Cut to the News . . . Your Daily News Briefing
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Make us your homepage
The New News
This Morning's Cut
The Leading News
U.S. Withheld Data on Distracted Driving . . . Information that cell phone use is as bad as drunk driving kept secret for fear of angering Congress. New York Times
TARP Overseer Says Lending Could Reach $23.7T . . .
Treasury Department immediately rejects the worst-case figure as nonsense.
Financial Times
Obama Needs More Time On Gitmo . . . Six months after Obama orders closing of the military prison, his administration is still slogging through the cases. McClatchy Newspapers
Politics
House Health Plan in Disarray . . . Leaders suggest they may roll back plan to tax the rich and indicate they won't make August deadline. New York Times
Clinton Calls Differences With Obama Slight . . . Counters talk of a split with suggestion they both see the world the same way.
Washington Times
Schwarzenegger, Lawmakers Strike Budget Deal . . . Agreement on closing California's $26.3-billion deficit calls for deep cuts in services and no broad tax increases. Los Angeles Times
Lobbies Adopt Tone of According With Obama . . . Groups hostile to regulation profess solidarity with his agenda on health care, energy and financial regulation. New York Times
Health Firms Gave Big to Baucus . . . Finance Chairman, who is key player on health reform, received $1.5. million from health-related firms. Washington Post
National Security
Gates Bolsters Troops by 22,000 . . . Decision comes as July coalition deaths in Afghanistan hit '07 Iraq level. Washington Times
Judge Accuses CIA Officials of Fraud . . . Says the CIA misled him on the undercover status of a defendant in a lawsuit. Wants answers from Tenet. McClatchy Newspapers
Pakistani Refugees Return Home - to the Taliban . . . Militants who were supposedly swept from some areas appear to have returned.
Christian Science Monitor
News on the Money
Bernanke Battles Calls To Rein in the Fed . . . As Bernanke heads to Capitol Hill for two days of testimony, the Fed is fending off attacks from critics. Wall Street Journal
Sony Bids $50M for Jackson Rehearsal Film . . . Would acquire rights to a film based on rehearsal footage for Michael Jackson's "This Is It" comeback concert series. Associated Press
Barnes and Noble Launches e-Bookstore . . . Retailer boasts that it offers 700,000 titles. A challenge to Amazon's Kindle.
Wall Street Journal
Continental to Cut 1,700 Jobs . . . Will also raise fees for checking luggage after it posted a large loss for the second quarter amid falling traffic. Associated Press
International
Fujimora Convicted Again . . . Former Peruvian president faces added jail time for paying his former spymaster with $15 million in public funds. McClatchy Newspapers
Ortega Bids to Extend Term . . . Echoing ousted Honduran leader, Nicaraguan says limits on presidential terms stand in the way of "direct democracy." Christian Science Monitor
Serbian Warlord Gets Life for Mass Murder . . . Milan Lukic guilty of massacring Muslims in Bosnian war during reign of terror under Radovan Karadzic. Guardian
Japanese PM Calls Election . . . His conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled in Japan for much of post-war period, battles to hang on. Reuters
Berlusconi Taped With Prostitute . . . Revelations add more pressure to beleaguered Italian PM. The Independent
Also Today. . .
Embryonic-Like Cells Repair Mouse Heart Tissue . . . Ordinary cells were reprogrammed to act like embryonic stem cells.
Reuters
Global Swine Flu Deaths Top 700 . . . Swine flu has killed more than 700 people since the outbreak began four months ago, says the World Health Organization. BBC
New Path to Restoring Identities . . . Database aims at naming thousands of John and Jane Does whose remains are shelved nationwide. Washington Post
Docs Urge Gag Orders . . . Some MDs want patients to sign agreements that prohibit posting on sites such as Yelp and DrScore.
Washington Post
Robert Capa War Photo Said to be Staged . . . Study says iconic pic of soldier in Spain at moment he was shot was taken 50 kilometers from the battle scene. Daily Guardian
Today's Video
Mother and Children Rescued from Fiery Crash . . . NBC
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