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Adventurer Steve Fossett missing Adventurer Steve Fossett has gone missing over western Nevada. He took off in a single engine plane Monday morning, planning to return around noon, and has not been seen since. Drunk coach driver arrested after crash injures at least 30 The driver of a British National Express coach has been arrested on suspicion of Drunk Driving and Dangerous Driving after his coach clipped the curb and overturned, hitting a lamp post and tree.

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"Island Man" spends a night on 162 Scottish islands On many of the islands, he slept alone, accompanied only by his teddy bear, Clyde: Andy Strangeway, 42, a painter and decorator from Yorkshire, United Kingdom completed his four year quest to sleep on every Scottish island with an area of over 40 hectares.

Wikipedia Current Events
China charges human rights activist Yang Chunlin, who gathered 10,000 signatures to an open letter opposing the Beijing Olympics on human rights grounds, with attempting to subvert state power. Panama begins work on its £2.7 billion Panama Canal expansion project. Six expatriate judges resign from the Fijian legal system following disagreements with the military-appointed acting Chief Justice Anthony Gates. The Financial Times reports that China's military successfully hacked into The Pentagon's computer network. Japan and Chile sign a free trade agreement. Mittal Steel completes the first part of its takeover of Arcelor with ArcelorMittal being listed on European stock exchanges with the combined company becoming the world's largest steel producer. Tomás Medina Caracas (known by his nom de guerre "Negro Acacio"), one of FARC's most important leaders and the liaison between this Colombian guerrilla and Brazilian drug dealers, is killed in action by Colombian armed forces in Guaviare. The Israeli Defense Forces announce plans for a force upgrade following problems in the 2006 Lebanon War and a perceived threat from Iran.

Rumors say U.S. to remove North Korea from list of terrorist nations

According to media agencies in North Korea, the United States will remove N. Korea from their list of countries that sponsor terrorism and lift some sanctions against the country.

"The U.S. decided to take such political and economic measures for compensation as delisting the DPRK as a terrorism sponsor and lift all sanctions," said an unnamed N. Korean spokesperson.

Despite the rumors, the U.S. State Department has denied that N. Korea will be removed form the list.

"No, they haven't been taken off the terrorism list. Getting off the list will depend on further denuclearization. They know what these steps are," said Christopher Hill, the State Department's Assistant Secretary.

Fred Thompson to make Presidential announcement on The Tonight Show

Republican Fred Thompson is expected to make his US Presidential bid announcement on Jay Leno's The Tonight Show Wednesday, September 5th. The appearance will mean Thompson will miss the September 4 Republican debate in New Hampshire.

Thompson's adviser Mary Matalin, appearing Sunday's Meet The Press, said the decision was made because Leno had more people watching than the debates noting, "This is a message-driven campaign, and we want to drive people, and the biggest place to do that was Jay Leno."

Expectations are high for Thompson supporters even though his image was "tarnished by Watergate." While critics think Thompson waited too long declare his intentions, supporters think it will be an advantage.

Iraq peace talks draw to a close in Finland

Peace talks between between Sunnis and Iraqi Shi'ites in Finland aimed at ending sectarian violence in Iraq have ended.

The talks, organized by Finnish non-profit NGO WCrisis Management Initiative (CMI), took place over four days in a secret location in Finland. The discussions were aimed at demonstrating to the two sides what lessons could be learned from successful peace talks in Northern Ireland and South Africa, and were attended by more than 30 participants, of whom 16 were from Iraq and the rest from Northern Ireland and South Africa.

The CMI has now released a document called the "Helsinki Agreement", detailing agreements reached between the two groups to work collaboratively to achieve common goals democratically and without violence. One key recommendation in the Helsinki Agreement, which one Northern Irish lawmaker Jeffrey Donaldson described as a "road map" to Iraqi peace, is that the groups will disarm, and that the disarmament process will be overseen by an independent, neutral organization to ensure it is conducted "in a verifiable manner".

