Thursday, July 5 in the news.....
- The 24-year-old son of former vice-president Al Gore was arrested for drug possession yesterday after he was stopped for allegedly speeding in his environmentally-friendly hybrid Toyota Prius along an LA freeway, a sheriff's official said. After he identified himself, the police officer charged Al Gore III for drug use, then inspected the car and discovered the drugs.
- British police were holding eight people on Tuesday, at least four of them foreign doctors, over a suspected al Qaeda plot against Britain that triggered a manhunt reaching as far as Australia. One of the men was captured Down Under after British authorities realised their next big operation was going to target 'better weather and hotter chicks'.
- Afghanistan's government has taken the first step towards a ban on smoking in public places. The council of ministers had ordered a campaign through the media and mosques and is expected to widen it beyond outdoor areas. A lawyer for one prominent Afghan condemned the expansion of government powers, decrying how property rights are gradually being taken away from all law abiding cave owners.
- Nearly one in three Americans abuse or become dependent on alcohol over the course of their lives, and most never seek treatment, according to a study published on Monday. In related news, Foster's iconic Australian beer, VB, has been reduced in alcoholic strength from 4.9% to 4.8% in a plan to save up to $20 million in tax. Bitter Aussies yesterday labelled Fosters' tax-saving move un-Australian and a betrayal of loyalty. When told of the American survey one pub dweller said, "What an outrage, bloody yanks on the march, and we're slipping, what is this world coming to?"
