A large deficit in NASA's troubled shuttle program threatens to seriously delay and possibly cripple President Bush's space exploration initiative unless the number of planned flights is cut virtually in half or the White House agrees to add billions of dollars to the human spaceflight budget.

Bush's Space Plan in Danger

New standards for calculating fuel economy ratings on cars and trucks will be proposed by the end of the year, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday, but the agency is still not saying exactly how the standards may change.

Agency Plans Updated Fuel Economy Standards

TiVo, the maker of digital video recorders, plans to announce a new feature on Monday that will let TiVo owners watch recorded television shows on Apple's video iPods and on Sony's handheld PSP game machine.

TiVo to Transfer Shows to iPods, Sony PSP

The company has also softened the colors hoping to give the 128-year-old AT&T name a face-lift. The company ditched block letters for a curved, lower-case Avenir typeface to portray a kinder, gentler telecommunications behemoth.

The old logo "was very 1980's," said Karen Jennings, the senior executive vice president of human resources and communications, which oversees the company's advertising. "The lower-case face will signal that we're open and approachable."

A Newly Merged Company Maintains a Familiar Globe

Heralded in the Nov. 10 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the new prenatal test provides earlier, more reliable results for all women than the current test, which is routinely offered to only older women who are at higher risk. But for people with Down syndrome and the cluster of other conditions subject to prenatal screening, the new test comes with a certain chill.

Because such tests often lead to abortions, people with conditions from mental disability to cystic fibrosis may find their numbers dwindling. As a result, some fear, their lives may become harder just as they are winning the fight for greater inclusion.

The Problem With an Almost-Perfect Genetic World

I.B.M. announced an agreement Thursday establishing an Indian outsourcing company, HCL Technologies, as the first design center outside I.B.M.'s own walls for its Power Architecture chips.

India Concern to Design I.B.M. Chips

A tentative deal to extend the government's antiterrorism powers under the law known as the USA Patriot Act appeared in some jeopardy Thursday, as Senate Democrats threatened to mount a filibuster in an effort to block the legislation.

Extension of Patriot Act Faces Threat of Filibuster

President Bush told President Vladimir V. Putin today that the United States was willing to accept a nuclear compromise - rejected by Tehran in recent days - that would move all of Iran's enrichment of uranium to Russia.

Bush Backs Plan to Move Iran's Uranium Enrichment to Russia

For the third time in recent months, a federal judge has balked at allowing government investigators to track a citizen via cell phone in real time without agents showing probable cause.

Wired News: Judges Reject Cell-Phone Tracking

But now Google is up more than 350% since its public offering last year and the stock opened at $401.68 Thursday. Many investors clearly expect the stock to continue its upward trajectory. Volume in out-of-the-money Google calls is rising, indicating that people expect the stock to keep jumping.

Lately, the shares were at $402.13, up $3.98, or 1%.

Google Walks Past $400