"A police officer guarding former prime minister Tony Blair left her loaded gun in a Starbucks where it was found by a member of the public, police and media reports said." [yahoo photos]

"The summer saw a surge in the number of hijacked home PCs or "zombies", say security experts.

The Shadowserver Foundation, which tracks zombie numbers, said it had seen at least a threefold increase in the last three months.

More than 450,000 computers are now part of zombie networks, or botnets, run by hi-tech criminals, it said.

The rise is believed to be linked to attacks that booby-trap websites to try to infect the machines of visitors."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7596676.stm

"WELLESLEY, Mass.—A 1921 Fernand Léger painting owned by Wellesley College's Davis Museum has gone missing and may have been accidentally thrown out, the Boston Globe reports."

"The disappearance of Woman and Child has been reported to the Art Loss Register, and Wellesley police are working on the case with college police. In the meantime, Travelers Insurance has paid the museum's claim. Though officials at the company would not say how much the Davis was given, they confirmed that it was in the area of $2.8 million, the average sale price of a Léger work in 2007."

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/28424/lger-painting-goes-missing-from-wellesley-college/

"North Korea has reportedly started reassembling a nuclear plant, reversing steps taken as part of an international deal to end its nuclear programme.

The Japanese news agency Kyodo said work began at the plant on Monday.

Pyongyang warned last month that it had stopped disabling facilities at the Yongbyon plant, accusing the US of breaking its part of the agreement. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7595863.stm

"The ice shelves in Canada's High Arctic have lost a colossal area this year, scientists report.

The floating tongues of ice attached to Ellesmere Island, which have lasted for thousands of years, have seen almost a quarter of their cover break away.

One of them, the 50 sq km (20 sq miles) Markham shelf, has completely broken off to become floating sea-ice. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7595441.stm

"The Justice Department refused to prosecute former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for improperly — and possibly illegally — storing in his office and home classified information about two of the Bush administration's most sensitive counterterrorism efforts.

Mishandling classified materials violates Justice Department regulations, and removing them from special secure facilities without proper authorization is a misdemeanor crime.

A report issued Tuesday by the Justice Department's inspector general says the agency decided not to press charges against Gonzales, who resigned under fire last year."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080903/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/gonzales_security_breach_22

"KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S. coalition says its probe into allegations of civilian deaths in western Afghanistan this month has found that 30 to 35 Taliban militants and seven civilians were killed.

The finding disputes a preliminary U.N. report and claims by the Afghan government that around 90 civilians were killed during a U.S.-led operation in the village of Azizabad on Aug. 22."

"The U.S. probe says the "intensity" of incoming fire justified the forceful response."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080902/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan

"TORONTO - Hundreds of Zoom Airlines passengers were stranded Thursday in Canada and the UK after the cash-strapped Canadian airline suddenly canceled all of its flights after creditors took action to get money owed them.

Zoom said the economic downturn and the unprecedented rise in the price of aviation fuel made it impossible for the privately owned company to continue operations."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20080828/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_canada_stranded_passengers

"Google Inc. is releasing its own Web browser"

"The free browser, called "Chrome," is supposed to be available for downloading Tuesday in more than 100 countries for computers running on Microsoft's Windows operating system. Google said it's still working on versions compatible with Apple Inc.'s Mac computer and the Linux operating system."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080902/ap_on_hi_te/google_browser

"TOKYO - Police were trying to determine Tuesday whether they were the victim of a hoax after the body they thought they found at a seaside resort was actually a life-sized doll.

Investigators found what seemed like a body wrapped in a sleeping bag in a forest in Izu City, a seaside resort in central Japan, after an anonymous caller reported seeing it, a Shizuoka prefecture spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

Investigators never actually looked inside the sleeping bag and brought it back to the city police station for a post-mortem examination, the spokeswoman said."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080902/ap_on_fe_st/odd_japan_mistaken_body