| World News  | Georgia says Russian tanks mean 'war' in South Ossetia
The Times
Video: Russia-Georgia standoff Russia sent troops and dozens of tanks into the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia today, throwing the two former Soviet neighbours into a sudden yet undeclared state of war. In the most serious regional crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, at least 50 tanks - and possibly many more - rumbled through the Roki tunnel, which cuts through the Caucasus mountains separating South Ossetia from...
photo: AP/ORT Russian Channel 1 television
|  | Czech train crash kills 6, injures dozens
Canada Dot Com
PRAGUE - An international express train crashed into a collapsed bridge in the Czech Republic on Friday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens. The EuroCity train, travelling from the Polish city of Krakow to the Czech capital, crashed at a speed of about 140 kilometres per hour near the northeast border with Poland. "An international train from Krakow to Prague ran into a collapsed bridge which fell on the rails in the area of the town...
photo: AP / CTK, Vladislav Galgonek
|  | Tropical downpours worsening, say scientists
The Star
OSLO (Reuters) - Tropical downpours are becoming more frequent and the trend seems worse than expected, bringing greater risks of flash floods, scientists said on Thursday. "As the tropics warm are seeing an increased frequency in the heaviest rainfall," said Richard Allan of the University of Reading in England, who co-authored a study of tropical rains with Brian Soden of the University of Miami. The satellite...
photo: AP / Irwin Fedriansyah
|  | Olympics cleanup hides real Beijing
Inquirer
BEIJINGIt all began when my colleague Steve's favorite noodle lady was forced to close down. Soon after, the ice pop lady was gone, followed by the scary fruit guy. Then, a few weeks ago, the shabby apartment complex across the street from mine was covered up with a 3-meter-high sheet metal fence. The barrier blocks a row of small shops on the ground floor that offer everything from handmade Chinese bread to bicycle repairs. The Beijing that...
photo: AP / Lois Raimondo
|  | Demonstrators defy Chavez
NZ Herald
Hundreds of Venezuelans, including Leopoldo Lopez (centre), Mayor of Chacao district, protest against a blacklist of opposition candidates. Photo / AP Riot police used tear gas yesterday to block hundreds of Venezuelans protesting at the latest moves by President Hugo Chavez to concentrate his power. The demonstrators say a blacklist of opposition candidates and a series of socialist decrees are destroying what is left of their democracy. Though...
photo: AP / Fernando Llano
|  | Fast pace set for US war-crimes trials
NZ Herald
A Guantanamo detainee, left, walks in a fenced-in exercise area as a guard patrols on the grounds of the maximum security prison at Camp 5, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base. Photo / AP Osama bin Laden's former driver was today expected to ask the Pentagon jury that convicted him of a war crime to spare him from life in prison, his defence lawyers said. Salim Hamdan wiped tears from his face yesterday as the panel of six military officers...
photo: AP Photo
| Business News  | More consumers want sugar-sweetened sodas
The News Tribune
LOS ANGELES - You can spot Dawn Wynne at the grocery store. She's busy studying labels on cans, bottles and jars in aisle after aisle. But it's not calories, sodium or preservatives she is looking for. She is on patrol for high-fructose corn syrup. It's an unadvertised part of sauces, cereal and especially soda, and she wants none of it. The resident of coastal Redondo Beach looks for foods sweetened with "pure cane sugar, honey or fruit juice."...
photo: creative commons /
|  | UGA gets grants to study biofuels
Business Journal
> The University of Georgia has pulled in two federal grants worth $2.5 million to investigate biofuel production from switchgrass and sunflowers. The Athens, Ga., university was one of eight to get grants from a program jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy. The program looks to kick start research in biomass genomics and further the use of cellulosic plant material for bioenergy and biofuels....
photo: GFDL / Thomas Quaritsch
|  | Toyota posts worst profit decline in 5 years
Newsday
The crashing market for trucks and SUVs is largely responsible for Toyota's 28% earnings drop for the first fiscal quarter. High gas prices are proving to be the kryptonite of the car world: Even mighty Toyota Motor Corp. has succumbed. Burdened by a crashing market for big trucks and SUVs, the Japanese carmaker reported a 28% earnings decline for the first fiscal quarter Thursday, its worst profit decline in five years....
photo: WN/Theresa Poongan
|  | Euro falls after ECB growth warning; stocks mixed
Inquirer
LONDON -- The euro tumbled to a five-month low against the dollar after the European Central Bank's chief highlighted downside growth risks and oil prices fell, while European stocks halted a global sell-off in equities. After leaving interest rates on hold at 4.25 percent on Thursday, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said he expected euro zone growth to weaken substantially this year even...