Martin McGuinness, former Provisional Irish Republican Army leader and now Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, was also present in the talks, as were other former enemies from both sides of the former divide in Northern Ireland. South African representatives included African National Congress activist Mac Maharaj and National Party reformer Roelf Meyer. Although no Iraqi participants have been positively identified, reports suggest they included representatives of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the largest Sunni Arab political group, Adnan al-Dulaimi and Humam Hammoudi, the Shiite chairman of the Iraqi parliament's foreign affairs committee.

Another vital agreement reached was that the groups would unite against militia groups, forming "an effective national force," and encourage armed organizations "not classified as terrorist" to instead adopt "peaceful political means", the reward for which would be positions within the state administration.

Drunk coach driver arrested after crash injures at least 30

The driver of a National Express coach has been arrested on suspicion of Drunk Driving and Dangerous Driving after his coach clipped the curb and overturned, hitting a lamp post and tree, at Newport Pagnell services, in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, at around 16:00 BST.

Six of the 33 passengers were seriously injured and another 24 sustained minor injuries on the 777 service carrying holiday makers from Birmingham to London Stansted. First Aid was administered by the staff at the services before the 15 ambulances and 4 air ambulances arrived at the scene.

After firefighters arrived at the scene it took them 40 minutes to remove the driver from the wreckage on the entrance slip to the services and the scene remains closed as investigation work continues.

It is the second recent incident involving a National Express coach, the previous involving the overturning of a double decker coach which caused the death of three passengers.

Toads cause traffic jam on British Columbia highway

A million toads caused a traffic jam on Inland Island Highway, between Campbell River and Courtney, British Columbia on Saturday.

Several years ago, after another toad incident, a 45-centimetre plastic fence was built east of the highway by the Ministry of Transportation, where the toads come from, to guide them safely under the highway into the Millar Creek area, a forestry area on the west side. The west side is higher and that's where the tadpoles hibernate until winter. After that, they mature and go back to their old location to breed.

According to the Canadian Press, the recent tadpoles also escaped from the local wetlands into the highway instead of using the fence that guides them. An interesting fact is that when the tadpoles come back in the winter they do not use the highway, they cross at streams and rivers instead.

The Ministry of Transportation has now put buckets beside a fence along the highway so the tadpoles jump into the buckets and local volunteers and conservation groups bring the tadpoles across the road into the Millar Creek area.

But this is a regular practice for the toads. It has been happening for several weeks now. According to environmental technician Kate Paul, 25,000 toadlets per day have been rescued from becoming roadkill.

"We've been walking the fence and collecting the little guys that end up in the pails. Once we've made a full sweep of the fence, we'll then take them across the highway and let them go," said Paul.

"Right now we're estimating we've transported about a million toadlets across the highway to the other side," said Paul. "The numbers are starting to decrease a little bit now, so there's a chance this migration may be over within the week."

Paul noted since in some parts of the U.S. toads are considered an endangered species, they are doing their "best to increase their survival rates" and they do their "best to help them out."

"It seems the population has just spiked, and there are thousands and thousands and thousands of them and they still seem to prefer the road than to the culverts," said Sue Pauwels, area manager with the Ministry of Transportation.

The tadpoles were described as brownish green or black and were camouflaged.

Death toll in fatal fire in Croatia climbs to eight

The death toll from last week's fire on Kornat island in Croatia has risen to eight. Two firefighters, Tomislav Crvelin and Ante Crvelin, badly injured by the fire, have died.

Three firefighters are still in serious condition at the Zagreb hospital. A 17-year-old was also among the casualties.

The fire was started by a cigarette thrown by a Kornati National Park employee, who is now in custody.

"Island Man" spends a night on 162 Scottish islands

Andy Strangeway, 42, a painter and decorator from Yorkshire, has completed his quest to sleep on every Scottish island with an area of over 40 hectares.

The quest, which began on the island of Barra, took four years and was completed on September 3, after Strangeway spent the night on the uninhabited island of Soay in the St. Kilda archipelago.

"I think it is the greatest adventure that this country has to offer - there is nothing more difficult and I don't think anybody else will achieve it in my lifetime. The enormity of what I've done is beginning to sink in," said Strangeway.

