KNIGHTS OF THE ROUNDTABLE

AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain had his own German experience Thursday — at a restaurant in Ohio. He asserted that he was happy to devote his time this week to touring the nation's heartland.

AP - Cheered by an enormous international crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.

AP - Three ballistic missile crew members in North Dakota fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the Air Force said Thursday.

AP - Church members watching the steeple being raised on their new building looked on in horror Thursday as a crane holding the structure toppled, crushing a car and killing a 79-year-old man who had been watching from inside the vehicle, firefighters said.

AP - Scientists have exposed some of the mystery behind the northern lights. On Thursday, NASA released findings that indicate magnetic explosions about one-third of the way to the moon cause the northern lights, or aurora borealis, to burst in spectacular shapes and colors, and dance across the sky.

AP - Wall Street abruptly ended an earnings-driven rally and closed sharply lower Thursday after a steeper-than-expected decline in existing home sales and worries about the financial sector chilled the market's recent optimism. The major indexes fell about 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which lost more than 280 points.

AP - House Republicans on Thursday scuttled a bill that Democrats hoped would help lower gasoline prices by forcing the Energy Department to release 70 million barrels of oil — about a three-day supply — from the national stockpile.

AP - Sales of existing homes tumbled more sharply than expected in June, pushing activity down to the lowest level in more than a decade.

AP - Ford Motor Co. posted the worst quarterly performance in its history Thursday, losing $8.67 billion in the second quarter.

Reuters - Facing a crippling increase in fuel costs, some rural U.S. schools are mulling a solution born of the '70s oil crisis: a four-day week.

AP - Sixteen years after Barbie dolls declared, "Math class is tough!" girls are proving that when it comes to math they are just as tough as boys.

LiveScience.com - A study of top-selling laundry products and air fresheners found the products emitted dozens of different chemicals. All six products tested gave off at least one chemical regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws, but none of those chemicals was listed on the product labels.

AP - Thousands of gallons of water pulse through cascading waterfalls and rapids at Adventure Mini Golf in Lake Worth, Fla. The course, which covers about an acre, features different elevations.

AP - The nation's largest traditional grocery chain has removed jalapeno peppers from its stores as a precaution.

AP - The scene repeats itself daily on city streets: a driver gets stuck bumper to bumper, blocking an intersection and preventing another car from turning left.

AP - Hundreds of feet beneath Earth's surface, a few seasoned cave explorers venture where no human has set foot. Their headlamps illuminate mud-covered walls, gypsum crystals and mineral deposits.

AP - The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer.

AP - A family court judge in New Zealand has had enough with parents giving their children bizarre names here, and did something about it.

AP - Japanese and Mongolian scientists have successfully recovered the complete skeleton of a 70-million-year-old young dinosaur, a nature museum announced Thursday.

BusinessWeek Online - The leaders featured in this weekly column are typically those who have the ability to energize their employees, customers, and colleagues by the way they communicate. But in addition to the specific language they use, the most inspiring leaders have an unusually high level of energy. Where do they find the energy to work 12 hours a day, travel around the globe, and still knock a one-hour presentation out of the park? Here are the three common factors that they share.

Financial sector statements dont add up, FDIC reserves pounded hard from IndyMac debacle, bailouts will soon come at the expense of the consumer, bond market watch, realities of a debtor nation, financial institutions given protection from shorting 

Freddie Mac new Issue quickly approved by SEC, New offerings to absorb big losses, Gold escapes general pounding in the market, home builders sentiment index is at record low, depression is a real threat still

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Second largest bank failure in US history has been duly noted, with a repeat bailout like Bear Stearns,  paying down debts still the better plan, PPT supplies another miracle rally for the Dow, but we fear they only delay the inevitable, Fannie and Freddie collateral now Toxic Waste, liquidity drains now wide open, watch for the downward spiral

Sen. Phil Gramm and some of his trite ideas on the economy, his enron loophole law that is still in effect and driving oil speculation, and other blunders and folly of economists in power, credit default swaps, Fed grabs more power, get out of the markets or get ready to experience the consequence, G8 gastronomic orgy served while discussing food crisis, America no longer any kind of model citizen in the world.

