Week in Review

NEWSPAPER STING: The London-based newspaper, The Sunday Times, carried out an undercover investigation of Stephen Payne, a lobbyist and member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council. Caught on video, which the newspaper published online, Payne offered to arrange meetings with high-level Bush administration officials for a former Kyrgyzstan president in exchange for $750,000.

ELECTION SPOILERS? The Green Party nominated Cynthia McKinney for president on Saturday in Chicago. She joins independent Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr as a third-party candidate, challenging John McCain and Barack Obama who represent the two major political parties.

JALAPENOS & CILANTRO: The Food and Drug Administration seems no nearer to finding the source of the Salmonella saintpaul outbreak than three months ago when it first surfaced. Florida tomato growers have lost an estimated $100 million of income and are seeking financial restitution from the federal government.

PATIENT CHOICE? On Wednesday, the Senate passed the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act with a vote of 69-to-30. The bill freezes doctors' Medicare payments at their current rate, forestalling the planned 10.6% cut to participating physicians.

BETTER TRACKING: The head of California's Department of Education announced a nearly 1-in-4 dropout rate for the state's high school students. Ethnic minority students are much more likely to dropout than their Caucasian cohorts.

DEADLY FORCE: Before dawn last Sunday, Taliban forces launched a two-pronged attack on a NATO base near the village of Wanat in the Kunar province. Nine U.S. troops were killed in the deadliest fighting in Afghanistan since June 2005 when rebels destroyed a helicopter carrying 16 soldiers.

BANK COLLAPSE: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation closed IndyMac Bank on Friday, reopening it Monday morning as IndyMac Federal Bank. The bank's collapse triggered widespread worry over the health of other banks, but banking experts agree that most people have little to worry about.

WAR CRIMES: The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court officially charged Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir with war crimes, including genocide, for his alleged role in the Darfur massacres. Many fear the charge may lead to retaliatory violence against peacekeepers and refugees in Sudan.

PRESERVES & NURSERIES: Coral reefs all around the world are dying, and coral reef experts issued an alarm based on their first-ever global study. Extinction threatens one-third of all coral reefs, but preservation is possible if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and overfishing and set aside marine reserves.