2. MOST MEMORABLE Obama Wins Election; McCain Loses as Bush Legacy Is Rejected Doug Mills/The New York Times Supporters of Senator Barack Obama cheered during a rally in Chicago on Tuesday as they heard that he won in Pennsylvania. By ADAM NAGOURNEY Published: November 4, 2008 Mr. Obama’s election amounted to a national catharsis — a repudiation of a historically unpopular Republican president and his economic and foreign policies, and an embrace of Mr. Obama’s call for a change in the direction and the tone of the country. But it was just as much a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago. Mr. Obama, 47, a first-term Democratic senator from Illinois, defeated Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, a former prisoner of war who was making his second bid for the presidency. Mr. McCain offered a gracious concession speech at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix shortly after 11:15 p.m. Eastern time, quieting his booing supporters more than once when he mentioned Mr. Obama’s name. “Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself, and for his country,” he said, adding that he was sorry that Mr. Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who helped raise him during his teenage years, had not lived to see the day; she died on Sunday. “ These are difficult times for our country, and I pledged to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face,” Mr. McCain said. “I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together.” To the very end, Mr. McCain’s campaign was eclipsed by an opponent who was nothing short of a phenomenon, drawing huge crowds epitomized by the tens of thousands of people who turned out to hear Mr. Obama’s victory speech in Grant Park in Chicago. Mr. McCain also fought the headwinds of a relentlessly hostile political environment, weighted down with the baggage left to him by President Bush and an economic collapse that took place in the middle of the general election campaign. The day shimmered with history as voters began lining up before dark — hours before polls opened — to take part in the culmination of a campaign that, over the course of two years, commanded an extraordinary amount of attention from the American public. As the returns became known, and Mr. Obama passed milestone after milestone, winning Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa and New Mexico — many Americans rolled into the streets to celebrate what many described, with perhaps overstated if understandable exhilaration, a new era in a country where just 143 years ago, Mr. Obama, as a black man, could have been owned as a slave.

6. MOST AMAZING/OUTRAGEOUS Komodo dragon attacks terrorize villages Residents of Indonesian islands have lived with reptiles for generations Dita Alangkara / AP fileA Komodo dragon walks on a beach on Komodo island, Indonesia, Thursday, April 30, 2009. Attacks on humans by Komodo dragons — said to number at around 2,500 in the wild — are rare, but seem to have increased in recent years. Video KOMODO ISLAND, Indonesia - Komodo dragons have shark-like teeth and poisonous venom that can kill a person within hours of a bite. Yet villagers who have lived for generations alongside the world's largest lizard were not afraid — until the dragons started to attack. The stories spread quickly across this smattering of tropical islands in southeastern Indonesia, the only place the endangered reptiles can still be found in the wild: Two people were killed since 2007 — a young boy and a fisherman — and others were badly wounded after being charged unprovoked. Komodo dragon attacks are still rare, experts note. But fear is swirling through the fishing villages, along with questions on how best to live with the dragons in the future. Main, a 46-year-old park ranger, was doing paper work when a dragon slithered up the stairs of his wooden hut in Komodo National Park and went for his ankles dangling beneath the desk. When the ranger tried to pry open the beast's powerful jaws, it locked its teeth into his hand. "I thought I wouldn't survive... I've spent half my life working with Komodos and have never seen anything like it," said Main, pointing to his jagged gashes, sewn up with 55 stitches and still swollen three months later. "Luckily, my friends heard my screams and got me to hospital in time."Komodos, which are popular zoo exhibits from the United States to Europe, grow to be 10 feet (3 meters) long and 150 pounds (70 kilograms). All of the estimated 2,500 left in the wild can be found within the 700-square-mile (1,810-square-kilometer) Komodo National Park, mostly on its two largest islands, Komodo and Rinca. The lizards on neighboring Padar were wiped out in the 1980s when hunters killed their main prey, deer. Though poaching is illegal, the sheer size of the park — and a shortage of rangers — makes it almost impossible to patrol, said Heru Rudiharto, a biologist and reptile expert. Villagers say the dragons are hungry and more aggressive toward humans because their food is being poached, though park officials are quick to disagree. The giant lizards have always been dangerous, said Rudiharto. However tame they may appear, lounging beneath trees and gazing at the sea from white-sand beaches, they are fast, strong and deadly. The animals are believed to have descended from a larger lizard on Indonesia's main island Java or Australia around 30,000 years ago. They can reach speeds of up to 18 miles (nearly 30 kilometers) per hour, their legs winding around their low, square shoulders like egg beaters.

