Tuesday, August 28 in the news....
- A Japanese man arrested for making 388 prank phone calls to the local fire station between May 2006 and July this year said he did it because he was lonely. That broke the record set by Al Gore before he discovered global warming.
- Child sex charges against a former Anglican chaplain of an exclusive Adelaide boys school have been dropped, more than two years after his extradition from Thailand. When asked what he was doing in Thailand, the chaplain said, "I was assuming a missionary position to show love to God's children there".
- The Dutch government will spend $38 million over the next four years to prevent both the growth of Islamic fundamentalism and right-wing nationalism, an official said Monday. They announced the plan in an Amsterdam cafe, which explains why they also set aside $2 million to import Cheetos.
- Foreign firefighters and aircraft joined the battle Tuesday against blazes in southern Greece, and officials expressed optimism that wildfires burning some of the country's lushest landscape could be brought under partial control. Greece has tired of the worst wildfires in memory, devastating large swathes of the country and killing at least 64 people, but it has grown more tired of people calling it a Greek Tragedy.
- Police in China's capital said Tuesday they will start patrolling the Web using animated beat officers that pop up on a user's browser and walk, bike or drive across the screen warning them to stay away from illegal Internet content. The punishment for persistent disobedience is expected to be execution, which includes for police who continue to harass Communist party officials doing it too.
