PUBLIC MARKS from ravi

The State Department is investigating whether Israel’s use of American-made cluster bombs in southern Lebanon violated secret agreements with the United States that restrict when it can employ such weapons...

Hispanics Across America founder Fernando Mateo called the move an "offensive and cheap trick" to boost ratings. "The participants will be held to the daunting and unfair challenge of representing an entire race of people," he said. "What will it mean for a team - a race - to fail in a battle of wits and strength against another race?"

[Shreveport Times] Nine black children attending Red River Elementary School were directed last week to the back of the school bus by a white driver who designated the front seats for white children.

[NYT] Evolutionary biology has vanished from the list of acceptable fields of study for recipients of a federal education grant for low-income college students.

[BBC] Too bad: we have to let the brown dudes go. Got to hassle them though!

[BBC] The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved over-the-counter sales of the emergency contraceptive pill after three years of controversy.

The federal government filed a lawsuit against state officials and Verizon Communications Monday to prevent the release of information about the company's alleged role in the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program.

[NYT] Biologists have developed a technique for establishing colonies of human embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos, a method that, if confirmed in other laboratories, would seem to remove the principal objection to stem cell research.

[MyWayNews via RawStory] "In effect, the government is arguing that an innocent man who was wrongly convicted should not be released from the custody of the United States," U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn wrote. He ruled that Perez never should have been deported.

[CNN] Arrested for unbuckling seat belt and using cell phones! Not much until you consider clincher: they were brown!

THE GRAND ILLUSION: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11

[Guardian] The Syrian president, Bashar Assad, today warned he would consider the deployment of international troops along the Lebanon-Syria border a hostile move towards his country.

[via Register] Women over 50 will be the best bosses in the future because they understand the importance of flexible working, according to research from BT.

[via BBC]

Frequently updated projection of US Senate 2006 results, from MyDD.

Guardian: Perelman turns down Fields Medal and Clay Institute prize, for solving the Poincare Conjecture.