USA
The Washington trial of former Republican presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby began Tuesday with jury selection. Libby, a former adviser to President Bush and chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, faces charges of perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from CIA officer Valerie Plame's leaked identity. Libby, who says he didn't lie to investigators, plans to be his own star witness.
Houston-based BP Products North America emphasized personal safety but not process safety before the 2005 explosion of its Texas City refinery that killed 15 workers, an independent panel said Tuesday. The review, led by former Secretary of State James Baker III, recommended that an outsider monitor BP operations and report to the company's board of directors for five years.
Investigators Tuesday searched for clues to what caused a CSX freight train carrying hazardous chemicals to derail south of Louisville, Ky. Fourteen tanker cars caught fire, forcing evacuations of homes, businesses, and a school, as well as the closing of a 23-mile stretch of Interstate 65. No injures were reported. On Monday, four cars on another CSX train in central Kentucky broke free and traveled miles before slamming into an abandoned locomotive.
Rather than opting out of the workplace, many middle- and senior-level professional women are negotiating flexible arrangements to stay on the job, according to a study released Tuesday by the Simmons School of Management in Boston. Ninety percent of those surveyed said that at various points in their careers they continued working by limiting travel, telecommuting, or arranging different hours, among other strategies. Women are "shifting the career paradigm" said lead author Mary Shapiro.
About $8 billion of $80 billion expended this past holiday season on gift cards will go unspent by recipients, according to the TowerGroup, a financial industry research firm.
The National Park Service has agreed to experiment with using wristwatch-size radio transmitters supplied by Project Lifesaver International, a nonprofit search and rescue group. The equipment will be tried out on Alaska's Mt. McKinley. Although some argue transmitters can provide a false sense of security, others believe their use would save valuable time and money in wilderness searches.
Martin Scorsese was named the best film director at the annual Golden Globe awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., Monday, boosting his prospects to finally win an Oscar after five nominations. Scorsese won the second Globe of his career for the mob tale "The Departed." The Globes are viewed as a preview of the Oscars on Feb. 25. Although no film dominated the awards, "Babel" was named the best drama, and "Dreamgirls" the best musical or comedy.
