NEWS HEADLINES
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Assad regime planned US journalist's kidnap for weeks, BBC finds
Austin Tice’s abduction was approved by Syria’s former leader Bashar al-Assad, a source claims. read more
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US interest rates raised for first time in three years
Rates were hiked in a unanimous decision despite fierce opposition from President Donald Trump, who had called for a cut. read more
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Snapchat open to putting time limits on teens, boss tells BBC
Evan Spiegel says it would be "an important step forward for the industry" in an interview with the BBC. read more
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Rosenberg: Russia's elections will have few surprises, but for the Kremlin they matter
There is no doubt over the outcome of this vote, but for the Kremlin they are still an important moment. read more
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Photos show widespread damage at US sites from Iranian attacks
A wrecked air force plane and destroyed buildings are among the images obtained by the BBC's partner CBS News. read more
BIOGRAPHY
Stephen Jay Gould was born and raised in the community of Bayside, a neighborhood of the northeastern section of Queens in New York City. His father Leonard was a court stenographer, and his mother Eleanor was an artist whose parents were Jewish immigrants living and working in the city’s Garment District.[6] When Gould was five years old his father took him to the Hall of Dinosaurs in the American Museum of Natural History, where he first encountered Tyrannosaurus rex. “I had no idea there were such things—I was awestruck,” Gould once recalled.[7] It was in that moment that he decided to become a paleontologist.
Raised in a secular Jewish home, Gould did not formally practice religion and preferred to be called an agnostic. Biologist Jerry Coyne, who had Gould on his thesis committee, described him as a “diehard atheist if there ever was one.