On many of the islands, he slept alone, accompanied only by his teddy bear, Clyde. Strangeway is the first person to complete this feat, and is currently writing a book about his experience that will be available in stores in October.

Nominees of 2007 Taiwan Sports Elite Awards announced and acknowledged

Nominees of 2007 Taiwan Sports Elite Awards were announced last week and acknowledged by main organizer Sports Affairs Council, Executive Yuan of R.O.C., Taiwan (abbr. as SAC Taiwan) today. In this nominee acknowledgment, the organizer invited Dance Department of Taipei Physical Education College (TPEC) and Music Band of National Taiwan University of Arts (NTUA) for the Opening Show.

Jongher Yang (Commissioner of SAC Taiwan) said that "Taiwan Sports Elite Awards" is built for Sportspeople, Coaches, Teams who contributed for more years or had a great achievement in some of international or national sports events, and to promote public and basic sports in Taiwan. This award is held every Sports Day in Taiwan from 1999, and it's now the 9th year. Yang believed that citizens witnessed achievements of those nominees of "2007 Taiwan Sports Elite Awards" whether they are winning awards or not.

Also, Thomas Tsai (President of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee) announced that Chi-en Tseng won "Lifetime Achievement Award" because of his long-period contribution on baseball in Taiwan, such as Brother Elephants of Chinese Professional Baseball League, and basic level baseball in Taiwan.

After this nominee acknowledgment, the main organizer SAC Taiwan announced that the glass award of 2007 Taiwan Sports Elite Awards with circle motion who symbolized harmony, unite, and great achievement was designed and casted by Heinrich Wang (Owner and Founder of Tittot Co., Ltd.), and the main award ceremony will be held in the evening of September 9 at Kaohsiung Municipal Social Education Center.

Interview: cracked iPhone working in New Zealand

Freelance journalist Gabriel Pollard interviewed John Ballinger who has what is believed to be the first unlocked iPhone working in New Zealand on the Vodafone New Zealand GSM network.

Ballinger, director of Bluespark Ltd., managed to unlock the iPhone without having to solder anything. This is unlike George Hotz, the first person to unlock the iPhone, who had to by using a different method involving soldering.

Ballinger followed the steps on how to unlock it on a website and had watched a few videos the day before. He described the website, despite containing a few spelling mistakes, as "really good". He says that the spelling mistakes are noticeable and can result in file-not-found errors. "A few things were guess work."

It took Ballinger around four to five hours to complete all necessary steps. However, half of this time was trying to get the case of the iPhone open. "Getting the case open is amazingly difficult," he said. He also didn't want to scratch the case, unlike others, so he used plastic tools "used to replace iPod batteries that worked okay."

He also recommends having two people on this job as this will help when it comes to shorting a circuit.

After that, all you have to do is run some software, according to Ballinger. "The software part is pretty simple, follow the instructions and it could be made even easier if all the files were in one download.

"Anyone could do this."

However, he cannot use either the built-in YouTube application or the email applications as it will not connect to the Post Office Protocol. "I can use all of them via the web browser but none by the inbuilt iPhone applications... but I am sure there will be an app you can install that will fix this or a new hack or it's just me." He can also only get the Internet if there is a Wi-Fi connection, as Vodafone NZ has 3G but no EDGE; additionally, Ballinger could not get the slower GPRS working.

"If there was a 3G phone then this phone would be amazing!" He says he "really really" does love the iPhone due to its small size, its quietness, and the fact that it does not get hot.

"[I] just love it."

Apple cancels NBC Fall TV lineup on iTunes

Due to a standoff between NBC Universal and Apple Inc. regarding pricing of NBC shows on iTunes, Apple Inc. has canceled NBC's lineup of new shows. Currently, NBC shows can be downloaded for $1.99. If Apple were to continue having the new season NBC shows available, NBC would require a download fee of $4.99, an increase of $3 per download. This is something that Apple is simply not willing to do to its customers.