photo: Public Domain / -
|  | Toyota's Lexus again rates most dependable car brand
Asbury Park Press
Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus ranked as the most dependable auto brand in the U.S. for a 14th straight year while Ford Motor Co.'s Mercury won back the No. 2 ranking in a study that shows vehicles are becoming more reliable. Lexus logged just 120 complaints for every 100 vehicles, down from 145 last year, according to the annual Vehicle Dependability Study from J.D. Power & Associates....
photo: Public domain / Hatsukari715
|  | American Airlines changes frequent flyer plan
Business Journal
> American Airlines Inc's AAdvantage Awards program is changing fees related to discount economy fares that are purchased with frequent flyer miles, effective Oct. 1. The passenger carrier, a subsidiary of Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp., (NYSE: AMR), says among the changes, travel award tickets that require miles plus a co-payment will be discontinued altogether, with Sept. 30 being the last date to claim such an award. However, members will...
photo: Creative Commons / Soccerrox18
|  | Dollar highest in 5 months vs. euro as European economies suffer
Star Tribune
NEW YORK - The dollar soared against the euro early Friday as euro zone economies fret about rising inflation and slowing growth. The euro sank to $1.5048 early in New York from $1.5328 late Thursday. It is the highest point for the dollar since late February. The pound, meanwhile, sank to $1.9192 from $1.9436, its lowest point since November 2006. On Thursday, the European Central Bank and Bank of England left their key interest rates unchanged...
photo: WN / Denise Yong
| Entertainment News  | Ben Stiller spoofs war in 'Tropic Thunder'
Newsday
isn't a man who's afraid to appear on screen in his underpants. But strapped to a water buffalo? "I dreaded doing it," he says, then imitating the animal wrangler. "Aw, she's gonn'be fine. Got sharp horns but she shouldn't gore ya. Prob'lee won't." Black continues, "Doesn't matter what they say. When you're looking at the 1,000-pound beast, it goes against the grain to get up on it." But up he went, for the good of " ," a new film directed by ,...
photo: AMPAS
|  | People: Paul Newman "wants to die at home"
Denver Post
Paul Newman is wheeled from the hospital Paul Newman has finished chemotherapy treatment for cancer and has told his family he wants to die at home, London's Daily Mail reports. The Oscar-winning star was pictured being pushed from a New York cancer hospital in a wheelchair looking thin and frail. It was reported that Newman, 83, had only weeks to live and had returned home to his wife , Joanne Woodward. Paul didn't want to die in the hospital,'...
photo: APphoto
|  | Tim Burton, Morgan Freeman, Usher
International Herald Tribune
A long-running lawsuit filed by Tim Burton's former girlfriend, Lisa Marie , over his assets should be dismissed, an appeals court has ruled. The California Court of Appeals issued a ruling ordering a lower court judge to grant a motion by Burton's attorneys for a summary judgment. The move halts a trial scheduled for next week that would have focused on the couple's nearly decade-long relationship, which ended in 2001. The actress claimed that...
photo: AP / Hans Edinger
|  | Napoli In Bocca Restaurant
Sydney Morning Herald
Food Simple, unpretentious Neapolitan - harder to pull off than it sounds. Good wood-fired pizzas and pasta. Service Fast, friendly, slightly haphazard. Atmosphere An enormous space enlivened by glowing terracotta pizza ovens, red-and-white check tablecloths and lots of people. Noise Bustling, cheerfully loud. Recommended dishes Any pizza or pasta. And those mussels are reportedly excellent. A RELATIVE put me on to Napoli In Bocca: her sons, she...
photo: WN / Rubielyn Bunag
|  | Proof Sienna Miller and married man Balthazar Getty are still together
The Daily Mail
Sienna Miller and Balthazar Getty enjoyed a very public show of togetherness as they shopped in upmarket boutiques in the exclusive Los Angeles coastal suburb of Malibu this week. The pair spent an hour buying the actress clothes and as they relaxed with a coffee afterwards, Balthazar planted a loving kiss on her forehead. It comes a day after the actress lashed out at critics over her romance with the married father-of-four. Together again:...
photo: AP
|  | Dave Matthews Band to debut new music at Bricktown concert
The Oklahoman
From Staff and Wire Reports Concertgoers will be the first to hear the latest material from the Dave Matthews Band, as the group debuts songs from its forthcoming record Wednesday night at Bricktown Ballpark. ord=Math.random()*10000000000000000; document.write(' Murray has Stoops thinking of Peterson Oklahoma City Thunder clues hidden in NBA... Paul McCartney sleeps, dines in Oklahoma City Why won't Oklahoma City's NBA team have any... Deceased...
