G8 leaders feast on 8 courses after discussing world food shortages

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4286365.ece

Food shortages and the need to double African production may dominate the G8 summit but even as they discussed the problems of the developing world yesterday, the leaders of the world’s richest nations, joined by several African leaders, ate course after course of fine food.

In a questionable public relations move, the summit’s Japanese organisers proudly displayed to the press the menus for a sumptuous eight-course banquet laid on last night and a five-course lunch a few hours earlier.

The leaders tucked into truffle soup and crab as they discussed Zimbabwe and aid to Africa’s poorest people. The evening feast of 19 separate dishes included diced fatty flesh of tuna fish and milk-fed lamb with aromatic herbs. Tomorrow, after working up an appetite discussing soaring food prices, the leaders will enjoy a £200 dinner of giant crab, £50-a-kilogram langoustine and sweet clover ice cream, prepared by Michel Bras, a Michelin three-star French chef.

It is all in keeping with a summit that has cost a total of 60 billion yen (£283 million) - enough to have bought 100 million mosquito nets to save Africans from catching malaria - and that frequently seems at odds with the Japanese hosts’ professed theme of ecology and environmentalism.

Vets for Peace Booted from National Memorial Day Parade

http://www.progressive.org/mag_mc052308

Man Jailed After Daughter Fails To Get GED

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=28d2acca-9947-44cc-8831-9859f1f6137e

A Fairfield man is in jail because his daughter hasn't gotten her General Equivalency Diploma (GED).

A judge ordered the father to stay on top of his daughter's education months ago and when that order wasn't followed, Brian Gegner was sentenced to 180-days in the Butler County jail.

The daughter, Brittany Gegner, says her father shouldn't be punished for her problems.

Especially, she says because she's now 18, an adult.

"It's ridiculously wrong," said Brittany Gegner.

"Of all the punishments they could have given him, to make him go to jail?," she asked. "I mean, probation – until I get my GED – would be reasonable, but to send him to jail? That's overboard."

Brain-damaged woman at center of Wal-Mart suit

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/25/walmart.insurance.battle/index.html?asinine

From CNN.com:

"Eight years ago, Shank was stocking shelves for the retail giant and signed up for Wal-Mart's health and benefits plan.

Two years after the accident, Shank and her husband, Jim, were awarded about $1 million in a lawsuit against the trucking company involved in the crash. After legal fees were paid, $417,000 was placed in a trust to pay for Debbie Shank's long-term care.

Wal-Mart had paid out about $470,000 for Shank's medical expenses and later sued for the same amount. However, the court ruled it can only recoup what is left in the family's trust.

The Shanks didn't notice in the fine print of Wal-Mart's health plan policy that the company has the right to recoup medical expenses if an employee collects damages in a lawsuit.

The family's attorney, Maurice Graham, said he informed Wal-Mart about the settlement and believed the Shanks would be allowed to keep the money. Watch this couple's story »

"We assumed after three years, they [Wal-Mart] had made a decision to let Debbie Shank use this money for what it was intended to," Graham said.

The Shanks lost their suit to Wal-Mart. Last summer, the couple appealed the ruling -- but also lost it. One week later, their son was killed in Iraq."

Contractor warned city about crane but was blown off

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/03/16/2008-03-16_contractor_warned_city_about_crane_but_w.html

Scott Pelley Reports On The Case Against Alabama’s Former Governor, Don Siegelman

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/21/60minutes/main3859830.shtml


“I haven't seen a case with this many red flags on it that pointed towards a real injustice being done,” says Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general of Arizona.

Woods is one of the 52 former state attorneys-general, of both parties, who’ve asked Congress to investigate the Siegelman case.

“I personally believe that what happened here is that they targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square. This was a Republican state and he was the one Democrat they could never get rid of,” Woods says."

Spanish driver sues dead crash cyclist for damage

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSEIC55622520080125

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish driver who collided with a cyclist is suing the dead youth's family $29,300 for the damage the impact of his body did to his luxury car, a Spanish newspaper reported on Friday.