WTF happened?!?! i used to love the waiwai section. ;___;

European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, acknowledged that other countries laugh at European cucumber standards.

Experts believe that Brussels pays too much attention to absolutely worthless issues, whereas the existence of such issues in Europe creates the revolting atmosphere of bureaucracy, Die Welt wrote. Only 52 percent of Europeans positively treat the EU membership of their countries.

Bureaucratic absurdity becomes the basic reason, which makes many citizens, especially in Germany, harbor more and more negative feelings about Europe. Edmund Stoiber, the premier of Bavaria, who has been consulting the European Commission on the struggle against useless laws, said that Brussels reserves the right to supervise the curvature of cucumbers and bananas, the circularity of apples and the order to position seats in tractors.

In Germany’s Berlin Bundesland (federal land) there is a law about rope-ways, although there is not a single rope-way in the region. Furthermore, a rope-way will never become a reality in Bundesland Berlin because the region is located in an absolutely flat area. However, the law exists.

Brussels officials took care of colors and looks of such vegetables as eschalot and leek. The colors and shapes of cauliflower, melons and cucumbers have been specified in 36 paragraphs of adequate instructions.

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"KABUL, Afghanistan - A U.S. military airstrike this week killed 47 civilians traveling to a wedding, the head of an Afghan government commission investigating the incident said Friday."

"The U.S. military on Sunday denied that any civilians were killed in the incident."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan

"A new white humpback has been sighted off Byron Bay on the east coast of Australia.

The newcomer, which was filmed by a television news helicopter, has excited marine scientists who think it may be related to Migaloo - to date, the only known all-white humpback whale. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7519263.stm

http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0807/18/news078.html
画面の中のメイドさん、棒でなでたり眺めたり　拡張現実「電脳フィギュア ARis」

"Police in the African republic of Guinea-Bissau say they have arrested the head of air traffic control at the country's main airport, after a plane was seized in a drugs bust.

Soldiers from the country's army reportedly tried to stop police from searching the executive jet when it landed at Guinea-Bissau's international airport from South America.

The police eventually prevailed, seizing up to half a tonne of cocaine.

The bust was a rare victory in a losing battle.

The United Nations says international drugs gangs operate with near total impunity in Guinea-Bissau, aided my rampant corruption.

It is thought the volume of cocaine moved through the country last year was worth more than its entire national income."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/21/2309325.htm

"An American B-52 bomber has crashed into the Pacific, 25 miles (40km) north-west of the US territory of Guam.

A search is under way for six members of the plane's crew, coast guard officials say.

The plane was due to take part in events to mark the island's Liberation Day, commemorating the end of Japanese occupation during World War II.

B-52s are one of the oldest aircraft still flown by the US military. The cause of the crash remains unknown."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7516967.stm

"BILLINGS, Mont. - A federal judge has restored endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, derailing plans by three states to hold public wolf hunts this fall.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula granted a preliminary injunction late Friday restoring the protections for the wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Molloy will eventually decide whether the injunction should be permanent."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080719/ap_on_sc/wolf_delisting

Time-wasting is not just an irritating habit. It is an affliction that ruins millions of lives and often requires therapy and other treatment for sufferers, psychologists have warned.

According to new research, one person in five now suffers from the problem so badly that their careers, relationships and health are threatened. Many researchers blame computers and mobile phones for providing too many distractions for people.

'The subject is seen as joke,' said Professor Joseph Ferrari of DePaul University in Chicago. 'But the social and economic implications are huge. These people need therapy. They need to change the way they act and think.'

Ferrari says that chronic procrastination is now so serious a condition it needs to be recognised by clinicians. In a study to be published later this year, he estimates that 15 to 20 per cent of people are chronic procrastinators. 'We now have data on 4,000 people, and it doesn't seem to matter what age you are, or your sex or background.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jul/20/psychology.mobilephones

"Money problems will likely force NASA to abandon its ambitious internal goal of having a new moon spaceship ready by 2013, a top space agency official told The Associated Press Wednesday.

The agency should still be able to meet its public commitment to test launch astronauts in the first Orion capsule by March 2015, the official said, unless national budget stalemates continue."

""We're probably going to have to move our target date," Cooke said in a phone interview."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080716/ap_on_re_us/nasa_moon