photo: Creative Commons / UCinternational
|  | Foreign acclaim
Toronto Sun
Something astonishing has happened in Oscar's best foreign language film category. For all of the oversights and frustrations in the nominations, two of the best films in recent memory won the award in 2006 and 2007. Each is a stunning international classic. For 2006, the winner was a German drama, The Lives of Others. It is currently available on DVD and is an absolute must-see for those who appreciate great world cinema. For 2007, a searing...
photo: Sony Pictures Classics
|  | Freeman a free man in a couple of ways
Canada Dot Com
Morgan Freeman is getting a divorce. The actor, who was involved in a serious car accident last weekend, is involved in divorce proceedings after splitting with his wife Myrna Colley-Lee last December. Freeman's business partner Bill Luckett said this week: "They are involved in a divorce action. For legal and practical purposes, they have been separated since December of 2007."'One recovery from serious injury down, one divorce from wife to go.'...
photo: Creative Commons
| Health News  | Is frozen food a fad or the future for home cooking?
The Daily Mail
After a study found frozen vegetables contain more vitamin C than many of the fresh alternatives, Vince Graff decided to eat only frozen food for a week. But was the new diet a cool alternative? Read Vince's account here... You wouldn’t call me a fashionable chap as far as food’s concerned. I generally catch up with trends at the point that they’re not quite new enough to be cutting edge but not yet old enough to be amusingly...
photo: Public Domain / nourtarek
|  | Militants pushing meatless, petless society, seminar told
Irish Times
OLIVIA KELLY Militant animal rights groups are using children to push their agenda of a meatless, petless society, a seminar on the growth of the animal rights movement was told this morning. The seminar, Consumer Intimidation, the Vegan/Animal Rights Agenda, was organised by Gavin Duffy of the Hunting Association of Ireland, in response to what he says are increasingly intimidatory protests by animal rights activists. Lt Col Dennis J Foster,...
photo: WN / Rubielyn Bunag
|  | Vegetarian restaurants have something for everyone
Asbury Park Press
Vegetarian food can be both healthy and delicious, and the Shore has many vegetarian restaurants that even meat lovers will enjoy.Eurasian Eatery Open since 1988, this family-owned restaurant in Red Bank offers a large vegetarian selection, according to Joe Kriete, 35, of Red Bank, who is both the chef and owner. "I've been here for 14 years, and it's always been a great spot for people to enjoy a great, healthy meal. I love the people who come...
photo: public domain / /
|  | Dog's experimental brain tumor treatment may help humans
Scripps Howard
MINNEAPOLIS -- Batman has always been a hero to Anna and Eric Baker. Not the comic book character, but a furry, 38-pound, bat-eared one who patiently lets their toddler climb all over him. Now, if all goes well, he may also become a hero for the thousands of people -- and tens of thousands of dogs -- who each year are diagnosed with brain tumors that are equally fatal. Tuesday, Batman was the first patient to get an experimental therapy that...
photo: Lewis Collard / Collard
|  | The still small power of medicine
The Guardian
How can we best advise individual patients when our evidence on treatments comes from large populations? Medicine has progressed since Voltaire's famous remark, "the art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease," but two articles just published in Cases Journal, of which I am editor-in-chief, show that this progress is slow and not all that it appears to be. Tom Jefferson and Enzo Grossi describe the agonising...
photo: WN / Rubielyn Bunag
|  | Regular mom Katie Holmes takes adorable Suri for fun in the park
The Daily Mail
Amid speculation she may be pregnant with husband Tom Cruise's second child, Katie Holmes shows how she's taken to motherhood like a duck to water. The former Dawson's Creek star treated daughter Suri, two, to a day out in New York's Central Park on Thursday. The cute twosome looked like a catalogue picture of a family outing as they played on a slide and swing and generally wandered around the park. Playtime: Katie Holmes and her daughter Suri...
photo: AP
|  | Fat people get online chance to lose weight
San Fransisco Chronicle
People who are obese in the real world will get the opportunity to participate in a research project conducted entirely in the virtual world to help their avatars - and hopefully their real-life selves - lose weight and get in better shape. The University of Houston's Texas Obesity Research Center is using Second Life, the 3-D virtual world created by San Francisco's Linden Lab, to offer participants incentives for healthy dietary habits and to...
photo: WN / Rubielyn Bunag
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