7. When they catch their prey, they carry out a frenzied biting spree that releases venom, according to a new study this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors, who used surgically excised glands from a terminally ill dragon at the Singapore Zoo, dismissed the theory that prey die from blood poisoning caused by toxic bacteria in the lizard's mouth. "The long, jaded teeth are the primary weapons. They deliver these deep, deep wounds," said Bryan Fry of the University of Melbourne. "But the venom keeps it bleeding and further lowers the blood pressure, thus bringing the animal closer to unconsciousness." Four people have been killed in the last 35 years (2009, 2007, 2000 and 1974) and at least eight injured in just over a decade. But park officials say these numbers aren't overly alarming given the steady stream of tourists and the 4,000 people who live in their midst.”`Any time there's an attack, it gets a lot of attention," Rudiharto said. "But that's just because this lizard is exotic, archaic, and can't be found anywhere but here."Still, the recent attacks couldn't have come at a worse time. The government is campaigning hard to get the park onto a new list of the Seven Wonders of Nature — a long shot, but an attempt to at least raise awareness. The park's rugged hills and savannahs are home to orange-footed scrub fowl, wild boar and small wild horses, and the surrounding coral reefs and bays harbor more than a dozen whale species, dolphins and sea turtles. Claudio Ciofi, who works at the Department of Animal Biology and Genetics at the University of Florence in Italy, said if komodos are hungry, they may be attracted to villages by the smell of drying fish and cooking, and "encounters can become more frequent." Villagers wish they knew the answer. They say they've always lived peacefully with Komodos. A popular traditional legend tells of a man who once married a dragon "princess." Their twins, a human boy, Gerong, and a lizard girl, Orah, were separated at birth. When Gerong grew up, the story goes, he met a fierce-looking beast in the forest. But just as he was about to spear it, his mother appeared, revealing to him that the two were brother and sister. "How could the dragons get so aggressive?" Hajj Amin, 51, taking long slow drags off his clove cigarettes, as other village elders gathering beneath a wooden house on stilts nodded. Several dragons lingered nearby, drawn by the rancid smell of fish drying on bamboo mats beneath the blazing sun. Also strolling by were dozens of goats and chickens. "They never used to attack us when we walked alone in the forest, or attack our children," Amin said. "We're all really worried about this."The dragons eat 80 percent of their weight and then go without food for several weeks. Amin and others say the dragons are hungry partly because of a 1994 policy that prohibits villagers from feeding them. "We used to give them the bones and skin of deer," said the fisherman. Villagers recently sought permission to feed wild boar to the Komodos several times a year, but park officials say that won't happen. "If we let people feed them, they will just get lazy and lose their ability to hunt," said Jeri Imansyah, another reptile expert. "One day, that will kill them. " The attack that first put villagers on alert occurred two years ago, when 8-year-old Mansyur was mauled to death while defecating in the bushes behind his wooden hut. People have since asked for a 6-foot-high (2-meter) concrete wall to be built around their villages, but that idea, too, has been rejected. The head of the park, Tamen Sitorus, said: "It's a strange request. You can't build a fence like that inside a national park!"

