The World

1 | Washington Easy on the Stimulus, Please Some of the Republican Party’s highest-profile governors say they may reject a small percentage of the Federal Government’s $787 billion stimulus funding in the name of fiscal conservatism. They say taking federal funds to expand unemployment insurance, for example, would create a future burden on their states and lead to tax increases.

Haley Barbour, Mississippi The former GOP chairman believes the stimulus plan is “filled with social policy and costs too much.”

Bobby Jindal, Louisiana The rumored 2012 presidential candidate deems it “irresponsible” to expand unemployment insurance.

Mark Sanford, South Carolina He says the stimulus package represents a “fundamental misdiagnosis of the problem.”

2 | Iran Another Step Toward Nuclear Capabilities Iran successfully tested its first nuclear reactor in the southwestern port city of Bushehr on Feb. 25, amid increasing international concern over its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons. A recent International Atomic Energy Agency report said Iran has enough uranium–albeit not weapons grade–to eventually make a bomb. The Bushehr test, which did not use fissile material, was overseen by Russian officials. Moscow will supply the Russian-built plant with nuclear fuel under a U.N. arrangement meant to avoid its potential misuse. The plant should be operational by the end of the year.

3 | Washington Outearning the Boss Critics have blasted colleges for doling out lavish pay packages to their presidents, but chief executives at private colleges reaped just 11 of the top 88 salaries awarded during the 2006-07 fiscal year, according to a compensation analysis. Even those educators may feel the pinch soon: a separate survey warned that fundraising totals at major schools are dipping amid the recent economic swoon.

Highest-paid private-college employees

OVERALL 1 PETE CARROLL University of Southern California head football coach $4.4 million

2 DAVID SILVERS Columbia University professor of dermatology $4.3 million

3 MICHAEL JOHNS Emory University executive vice president of health affairs $3.8 million

PRESIDENT 15 E. Gordon Gee* Vanderbilt University $2.1 million

*LEFT VANDERBILT IN 2007

(SOURCES: CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION; COUNCIL FOR AID TO EDUCATION; IRS FORM 990)

4 | Boston A New Way to Fight the Flu Researchers have developed an antibody-based therapy for the flu virus that may help combat seasonal illnesses as well as more dangerous strains like the infamous H5N1 bird flu. The antibodies attach to a part of the virus that is less mutation-prone than the section targeted by current vaccines (which must be redeveloped every year to counter the virus’ changes). Tests on mice produced promising results, although clinical trials with humans won’t occur for a few years.

5 | London FREE AT LAST A former resident of Britain who claims that the U.S. government had him tortured prior to his transfer to Guantánamo Bay was released and returned to the U.K. on Feb. 23. Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed (above) was arrested in Pakistan in 2002. He says he was then sent to Morocco and Afghanistan and tortured before ending up at Gitmo. The British government had been lobbying for Mohamed’s release since 2007, and American authorities–who claimed he was planning a dirty-bomb attack on U.S. soil–dropped all charges in October 2008.

6 | Kyrgyzstan BYE-BYE, BASE Kyrgyzstan’s parliament voted to unilaterally terminate a U.S. lease on Manas Air Base (above), the only such facility left in central Asia, depriving Washington of a crucial staging point for troops, munitions and cargo destined for Afghanistan. Moscow, which has opposed America’s presence in the region, pledged over $2 billion in loans to bolster Kyrgyzstan’s faltering economy shortly before the decision was made, though both parties insist that the aid was not contingent on the base’s closure. U.S. negotiators hope Manas will be reopened in the future, pending further financial discussions.

7 | Washington Commerce, Part Three Forget third time’s a charm: President Barack Obama is probably just hoping there won’t be a fourth. After his first two picks for Commerce Secretary–New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg–withdrew their nominations, Obama has selected former Washington governor Gary Locke. The nation’s first Chinese-American governor, Locke–should he decide to keep the job–is expected to focus on trade issues with Beijing.

8 | Pakistan A Return to Turmoil Pakistan’s Supreme Court barred opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from holding elected office–a move that sparked nationwide protests among supporters. The ruling, which Sharif claims was ordered by President Asif Ali Zardari, revives a poisonous rivalry between Pakistan’s main parties. Sharif supporters have campaigned to reinstate members of the Supreme Court dismissed by ousted former President Pervez Musharraf in 2007.

9 | Argentina A Bishop Gets Booted A formerly excommunicated Roman Catholic bishop has been expelled from Argentina after publicly questioning accepted facts of the Holocaust and declining to recant without “proof” that the Nazis executed millions of Jews in gas chambers. Bishop Richard Williamson, a member of an ultraconservative sect, returned to his native Britain, but not before scuffling with a reporter at a Buenos Aires airport. He still faces investigation in Germany, where Holocaust denial is a crime.

10 | Israel Netanyahu: The New Boss Right-wing Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu has been tapped to form Israel’s next government, even though Tzipi Livni’s centrist Kadima party won one more seat in Israel’s Feb. 10 parliamentary election. According to President Shimon Peres, who under Israeli law is allowed to select the party leader best equipped to assemble a coalition, Netanyahu’s support among far-right parties gave him the advantage over Livni, who has clashed with Likud on its hard-line stance regarding Palestinian peace talks. Netanyahu must forge his coalition within six weeks in order to be confirmed as Prime Minister.

[This article contains a complex diagram. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

Results of Israel’s parliamentary election

KADIMA T. Livni

LIKUD B. Netanyahu

YISRAEL BEITENU A. Lieberman

LABOR E. Barak

SHAS E. Yishai

OTHER

(SOURCE: MALAM TEAM GROUP)

RECESSION WATCH

With mobile devices and Internet video affording a wider menu of viewing options and the dismal economy forcing people to hunker down at home, Americans are watching more television than ever before. According to a Nielsen report, the average citizen tuned in to 151 hours of TV per month during the fourth quarter of 2008, up from 145 the previous year.