First, Terry Bigley watched the tornado overtake his television screen as it ripped through eastern Kansas toward Joplin, Mo., where he lived on the east side in an apartment with his wife. "They had a big picture of it," he says of the local news station. "And I mean this was a humungous tornado. They told everybody to take cover. Then it was right on us." The Joplin tornado and a less powerful one that wreaked havoc in ...

The good news is that the American economy is back to its precrisis size. The U.S. GDP is now about $13.5 trillion, a bit above what it was in 2007, before the financial crisis. The bad news is that we are producing the same amount of goods and services as in 2007 with 7 million fewer workers. The number of Americans who are unemployed has roughly doubled, and though that number is declining, it is doing so ...

The bitterly fought Pluto wars of a few years back showed that even the experts disagree on what is and what isn't a planet. One thing there's no quarrel about, of course: a planet is, by definition, something that orbits a star. Except, it turns out, when it isn't. Writing in the latest issue of Nature, a team of astronomers is reporting the discovery of ten objects roughly the size of Jupiter that seem to be on the ...

Only Indochinese with special ties will be admitted Since Saigon fell to the Communists in 1975, more than 1.2 million people have fled Indochina, most of them risking perilous journeys overseas in rickety fishing craft. Horrified by the plight of the boat people, a number of countries in Asia and the West liberalized their immigration policies to accommodate the flood of refugees. American policy has been one of the most generous: as of March, 589,000 of the homeless had been ...

Many large modern cemeteries store data on the identity of remains via computer and keep track of grave locations with the aid of satellites. The previous leadership at the cemetery blew unknown millions trying to develop a similar system, but ended up just handing money to favored contractors who did little in return, according to an Army investigation last summer. As a result, Arlington tries to keep track of around 30 burials a day on pieces of ...

Three hours after I gave my name and e-mail address to Michael Fertik, the CEO of Reputation.com, he called me back and read my Social Security number to me. "We had it a couple of hours ago," he said. "I was just too busy to call." In the past few months, I have been told many more-interesting facts about myself than my Social Security number. I've gathered a bit of the vast amount of data that's being collected ...

A few drinks in the People's Republic of China led me to discover European delights and other unexpected finds in modest Qingdao. Another round of toasts and exclamations of "hajiu" sounded out around me. I took a sip and set down my small glass of Tsingtao beer as my new friends downed theirs and refilled. Our seafood dinner, perched on the single cluttered table of a tiny antique shop, was punctuated regularly by such moments. I joined in happily, although ...

A new policy at Tufts University prohibits students in dorms from having sex while their roommate is in the room, according to the university's 2009-2010 student handbook. The Massachusetts university's formal rule also bars so-called "sexiling" -- exiling a roommate from the room so the other roommate can engage in sexual activity. The new policy "is really about consideration and respect for others and the need for students to be mindful of their roommates' need for privacy, study and sleep," ...

The Taliban fight against American and NATO troops in Afghanistan "is forging ahead like a powerful flood," according to a purported online message posted Saturday by the Taliban's elusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. "Anyone who opts to resist it will himself be washed away. Atrocity, torture, brutality, conspiracies, coalitions, the foreign forces and mercenaries could not hurl stumbling blocks in the way of this robust Jihadic movement," Omar adds in the written message. The fight against foreign forces "is approaching ...

The number of birth defects in China are on the rise and the rate has nearly doubled in the past decade in Beijing and several provinces, a state-run newspaper reported Tuesday. The five-time winner went into Monday night's final at the top of his game, having re-established himself as the top player in the world this year after losing his No. 1 crown to Rafael Nadal and suffering from illness. The Swiss star was widely expected to defeat Juan Martin ...