After Blocking the Bridge, Gretna Circles the Wagons - Los Angeles Times

: "GRETNA, La. — Little over a week after this mostly white suburb became a symbol of callousness for using armed officers to seal one of the last escape routes from New Orleans — trapping thousands of mostly black evacuees in the flooded city — the Gretna City Council passed a resolution supporting the police chief's move."

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com: "SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.

Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.

When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.

"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said."

Health Insurance Costs Exceed Annual Minimum-Wage Earnings - Los Angeles Times

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The beauty products from the skin of executed Chinese prisoners

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The beauty products from the skin of executed Chinese prisoners: "A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an investigation by the Guardian has discovered."

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Giant mirror to light up village

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Giant mirror to light up village: "Residents of Viganella, a small hamlet in the Italian Alps, have more reason than most to dread the imminent arrival of winter. From November to February, they lose the sun behind a mountain ridge that towers over the village and the 197 inhabitants live in permanent gloom.

But now residents, led by their mayor Pierfranco Midali, may have solved the problem - they want to erect a giant mirror, powered by an electric motor, sited to the north of the village, 80 miles from Milan."

Ananova - Inventor turns dead cats into diesel

Ananova - Inventor turns dead cats into diesel: "A German inventor says he's found a way to make cheap diesel fuel out of dead cats."

The Daily Telegraph | Patients put down

The Daily Telegraph | Patients put down: "DOCTORS working in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans killed critically ill patients rather than leave them to die in agony as they evacuated."

Man given public airport strip search | The Other Side | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (12-09-2005)

Man given public airport strip search | The Other Side | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (12-09-2005): "A SENIOR member of a French association for accident victims said Friday he would sue a German airport for stripping him in public when a security device reacted to a metal plate in his body."

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India's marathon boy, aged three

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India's marathon boy, aged three: "He runs seven hours at a stretch, sometimes as much as 48km (30 miles). On a daily basis.

And Budhia Singh is just three and a half years old."

Google Earth threatens democracy | The Register

Google Earth threatens democracy | The Register: "The recent news that South Korea is to take the US to task over Google Earth images which expose its military installations to close Commie scrutiny has provoked a mini stampede of other peace-loving nations eager to protect their assets from prying eyes.

Enter stage right Thailand, which says it may ask Google to 'block images of important state buildings vulnerable to attack'. Armed forces spokeschap Major General Weerasak Manee-in told Reuters: 'We are looking for possible restrictions on these detailed pictures, especially state buildings. I think pictures of tourist attractions should do, not crucial places which could threaten national security.'"

NTI: Global Security Newswire - Monday, September 12, 2005

: "WASHINGTON — Contrasting earlier denials, the Defense Department appears to be formalizing military guidelines for seeking presidential approval to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively against suspected WMD facilities (see GSN, July 22)."

Alternative Fuel Stocks Skyrocketing - Yahoo! News

: "NEW YORK — Alternative energy has long been dismissed as too expensive to be practical, but with oil hovering around $65 a barrel, solar energy and fuel cells are starting to look positively affordable. As a result, alternative fuel companies' stock has soared this summer alongside oil prices."