Despite a surge of entrepreneurial activity, years of running budget deficits have knocked the United States from its top spot on a closely-watched ranking of the world’s most competitive nations. Citing “large macroeconomic imbalances,” the World Economic Forum, a global policy group based in Geneva, ranked the United States in …
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SEATTLE – A climate researcher at the University of Washington says Pacific Northwest winters will be getting more gray and rainy over the next 50 to 100 years, due to a low-pressure system near the Aleutian Islands that is moving farther to the north and east. Eric Salathe said weather …
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HOUSTON – Former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling, the most vilified figure from the financial scandal of the decade, was sentenced Monday to 24 years and four months in the harshest sentence yet in the case that arose from the energy trading giant’s collapse. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake …
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UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations on Monday accused Eritrea of moving 1,500 troops and 14 tanks into a buffer zone established after a 2 1/2-year border war with Ethiopia in “a major breach” of a cease-fire agreement reached in 2000. CountryWatch: Eritrea Eritrean troops also took over a U.N. …
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SOCORRO, N.M. – New Mexico Tech researchers have developed a sensor that uses the light-emitting properties of some nanoparticles to analyze and identify individual components of single strands of DNA and RNA. Chemistry assistant professor Peng Zhang said team members hope they can refine the emerging technology and eventually adapt …
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SEATTLE – Growing up, Charlie Parsons played sports, liked to travel and enjoyed learning other languages — just like his older twin brothers. When they went off to West Point, Parsons soon followed. Now, four months after Capt. Bill Parsons and Capt. Huber Parsons III deployed to Iraq, younger brother …
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NEW YORK – Video game publisher Sega went looking for a new friend for the upcoming version of its popular “Sonic The Hedgehog” game and found a metaphor for its role in the $30 billion games business. Sonic’s new friend Silver fights villains by using mind-powers to throw objects at …
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NEW YORK – NBC News has begun carrying out layoffs that it said last month were coming as part of a corporate restructuring, affecting mostly off-camera workers on “Dateline NBC,” “Today” and “NBC Nightly News.” The only on-camera employees who have been laid off so far are “Dateline NBC” correspondents …
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli troops killed seven Hamas militants, including a top rocketmaker, and two other Palestinians, including a girl, died Saturday, the fourth day of an Israeli offensive against Palestinian rocket squads in and around the northern Gaza border town of Beit Hanoun. A municipal official said …
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged Sunday the West had changed strategy in the fight against terrorism, telling Pakistan’s president that brokering a broad Mideast peace deal was now as crucial as using force to battle militants. Pakistani leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who switched his country’s support …
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