Dinosaur eggs seized

Dinosaur eggs seized
LOS ANGELES -- Customs agents have seized fossilized dinosaur eggs believed to have been smuggled illegally from China and auctioned for 420,000, officials said Thursday. The 22 eggs, each 65 million years old, were so well-preserved that embryonic raptors are visible inside 19 of them. They were seized late last week from the Bonhams & amp; Butterfields auction house in Los Angeles.
The eggs were auctioned in December to an undisclosed buyer, but the transaction was scrubbed before money changed hands after concerns were raised about the legality of their export. Authorities found that the shipper in Taiwan had no paperwork to prove the fossil was legally transferred from China, and that an invoice falsely described the items as being from Taiwan and worth only about 500, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Newspaper offers buyouts
ATLANTA, Ga. -- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia's largest newspaper, said Thursday it is offering buyouts to up to 80 newsroom employees and plans to revamp its operations, including cutting its circulation area and focusing more on digital news. The newspaper announced the changes after the voluntary buyouts were presented during the day to employees who are at least 55 years old and have more than 10 years at the paper.
In the buyouts, employees will receive two weeks of pay for each year worked at the paper, up to 52 weeks, spokeswoman Mary Dugenske said. Those employees have until April 2 to decide, and those who don't accept a buyout will still have jobs at the paper, she said. The Journal-Constitution currently has 475 employees. In the six-month period ended Sept. 30, the paper reported average daily circulation of 354,475 and average Sunday circulation of 523,965.
Cervical cancer debate
AUSTIN, Texas -- As lawmakers prepare to debate an override of the governor's order that schoolgirls be inoculated against the virus that causes cervical cancer, a group of legislators wants the state to produce a brochure about the vaccine.
"We want families to know the facts," said state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, a Republican. "No one here is against a family studying the facts for themselves and deciding this is the right thing to do. ... What we don't want to do is tell them that we know better than them."
Bonnen is co-sponsoring a bill that would direct the state to produce and distribute informational materials about vaccines against the human papillomavirus, or HPV. The brochure would be distributed at doctor's offices, health clinics and hospitals.
Tribe gets recognition
MASHPEE, Mass. -- The tribe that shared in the first Thanksgiving celebration received federal recognition Thursday as a sovereign American Indian nation, 32 years after it began its quest. The ancestors of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe were at the area where Plymouth was founded long before the Pilgrims arrived, but their population was nearly wiped out by war and disease.
Smith custody battle
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- There were angry attacks at times, resounding laughter at others and a standing-room only audience. And as custody of Anna Nicole Smith's body and of the former Playboy Playmate's infant daughter devolved Thursday into an all-out legal circus, Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin became the affable ringmaster.
On the second day of an often acrimonious emergency hearing over Smith's remains, Seidlin, 56, called lawyers "terrific" and "beautiful." He divulged the minutiae of his days, from his morning swim to the tuna sandwich he was having when assigned the case. He so frequently spoke off the cuff that he seemed like he was auditioning for a TV court show.
Smith's longtime companion, Howard K. Stern, claims he is executor of her will and wants her buried next to her son in the Bahamas. Her estranged mother, Vergie Arthur, wants her buried in Smith's home state of Texas. Photographer Larry Birkhead hopes DNA taken from Smith will help prove he fathered the former centerfold's 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, who could inherit millions.
Laser to treat baldness
WASHINGTON -- Drawing this special comb over a balding pate could restore some real hair -- according to a Florida company. The Food and Drug Administration has cleared for sale a handheld laser device to promote hair growth.
Called the Hairmax Lasercomb, it increases the numbers of thick hairs on the scalp, according to 26-week clinical trials conducted by its manufacturer, Lexington International LLC. As the device's name suggests, it combines a low-level laser with a comb. When drawn through the hair, the laser strikes the scalp to promote hair growth, according to the company.
Associated Press