* Obama rebukes Republicans who beat war drums to stoke voter frenzy. * Israel "very happy" about new negotiations, though "without a real military alternative," Iran unlikely to give up its nuclear program. * White House rules out unilateral U.S. military action in Syria * "Who needs Democrats
* Former ImClone CEO proposes we fight the burden of rising pharmaceutical prices by only paying when the drugs work. * Scotland's premature births drop by 10% following a country-wide ban on smoking in public places. * The conservative movement that has taken over the GOP was nursed on hatred
* Syria's Assad said to congratulate Putin on his election by telegram. * Guide to stealing elections: Obey the rules, assuming you wrote them in advance. * Belarus's pseudo-president says it's better to be a dictator than gay; gay German foreign minister appreciates confirmation of dictatorship.
* In the U.S., vast disparities found in different judges' sentencing for the same crime. * A chronological survey of the opening chords of Beethoven's Eroica. * Battle hymn of the accompanist: an homage to the unsung heroes of music. * Abraham Lincoln, technologist-in-chief, social anthropologist, proto-feminist.
* The only unexpected aspect of Putin's Sunday victory was the tear in his eye. * America's moral "decline" includes decreased crime, divorce, teenage pregnancy rates. * Question dividing the GOP: Is the end of defeating radical Islam worth the means of big government nation-building? * Remnick:
* The Port Huron Statement reads as relevant today as it did 50 years ago. * After thousands of years of looking down on feelings, they may be smarter than the conscious mind. * History shows it's still too early to count on Obama's momentum and count out a
Every Friday we take a look back at the week’s headlines, centering on a theme we’ve singled out as particularly important. Signs of ongoing austerity were everywhere this week. Meanwhile we were starting to make sense of the Great Recession and trying to avoid the next one. Study:
* Putin invokes Lermontov, Molotov, and Martin Luther King—but Russia is harder to inspire these days. * Don't miss today's Letter From Moscow interviewing protesters, commentators, and Kremlin-watchers about this weekend's election. * Bullfighter returns five months after severe goring left him unable to chew.
* Beth Israel agrees to pay $13 million for fraudulently inflating fees for Medicare patients. * With the big GOP money now secure, Romney launches Obama-style grassroots fundraising. * In defense of federal bureaucrats. * By pouncing on Obama's Koran apology, Republican hopefuls reveal archaic, Cold War mentality. * Children of 1976
* More than a dozen killed by devastating storms in the Midwest, and more storms are expected. * Imagining the UK if it faced austerity cuts on the scale currently facing Greece. * British and German leaders vocally back Sarkozy to their detriment should Hollande win. * Nature of romantic love considered philosophically, via
