Trimming the Times

The Unmarried First Lady, Fighting Ticketmaster (Again), and the Math of Obesity

The Atlantic Wire / Cyril Bousselet's Flickr
Dashiell Bennett 1,432 Views May 16, 2012

Now that The New York Times pay wall is live, you only get 10 free clicks a month. For those worried about hitting their limit, we're taking a look through the paper each morning to find the stories that can make your clicks count.

Top Stories: States are taking money from a national mortgage settlement (meant to give relief to struggling homeowners) and using it to plug budget holes elsewhere. France's new first lady is a twice-divorced mother who lives with, but isn't married to the new president.

World: Afghan soldiers trained by U.S. soldiers and fighting alongside them have turned into the Americans' biggest enemy. Sweden has has its own high-profile murder trial that has some parallels to the ongoing Anders Breivik trial in Norway. Average Mexicans try to distract themselves from the unspeakable drug violence that surrounds them.

Business: A Russian businessman made a big bet on Facebook in 2009, that could soon net $6 billion after the IPO. A hedge fund run out of a different division of JPMorgan was buying the other side of the risky trades that cost their "London Whale" $2 billion.

Opinion: "Europe would be in much better shape if the euro didn’t exist," and breaking it up might be difficult, but better than keeping it together. Why third parties are doomed to fail in American politics.

Health: A new drug trial will test a treatment that could prevent Alzheimer's in  "people who are genetically guaranteed to develop the disease — but who do not yet have any symptoms."

Science: An interview with a mathematician working on formulas that can help understand and predict weight loss (or gain.)

Books: The novel I Am Forbidden centers on two Hasidic sisters who are brought together by the Holocaust and then grow apart.

Sunday Magazine: The town of Treece, Kansas, is being wiped off the map after being poisoned by mining operations.

Music: The band Sting Cheese Incident is taking on Ticketmaster by buying up seats to its own shows at the box office (where there are no fees) then reselling them on their website at face value.

Sports: A visit to the Philippines orphanage built and run by Tim Tebow's father.

Movies: A review of Sasha Baron Cohen's new movie, The Dictator, a "lazy" satire with jokes that "feel half-baked and rehashed."

Travel: How to make a road trip from Washington, DC,. to Savannah, Georgia, on the cheap.

Photo Gallery of the Day: Indigenous peoples in Peru are threatened by the proposal to dam a river and flood their homes.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at dbennett at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

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