The study tested 168 brands of American-made baby food, and found that 95 percent of the sampled jars contain lead, 73 percent of them included arsenic, 75 percent had cadmium and 32 percent included mercury. A fourth of them contained all four heavy metals in the same sampled jars. One in five of the samples contained over 10 times the legally mandated amount of lead as recommended by health experts....
On Tuesday, Bob Caslen, the university’s president, wrote a letter to students and faculty stating that nine of 20 residences in the school’s Greek village “have now been placed in quarantine after residents of those houses tested positive for the coronavirus.” The letter did not release the name of the specific fraternities or sororities that were placed under quarantine. In addition, Caslen’s letter notes that 15 students were given interim suspensions and four student organizations were charged with student conduct “and/or local ordinance violations for hosting unauthorized parties or large gatherings, or for not abiding by quarantine....
Who is generation alpha? Gen A began in 2010 and by 2025, this generation will account for almost two billion of the world’s population. They will be the first completely global generation. With social media at their hands from birth, Gen A is more socially connected and has the world at its fingertips. They will be known as globalization natives. The term “Alpha Generation” was first coined by Australian researcher Mark McCrindle....
Or so scientists thought. Even as they dismiss many of the kindnesses we do for others as selfish rather than selfless (that is, we help someone because we expect, even subconsciously, a favor in return one day, or because it makes us feel good), they concede that humans have the capacity to act on behalf of others even when there is no prospect of personal gain and even if it comes at a cost....
Should the voters trust Gingrich? Until a few months ago, he was regarded – by the intelligentsia, at least – as a blabbermouth C-Span congressman. Now he is called a visionary, a description he would not dispute. The pundits expect him to reverse the tide of history, transform the balance of powers, rewrite the compact between voters and their elected representatives. Most Americans, however, are wary. Only half of those answering a Newsweek Poll have ever heard of the “Contract With America,” and half of them dismissed it as “just a campaign promise that shouldn’t be taken seriously....
Though he wears Army fatigues and carries a gun, Griffin is a civilian, part of a controversial program known as the Human Terrain System. According to a Pentagon blueprint from 2006, the idea is to recruit academics whose area expertise and language skills can help the military wage a smarter counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan. These specialists, among other things, are meant to map the population of towns and villages, identify the clans that matter and the fault lines within them, then advise U....
Back in the high-flying eighties, Eddie Murphy was without doubt the brightest star burning in Hollywood and beyond. Known as the leader of a Hollywood elite posse called the Black Packers, which included Robert Townsend, Arsenio Hall, and Keenan Ivory Wayans, Murphy had a cutting-edge, dead-on take on African-American humor that pushed the comedy show Saturday Night Live to new heights. Even in the face of the dominant stardom of John Belushi and Chevy Chase, Murphy held his own and shined in silly skits like “Mr....
Many are speaking out against the refusal of the judge to grant Lich bail, so going so far as to call Lich a political prisoner. I agree that the judge got it wrong in this case. But the truth is that it was a much closer call than many critics recognize. Something many seem to be missing is the fact that a bail hearing is not a trial. At trial, the outcome is binary: guilty or not guilty....
“Cause of Death,” the seventh Scarpetta book, debuts at No.1 on The New York Times best-seller list next week, knocking out John Grisham’s “The Runaway Jury.” But success attracts scrutiny, and Cornwell, who protects herself with an office staff she calls a “machine,” is in the middle of a made-for-tabloid scandal. Former FBI agent Eugene Bennett alleges that in 1991 she began an affair with his wife, Marguerite, at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va....
Sometimes I feel that I’m beginning to come apart from all that’s occurred, like something that’s been glued, then starts to crack after it dries out. I’m sure we all do. A few days before that fateful Tuesday, a friend observed that we don’t use the word “authentic” much anymore. But our colleagues were indeed authentic people–true characters who will endure in our memories as vibrant individuals. It will be them, not the murderous moment, that we remember....
“Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson. The most exquisite rendering of a parent’s love for a child. “Dreams of My Russian Summers” by Andreï Makine. A novel about what it takes to live in a brutal world. “Cold Mountain” by Charles Frazier. For showing me what could be accomplished in historical fiction. “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” by Annie Dillard, which taught me to look harder at the natural world. “The Norton Anthology of Poetry....
On May 2, 2020, Biggie will be honored with induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Since Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five received the honor in 2007, despite whimpering protests from traditionalists, five other hip-hop artists, including groups like Run D.M.C. (2009) and solo performers like 2Pac (2017), have been inducted in a gradual but steady stream. Biggie, however, is a unique addition to their ranks....
Just 41, David Miliband is one of the youngest ministers in government. Yet insiders tip him as the party’s next-leader-but-one. Some go further still. Despite a dazzling political rise from parliamentary newcomer to Environment secretary in just five years, Blair’s favorite lieutenant has made no obvious enemies. So, some suggest, why not even skip a generation and go straight to him as a P.M. with the potential to unite a faction-ridden party?...
Mubarak feels more under siege than ever before. His regime is tainted by increasingly conspicuous corruption. Having squeezed out any obvious alternative to his own rule, the president still refuses to name a potential successor, clouding the country’s political future. His long battle with the fundamentalists keeps getting worse, crippling a tourist industry that is vital to the flagging economy. Despite attempts to compromise with ‘moderate" fundamentalists and brief efforts at mediation with the radicals, the past year has seen a steady escalation of political violence....
Why the national obsession over a million dollars? It didn’t take Regis Philbin to make “Who wants to be a millionaire?” a rhetorical question. A seven-figure sum has always looked attractive. But now, thanks to rising real-estate values and the turbo-charged stock market, it’s an attainable marker for success. Roughly half of all Americans are invested in the market these days, and stock holdings have replaced politics, weather and sports as the go-to conversational icebreaker....
The first of the modern magical realists was the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier. The French surrealists would put a sewing machine on a dissecting table; the absurd objects together would cause an event or a juxtaposition to seem surreal. Carpentier, living with the surrealists in France, realized that in Latin America, you don’t have to put them together. In Latin America you will find a white mule on a piano....