The rift, encompassing all NBC news, entertainment and sports programming requires that Apple no longer offer NBC's videos on iTunes after the current contract expires in December. In an effort to prevent disappointing iTunes customers, Apple has decided not to offer any of the NBC shows in September because they would have to pull the shows mid-season when the contract expires in December.“	We are disappointed to see NBC leave iTunes because we would not agree to their dramatic price increase,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We hope they will change their minds and offer their TV shows to the tens of millions of iTunes customers.

Hurricane Felix now Category 5

Hurrcane Felix has now been raised to a Category 5 hurricane. It has been moving through the warm caribbean waters, and has already damaged many Dutch islands. It is reported as having maximum sustained winds of 165mph (266 km/h), and is heading upwards towards Central America.

It is expected to skirt Honduras before hitting Belize. It is predicted to cause large scale destruction in Belize and surrounding areas. It has already affected Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire. One Bonaire resident, Siomara Albertus, said "Thankfully we didn't get a very bad storm. My dog slept peacefully through the night".

It has already caused tens of thousands of tourists and residents to be stuck in their homes or places of residence, preparing for the worst. Many residents had installed storm shutters, and taken boats ashore, however there was very little wind damage.

It made landfall in Nicaragua, being the second hurricane this year to make landfall as a category five, which is the first time this has happened in at least a century.

Wikipedia Current Events
The British Army completes its withdrawal from Basra Palace to an airbase at Basra Airport. The Rail Maritime and Transport Union threatens a three day strike on the London Underground with last minute talks between the union and Transport for London failing to prevent this outcome. Myanmar's National Convention finally completes 14 years of talks on a new constitution in a military base north of Yangon. Two groups from the Terai region of Nepal – the Terai Army and the Nepal People's Army – claim responsibility for bombs that killed two people and injured 30 in Kathmandu yesterday. Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon arrives in Sudan to press for an end to violence in Darfur. European energy companies Gaz de France and SUEZ agree to merge in what would be a privatisation of the French state-owned Gaz de France. Justice Susan Kiefel becomes the third woman to serve on the High Court of Australia. Four cargo ships carrying methanol sink on the Hanjiang River, the source of the water supply for Wuhan, China, with environmental authorities monitoring water quality. Sun Zhengcai, the Chinese Minister for Agriculture, states that China will clamp down on foods tainted with illegal and excessive chemicals. The interim Government of Bangladesh arrests former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia and her son on corruption charges. The Prime Minister of Australia John Howard puts an appeal on YouTube for people not to participate in violent protests this week. Four people are arrested at the Loy Yang Power Station near Traralgon in Gippsland after chaining themselves to the conveyor belts in a climate-change protest aimed at APEC leaders. The draft leaders statement calls for progress in the Doha round of trade talks. Jamaican voters go to the polls for the Jamaican general election, 2007. According to reports in Japanese media, Takehiko Endo resigns as the Japanese Agriculture Minister due to involvements in illegal dealings in 1999. Honduras issues a hurricane warning for an area from El Limón on the north coast to the border with Nicaragua. The Bay Islands are placed on red alert, and the departments of Gracias a Dios, Colón, Atlántida, Olancho, Cortés and Yoro are placed on yellow alert. Guatemala is on hurricane watch, while Colombia issues a warning for Isla de Providencia. Nicaragua is on alert with President Daniel Ortega returning early from a trip to Panama; meanwhile, a state of emergency is declared in Belize.

Today in History
476 – Germanic leader Odoacer captured Ravenna and deposed Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

1260 – Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines: The Siena Ghibellines defeated the Florence Guelphs at the Battle of Montaperti outside of Siena in Italy.

1886 – After over 25 years of fighting against the United States Army and the armed forces of Mexico, Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache surrendered at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.

1888 – American Inventor George Eastman registered the trademark "Kodak" after receiving a patent for his roll film camera.

1957 – Defying the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent African American students from attending Little Rock's Central High School.

Quote of the Day

Perfect works are rare, because they must be produced at the happy moment when taste and genius unite; and this rare conjuncture, like that of certain planets, appears to occur only after the revolution of several cycles, and only lasts for an instant.

~ François-René de Chateaubriand

Word of the Day

caesura; n

A a pause or interruption in a poem, music, building or other work of art.

In Classical prosody, using two words to divide a metrical foot.

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