USA
Scientists argued over human cloning yesterday before a National Academy of Science panel grappling with the issue. Dr. Severino Antinori of Rome, who has said he and US researcher Panos Zavos plan to start cloning embryos in November for couples who can't have children, said he has developed methods to screen out abnormal embryos. Others disagreed, however, and questioned both the risk of abnormalities and the ethics of practicing on humans. Since scientists successfully cloned Dolly, a sheep, in 1997, human cloning has been a major focus of discussion and legislation. The FDA has prohibited the practice in the US.
Gun makers won an important victory when the California Supreme Court ruled that victims and families cannot sue manufacturers when their products are used illegally. The 5-to-1 decision overturned an earlier ruling. The case involved a 1993 incident in which a man opened fire in a San Francisco law office, killing eight people. Survivors claimed Navegar Inc., the maker of the TEC-DC9 gun used in the shooting, was liable because it marketed the gun to appeal to criminals. The California ruling is in line with other states that have considered similar lawsuits.
American workers' productivity, a key measure of rising living standards, rose in the second quarter to its best showing in a year, the Labor Department reported yesterday. Productivity - the amount of output per hour of work - rose at an annual rate of 2.5 percent from April to June, better than the 1.5 percent growth rate many analysts were predicting. Gains in productivity are key to rising living standards because they allow wages to increase without triggering inflation.
The advance for former President Bill Clinton's book deal reportedly tops $10 million, a record for a nonfiction book. The memoirs, which Clinton agreed to write for publisher Alfred A. Knopf, will be a candid look at the "highs and lows" of his life, Clinton's lawyer said. It is scheduled for 2003. (Story, page 1; editorial, page 8.)
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman, Curtis Hebert Jr., said he will resign at the end of this month, making way for a President Bush appointee. Patrick Wood III, a former Texas regulator who joined the commission in late May, is expected to be named as the new FERC chairman by the president. Though he agrees with Hebert that the free market should determine electricity prices, Wood has shown a greater willingness to work with California officials and Democrats in Congress on the volatile issue of price caps and refunds by Western power marketers.
Demonstrators for and against a state income tax gathered at the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville yesterday, as lawmakers reconvened to consider overriding the governor's veto of the state budget. Gov. Don Sundquist, who has pushed for tax reform, said he vetoed the $19.6 billion budget because it contained no new revenue and cut deeply into education and services. Tennessee, one of nine states with no income tax, gets more than half its money from a 6 percent sales tax, which critics say places a disproportionate burden on the poor.
High school students see smaller classes as the best path to better schools, according to a survey by the Horatio Alger Association. Of those surveyed, 52 percent supported Bush's plan for nationally standardized tests each year, 56 percent said greater access to computers would help schools, and 64 percent favored reducing class size. Lengthening the school day or year was decidedly unpopular.