8. SUMMARY In a place called Komodo Island, Indonesia there are animals called Komodo dragons. They are mysterious animals that have shark-like teeth and poisonous venom that can kill a person within hours of a bite. Even if the dragons are still living there the villagers who have lived there for generations alongside the world's largest lizard were not afraid, until the dragons started to attack. Two people have been killed since 2007: a young boy and a fisherman. Others were badly wounded after dragon attacks. Komodo dragon attacks are still rare but people in nearby villages are about continuing to live with the dragons. But fear is swirling through the fishing villages, along with questions on how best to live with the dragons in the future. Main, a 46-year-old park ranger, was doing paper work when a dragon slithered up the stairs of his wooden hut in Komodo National Park and went for his ankles dangling beneath the desk. When the ranger tried to pry open the beast's powerful jaws, it locked its teeth into his hand. "I thought I wouldn't survive... I've spent half my life working with Komodo Dragons and have never seen anything like it," said Main, pointing to his jagged gashes, sewn up with 55 stitches and still swollen three months later. "Luckily, my friends heard my screams and got me to hospital in time." Komodo Dragons are popular in zoo exhibits from the United States to Europe, they grow to be 10 feet long and about 150 pounds. Some villagers say that the dragons are hungry and more aggressive towards humans because their food is being poached. Poaching is the illegal hunting, fishing, or eating of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. However tame they may appear, lounging beneath trees and gazing at the sea from white-sand beaches, they are fast, strong and deadly. They can reach speeds of up to 18 miles (nearly 30 kilometers) per hour, their legs winding around their low, square shoulders like egg beaters. Attacks on humans by Komodo dragons — said to number at around 2,500 in the wild — are rare, but seem to have increased in recent years. Komodo Dragons are very dangerous animals that mean no harm but they just want something to eat so they decide to choose humans. When they catch their prey, they carry out a frenzied biting spree that releases venom, according to a new study this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Four people have been killed in the last 35 years (2009, 2007, 2000 and 1974) and at least eight injured in just over a decade. Claudio Ciofi, who works at the Department of Animal Biology and Genetics at the University of Florence in Italy, said if komodos are hungry, they may be attracted to villages by the smell of drying fish and cooking, and "encounters can become more frequent.“Villagers say they've always lived peacefully with Komodos. A popular traditional legend tells of a man who once married a dragon "princess." Their twins, a human boy, Gerong, and a lizard girl, Orah, were separated at birth. When Gerong grew up, the story goes, he met a fierce-looking beast in the forest. But just as he was about to spear it, his mother appeared, revealing to him that the two were brother and sister. "They never used to attack us when we walked alone in the forest, or attack our children," Amin said. "We're all really worried about this."The dragons eat 80 percent of their weight and then go without food for several weeks. Amin and others say the dragons are hungry partly because of a 1994 policy that prohibits villagers from feeding them. The attack that first put villagers on alert occurred two years ago, when 8-year-old Mansyur was mauled to death while defecating in the bushes behind his wooden hut.

9. EXPLANATION I've chosen the article called “ Komodo dragon attacks terrorize villages “ as the most amazing article because a animal like the Komodo dragon is a interesting animal. With their shark- like teeth they can bite off a human arm. That’s how vicious they are. I think that this is the most amazing article because the Komodo Dragons can be anywhere, anytime. They can be in your house maybe right now. Even though it may be impossible for that animal to come into your house. They are in exhibits in the United States. People who are lizard fans seem to be attracted by this creature. Back then, people used to feed these types of creatures. But they stopped since people told them to stop feeding them. This is a amazing article because there were many attacks that the Komodo Dragons did to humans. Humans thought that these dragons were harmless in many ways. But when they started to realize what advantage the dragons were doing to them they started to get scared.

