: you just have to hear the recorded evidence. Bits and pieces have emerged over the years, in live recordings by Ellington, Coltrane and others. ...
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From the Article: LinkedIn Corp. and Twitter Inc. have announced a partnership that lets users instantly post status updates on both of the social networks. The two Bay Area companies announced the deal late Monday, but the details of the formal agreement are confidential, said Krista Canfield, LinkedIn's senior public relations manager. LinkedIn ...
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Unsafe abortion costs developing world hundreds of millions of dollars annually
Source: Guttmacher Institute

Treating the complications that result from unsafe abortion costs Africa and Latin America $227–280 million each year, according to a new study from the Guttmacher Institute. These costs (reported in 2006 US$) place a considerable added strain on struggling national health systems in Africa and Latin America, which spend an estimated $490 million annually treating complications from pregnancies and births. Moreover, unsafe abortion costs the developing world at least $341 million when the Asian and Pacific regions are taken into account.

Using two approaches—a World Health Organization model and a comparison of 20 empirical studies—the authors calculated that on average, treating postabortion complications costs an estimated $83 per patient in Africa and $94 in Latin America. When overhead and capital costs are included, these averages jump to $114 for Africa and $130 for Latin America, which are significant burdens for developing country clinics and hospitals.

+ Full Report

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CF&P Foundation Study Shows Interstate Competition Will Lower Cost of Health Insurance
Source: Center for Freedom and Prosperity

The Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation today released a study examining how protectionist policies by states, combined with expensive mandates that benefit interest groups such as chiropractors, make it hard for families to afford health insurance. The study, entitled “The Health Care Choice Act: Restoring Competition in the Individual Insurance Market,” explains that insurance will be more affordable if the Constitution’s promise of unfettered interstate commerce is realized, thus enabling families to purchase insurance plans issued in other states.

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How Have Deployments During the War on Terrorism Affected Reenlistment?
Source: RAND Corporation

The military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed considerable strain on service members, particularly those in the Army and Marine Corps. This research responds to widespread concern about the ability of the services to maintain required force levels under these circumstances. The research reviews deployment trends, develops a theoretical model, and analyzes both survey and administrative data. Survey data findings show that deployment increased both work and personal stress and reduced the intention to reenlist as reported at the time of the survey, but it had little effect on subsequent reenlistment. Administrative data showed how the effect of deployment varied by year and differed between first- and second-term reenlistment for each branch of service. The effect of deployment on reenlistment was positive or near zero in most years but became negative for the Army in 2006 and 2007. Analysis traced the negative effect to those soldiers with the highest cumulative months of deployment, whereas soldiers with few months of deployment had a positive effect. Findings for the Marine Corps were similar, but with shorter deployments, fewer Marines accumulated high cumulative months of deployment. The research also considered the roles of deployment pay and reenlistment bonuses in supporting overall reenlistment, which was especially important for the Army, in which the effect of deployment became negative.

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New Report Finds IMF Agreements Have Included Policies That Could Worsen Economic Slowdown in 31 of 41 Countries
Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research

A new discussion paper from the Center for Economic and Policy Research finds that 31 of 41 countries with current International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreements have been subjected to pro-cyclical macroeconomic policies that, during the current global recession, would be expected to have exacerbated economic slowdowns. The pro-cyclical conditions noted in the report are either pro-cyclical fiscal or monetary policies.

“More than a decade after the Asian Economic Crisis brought world attention to major IMF policy mistakes, the IMF is still making similar mistakes in many countries,” CEPR Co-Director and lead author of the paper, economist Mark Weisbrot said. “The IMF supports fiscal stimulus and expansionary policies in the rich countries, but has a much different attitude toward low-and-middle income countries.”

The paper, “IMF-Supported Macroeconomic Policies and the World Recession: A Look at Forty-One Borrowing Countries,” shows that in some cases, the IMF had relied on overly optimistic growth forecasts – significantly underestimating the impact of the world recession on borrowing countries. The paper also notes that in some cases the Fund later loosened its policy conditions after the economic performance was much worse than anticipated.

+ Full Paper (PDF; 809 KB)

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Consumers Still At Risk from Bank Overdraft Loans (PDF; 165 KB)
Source: Consumer Federation of America

Announced changes to overdraft programs at the nation’s largest banks will not protect American consumers from exorbitantly expensive short-term loans or extend federal consumer protections to the most expensive loans banks make.

“None of the largest banks reduced their overdraft fees, which average $35 per overdraft, or dropped sustained overdraft fees tacked on if consumers cannot repay in just days,” noted Jean Ann Fox, Director of Financial Services for the Consumer Federation of America. “For a $100 overdraft repaid in one week at that $35 fee, consumers are paying 1,820 percent APR if computed in the same way as a short-term loan. A single $10 overdraft loan can still cost up to $70 if not repaid in just five days.”

Banks extend credit when they cover overdrafts for a fee. However, the Federal Reserve has failed to require banks to comply with the credit laws that apply to other short-term cash loans. As a result, consumers are permitted to overspend their checking accounts without affirmative consent, do not get comparable cost-to-borrow information, and are not warned when a transaction will trigger an overdraft. Banks do not provide affordable installment repayment terms for these loans, but take payment in full out of the next deposit into an account, making the bank first in line for a consumer’s next paycheck or Social Security payment.

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