The rise of oil is not really based on the many things we suspect, war profits on both sides, Gold taking out landmark numbers, Fed exhausting its collateral, war plans pressure oil prices higher, easy money is disappearing

Bonds keep the system working, Inflation a threat when money moves out of bonds again, funny money dealers, bond market like a drug cartel keeping investors addicted, real estate bubble, bonds a threat to the stability of the entire market system.

Barrack gets sold out, G-8 meeting was useless, fascism is creeping forward, strategies for protection, DHS surveillance, talk of a coming war with Iran

liquidity problems and the Fed, markets counting on the ill informed outsider investor, spot gold goes up, stimulus stops the negatives, market gains vaporized, dont ignore the positive fundamentals of gold, get ready for change

A malestrom of money and credit, consumer credit bubble soon to break, ever increasing losses, issues with price fluctuations and currency adjustments, waiting for the ETF debacle to happen

Dollar to fall to metals in upcoming rallies, rate hikes soon wont be able to fix economic problems, real inflation understated for years, USDX contracts plummet,why arent people fleeing from the stock market... Exchange Traded Funds are a disaster, losses from global write downs, Fed still invited to intervene in spite of failures

Exchange Traded Funds a threat to gold and silver positions on the markets, You could be buying something that doesnt even exist from naked shorters, positioning for Caspian oil, time to worry about inflation, helicopters coming to Wall Street soon, and so is a depression.

Inflation predicted over the next year, expect rate hikes over the next 12 - 18 months, failures pile up, failed measures to save the economy to have a cumulative effect, orgy of Wall Street fraud causes credit crunch, a worldwide disaster in the making, commodities rigging has a golden lining

Constant manipulations, not much strength left in the dollar, fear of inflation, Fed hiding data, offers excuses, toxic waste derivatives in the balance, the worst is not behind us, precious metals suppression 

we should listen to Goethe, Hugo Chavez betting  on the wrong commodities, communism and corporate fascism, disinformation about democracy, resources in Montana and other states

Feds gaming their own system, correction warnings, Britain facing stagflation, railroad justice for Omar Khadr, Floating prisons for thousands of prisoners, women more pessimistic than men

when markets must climb the wall of worries, setting up suckers to hold the bag, metals cut up worthless paper, credit default swaps now skyrocketing, a witches brew of economy killing debacles, SEC watching Bear Stearns, ruining the reputation of America

More on what Ted told Obama, Hillary exposes her Freudian Slip for all to see, real threats to security and stability, the neocons intentions to stay in power, new theatres of war, the fall of Rome and other great civilizations

Markets in peril of coming down, Inflation threatens to destroy consumers, bonds without a market are worthless, the bane of a privately owned central bank, truckers threaten action, hedges blow up, Bush spreads manure on White House Lawn

Government ignores own antitrust laws, gold going to intergalactic space soon, lust for power will destroy elites, the power of monetary and energy trump cards, costs that drive inflation, neocons controlling the media

US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying Tuesday. The official claimed that a senior member of the president's entourage, which concluded a trip to Israel last week, said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for.

OSLO (AFP) - A Vietnamese man in Norway lost around 35,000 dollars after he was led to believe that mixing the cash with a special liquid would double its value, Norwegian media reported Saturday.

Yea ... you can laugh about it!

The Bluetooth wireless technology that allows people to use a hands-free earpiece while making a mobile telephone call could soon alert the emergency services when someone has a heart attack, Ofcom predicts.

OTIS, Ore. -- An Oregon couple received a frightening phone call from their son in Afghanistan when he inadvertently called home during battle. Stephen Phillips and other soldiers in his Army MP company were battling insurgents when his phone was pressed against his Humvee. It redialed and called his parents in the small Oregon town of Otis.

It’s not common that we see endangered animals born in captivity. That is why this event should get some well-deserved attention. The baby jaguar still hasn’t received a name, even though it has been born 2 months ago. The cub is the third born in captivity in Peru and a good reason to visit the country and, implicitly, its zoo.

MOORESTOWN –Additional charges have been filed against former Moorestown police officer Robert Melia after allegations surfaced last week that he performed several sexual acts with livestock, specifically cows.

Hoping to relieve its stress of alarming overpopulation, the world's most crowded city - Tokyo's construction industry has trained its sights on the only vacant lot around -- the waters of Tokyo Bay. Witness the impossible dream of city planners: to build a 3,000-foot pyramid over the water, with skyscrapers suspended like peapods within its enormous frame.