15. Some scientists said new rules requiring that donors be informed of all options could render too many new cell lines ineligible. And the rules could make ineligible for future federal financing even some cell lines approved by Mr. Bush. Dr. George Q. Daley, the director of the stem cell transplantation program at Children’s Hospital Boston, said his team had used private financing to create 15 stem cell lines from poor-quality embryos that clinicians had told couples they should discard. Not all couples may have been told that they could donate the weakened embryos to other couples, a requirement under the new guidelines. “ My major concern,” Dr. Daley said, “is grandfathering all those medically important lines” made under less stringent consent policies, including some approved by Mr. Bush. The announcement on Friday is likely to kick off a rush of applications from scientists eager for federal support for stem cell research. The health institutes has approved 20 such proposals for financing, although the projects have been delayed until the stem cell guideline is finalized. In fiscal year 2008, the health institutes financed 260 research projects, at a cost of $88 million, that involved stem cell lines approved by Mr. Bush. “ In a relatively short period of time, we’re likely to greatly increase the number of stem cell lines eligible for federal funding,” Dr. Kington said. “Ultimately, this will have a significant impact on human health and disease.” The new guidelines will be published next week in the Federal Register, and the health institutes then will accept comments for 30 days. The rules are to be final by July 7. Some in Congress have promised to introduce legislation that would allow financing of more stem cell lines. Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado, said in a statement that the proposed legislation would “promote all forms of ethical stem cell research.” A statement from Representative Michael N. Castle, Republican of Delaware, said there was “opportunity for more expansive guidelines.” Staff members for both lawmakers said they could not describe details of the legislation or whether it would seek to legalize federal financing of research using embryos created by therapeutic cloning. Mr. Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee said the DeGette and Castle legislation would almost certainly undermine the few restrictions left in place by Mr. Obama. Many scientists believe that the development of matched organs for transplantation would be possible only with therapeutic cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer, a process by which genetic material from a patient is placed in the nucleus of an egg to produce embryonic stem cells that are an identical genetic match. “ You can’t even apply for funding now if you have a cell line derived by somatic cell nuclear transfer that faithfully reproduces, say, juvenile diabetes,” Dr. Weissman said. But Dr. Kington said this cell transfer process had never been successfully carried out in human cells. And other scientists have suggested that if scientists create 1,000 or more genetically distinct stem cell lines, organs could be grown that would be a close enough genetic match to avoid rejection by patients’ immune systems.

16. SUMMARY On Friday the Obama administration announced that it planned to lift some but not all federal financing restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research, drawing criticism both from abortion opponents and from scientists who had expected a more liberal policy. Guidelines proposed by the National Institutes of Health that to make a order sent by last month by President Obama which would allow people to research federal financing only on stem cells derived from surplus embryos at fertility clinics. The money would still be prohibited for stem cell lines created solely for research purposes and for embryos created rough a technique known as therapeutic cloning. Many scientists praised the new guidelines as an expected compromise.“I think it’s a big step forward,” said Richard O. Hynes, a cancer researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “although there are aspects of stem cell research that will still be outside federal funding.” Others called the proposed rules a sellout.“I’m disappointed,” said Dr. Irving Weissman, the director of the Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Institute at Stanford. Dr. Weissman accused the health institutes of “putting this ideological barrier in the way” of treating disease. Abortion opponents predicted that the administration would soon embrace less restrictive stem cell policies.“This is clearly part of an incremental strategy to desensitize the public to the concept of killing human embryos for research purposes,” said Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee. Health institute officials have been eager to expand financing for stem cell research,just 21 stem cell lines have been eligible for federal financing. But researchers using private money have created more than 700 stem cell lines, some with specific diseases or mutations, many of which may now be eligible for federal financing. Dr. George Q. Daley, the director of the stem cell transplantation program at Children’s Hospital Boston, said his team had used private financing to create 15 stem cell lines from poor-quality embryos that clinicians had told couples they should discard. Not all couples may have been told that they could donate the weakened embryos to other couples, a requirement under the new guidelines.“My major concern,” Dr. Daley said, “is grandfathering all those medically important lines” made under less stringent consent policies, including some approved by Mr. Bush. The announcement on Friday is likely to kick off a rush of applications from scientists eager for federal support for stem cell research. The health institutes has approved 20 such proposals for financing, although the projects have been delayed until the stem cell guideline is finalized. In fiscal year 2008, the health institutes financed 260 research projects, at a cost of $88 million, that involved stem cell lines approved by Mr. Bush. “In a relatively short period of time, we’re likely to greatly increase the number of stem cell lines eligible for federal funding,” Dr. Kington said. “Ultimately, this will have a significant impact on human health and disease.” Some in Congress have promised to introduce legislation that would allow financing of more stem cell lines. Many scientists believe that the development of matched organs for transplantation would be possible only with therapeutic cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer, a process by which genetic material from a patient is placed in the nucleus of an egg to produce embryonic stem cells that are an identical genetic match.

17. EXPLANATION Ive chosen the article “ Some Stem Cell Research Limits Lifted “ as my most controversial article because many people have different opinions about the stem cell research. Some people are against it because they say that its killing a human being. A baby, that can have a new life. The people that are to it think that its better so that the scientists can find cures for different diseases such as cancer. They think that its better to have one person not live than hundreds. The both sides of the story are correct, no one is really disagreeing to either opinion.