Comment on 2009: The Year of Scams -- and Complaints

WASHINGTON — A top U. N. official said Friday that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine” after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. Cindy McCain, the American director of the U. N. World Food Program, became the most prominent international official so far to declare that trapped civilians in the most cut-off part of Gaza had gone over the brink into famine. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “It’s horror,” McCain told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview to air Sunday.

Houston — Heavy storms slammed the Houston area again Friday, widening already dangerous flooding in Texas and leading to numerous high-water rescues, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes. Officials redoubled urgent instructions for residents in low-lying areas to evacuate, warning the worst was still to come. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “This threat is ongoing and it’s going to get worse.

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower, which occurs each year as the Earth passes through remnants of Halley’s comet, is expected to reach its peak this weekend. Watchers can expect to see hundreds of meteors fill the sky in the pre-dawn hours. With the moon at a waning crescent, the show is expected to be even more vibrant than usual.

Chants of “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest” are reverberating across the globe as student-led protests in support of Palestine have popped up outside the U. S. and in countries like Australia, Mexico, and the U. K. as the Israel-Hamas war enters into its seventh month.

The best Taylor Swift needle drops will make you think about her music a little differently. A show like You might play with tone, turning an emotional ballad into comic relief, while The Buccaneers might help christen a new Swiftie classic with one pivotal scene. Some music syncs feel so seamless you may start to believe they were written specifically for a movie, while others, like Swift’s Valentine’s Day sweetheart anthem “Today Was a Fairytale,” actually was.

In a fast-food culture, there may be few things better for your health than making a simple home-cooked meal. But while the meal itself may be a good idea, the cooking part can be a problem—at least if you own a natural gas or propane stove. That’s the conclusion of a new study in Science Advances, showing that dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are emitted by both kinds of stoves. The findings are a result of new work conducted at Stanford University by environmental scientist Rob Jackson and graduate researcher Yannai Kashtan.