They're twice as likely as nonadopted peers to have ADHD or oppositional defiant disorder, according to a study of adolescents adopted as babies. Adolescents who were adopted as infants are significantly more likely to have a psychiatric disorder than those who were not adopted, a study released Monday has found.

Respectable husband (member of the diplomatic corps this time, but could be lawyer, wealthy businessman, king of a non-existing country etc.) of African nationality dies in 4 days of a brief illness (maybe ebola?) and leaves a young child (of unknown sex; their gender will change based on your wishes) behind after 18 years of marriage with wife. They must be a late child... Wifey remains loyal to hubby's memory and decides "not to get a new child" (like in a supermarket). Husband deposits a huge sum of American dollars in a bank account in Ivory Coast (I could have guessed) which is worth less and less in today's economic situation.... What a tragedy! Wife develops cancer and is expected to live for 6 months only. She cannot rely on husband's family (she has no next of kin, of course...) as they don't like money(!) and it even turns out that they caused the husband's death (spreading ebola?). Therefore she turns to me (or you or whoever gets this spam) and asks to take care of her child and help them handling the fortune. Wife honestly admits that she has sent this email to multiple recipients, so I must be quick, 'cos 'the early bird gets the worm'.

"Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly...Suddenly I awoke...Now, I do not know whether I was then a cat dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming that I am a cat." [Original quote: Chuang Tzu, Chinese philosopher]

Tenants who shared the large house with the Fritzls were warned to stay away from the basement or face being evicted. Alfred Dubanovsky, 42, who lived there for 12 years, told how Fritzl spent his days there but banned anyone else from going near it. He also revealed how he had heard strange noises in the night and spotted him ferrying wheelbarrows of food under cover of darkness but did not consider it unusual, writes This is London.

After coming home... this is what i found!!! He knew what he did wrong!

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia - A former teacher at a Muslim school in Maryland was again sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for providing support to a Pakistani terrorist group, even though a federal appeals court had ordered the trial judge to reconsider the original sentence. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia earlier this year ordered a new sentencing hearing for Ali Asad Chandia, saying the judge needed to explain why he applied a rarely used "terrorism enhancement" that more than doubled Chandia's prison time to 15 years.

WBBH-TV says a fight over crayons led to felony charges against an 8-year-old boy in Fort Myers, Fla. The second-grader was charged with aggravated battery after a teacher told police that he hit some of his classmates and then punched his teacher during a violent outburst at Royal Palm Exceptional School.

A $300,000 watch? Luxury. A $300,000 watch that doesn’t tell time — and that sells out? Pure genius. According to several news reports flagged by my friends at Luxist, Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome just launched the “Day&Night” watch. The watch won’t tell you what time it is. That’s so yesterday. But it does tell you whether it’s day or night — helpful, I guess, for billionaire types who can’t afford windows.

When Natalya M. was rushed to a hospital in Voronezh, Russia, the doctors didn’t believe their eyes – the woman had a gigantic skin-fat growth on her belly that didn’t let her walk normally. It was 36 inches long and weighed 125 pounds.

Next month, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who was once a driver for Osama bin Laden, could become the first detainee to be tried for war crimes in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. By now, he should be busily working on his defense. But his lawyers say he cannot. They say Hamdan, already the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, has essentially been driven insane by solitary confinement in a tiny cell where he spends at least 22 hours a day, goes to the bathroom and eats all his meals. His defense team says he is suicidal, hears voices, has flashbacks, talks to himself and says the restrictions of Guantánamo "boil his mind."

INCHEON, South Korea: The country that created the world's first cloned canine plans to put duplicated dogs on patrol to sniff out drugs and explosives. The Korean Customs Service unveiled Thursday seven cloned Labrador retrievers being trained near Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. The dogs were born five to six months ago after being separately cloned from a skilled drug-sniffing canine in active service.

A pilot's laptop, filled with top secret security information was reported missing at Dulles Airport and the ripple effects were felt across the country. The Mesa Airlines employee couldn't find the personal laptop he brought with him while co-piloting a United Express flight from Birmingham, Alabama to Dulles International Airport.