Planetsave

CANBERRA (Reuters) – An Australian cemetery is training gravediggers as lifesavers and has installed a defibrillator to jumpstart the hearts of grief-stricken mourners who regularly collapse at funerals.

“A lot of people who die are old, so the people who come to the services are frail and they are vulnerable anyway, and the additional stress of a funeral tips them over the edge,” Vicki Pridmore, chief executive of Melbourne’s Cheltenham cemeteries, told local newspapers on Friday.

Pridmore said a family or friend collapsed at a funeral every two months on average, so now gravediggers were being trained to use the new defibrillator

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Instead of walking down the aisle of a church, a former New York couple will traipse down the aisle of a court room to settle a fight over a $48,800 diamond engagement ring.

Dean Kuehnen Jr. is suing his ex-fiance, Andria Castellano, to compel her to either return the ring or give him cash — as well as cover his legal fees and costs, according to the complaint filed in New York State Court.

Castellano has threatened to sell or destroy the 3.23-carat ring, even though the couple agreed the ring would be returned to Kuehnen if their engagement was ever broken off, the complaint says.

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NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – Lie in a coffin, eat bugs, or be chased by a chainsaw-wielding psycho through a pine forest.

With up to three-quarters of Americans and people in other countries celebrating Halloween, there is a long list of events that may scare you out of your wits — and empty your wallet.

Here is a list of 10 of the biggest, creepiest and more unusual events in the United States and Canada this Halloween

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LONDON (Reuters) – Solar power could be the world’s number one electricity source by the end of the century, but until now its role has been negligible as producers wait for price parity with fossil fuels, industry leaders say.

Once the choice only of idealists who put the environment before economics, production of solar panels will double both next year and in 2009, according to U.S. investment bank Jefferies Group Inc, driven by government support especially in Germany and Japan.

Similar support in Spain, Italy and Greece is now driving growth in southern Europe as governments turn to the sun as a weapon both against climate change and energy dependence.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – With confidence in private weather forecasters slipping in the wake of some prediction gaffes during the past couple of years, perhaps woolly worms and groundhogs can take up the slack.

 For instance, predictions for a severe winter didn’t pan out the last time around, nor did projections for a brutal 2006 hurricane season.

So as weather forecasters have begun releasing their predictions for winter, trying to give some early insight into the season’s likely demand scenario for heating fuels, some analysts are eyeing those predictions with a bit more skepticism than usual.

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From Iowa to Gulf Restoration Network:

By: Anthony J. Gerst:

It is difficult for many urbanites to realize the significance of the Farm Bill. Grant it the United States is now a net importer of foodstuffs, how and why has this happened? The Farm Bill is crucial to this nation. It affects the aspects of all Americans daily. From environmental issues like fertilizing Iowa’s cornfields to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, the Farm Bill affects you.

Hailing from Iowa, Senator Tom Harkin is the Chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee in Washington D.C. The good senator fights a noble battle for the people of this nation. I offer this quote from a recent communication with his office. “The senate Agriculture Committee heard testimony from Rhonda Stewart. . . her food stamp benefits run out toward the end of the month. . . It is simply unacceptable for American families to go hungry. So my farm bill will include overdue updates to the food stamp program.”

In a recent release from the Gulf Restoration Network, they express concerns over the upcoming Farm Bill legislation. They point out that the increased production of corn is having dire effects upon the Gulf Coast. Rest assured that these concerns are not unheeded by the Chairman of this distinguished committee. Tom Harkin however most work within the framework of governmental compromise to achieve anything. I quote, “But for this to happen, we need to make major investments in research. We need to ramp up production of new energy crop such as biomass… To do these things, we need new investments in the farm bill’s energy title.”

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush warned on Wednesday a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War III as he tried to shore up international opposition to Tehran amid Russian skepticism over its nuclear ambitions.

Bush was speaking a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has resisted Western pressure to toughen his stance over Iran’s nuclear program, made clear on a visit to Tehran that Russia would not accept any military action against Iran.

At a White House news conference, Bush expressed hope Putin would brief him on his talks in Tehran and said he would ask him to clarify recent remarks on Iran’s nuclear activities.

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GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) – The U.S. military has ended an inquiry into who smuggled unauthorized underwear and a bathing suit to two prisoners at Guantanamo Bay without learning the source of the contraband skivvies, an attorney said on Wednesday.

The investigators concluded more vigilance was needed to prevent contraband from entering the camp that holds 330 suspected al Qaeda operatives, said Capt. Pat McCarthy, the military’s chief lawyer for the detention operation at Guantanamo.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For early humans, one of the first displays of modern behavior was a sort of beach party and clam bake along the coast of South Africa.

Artifacts found in a cave on coastal cliffs overlooking the Indian Ocean showed that these people 164,000 years ago cooked mussels and other shellfish, used red pigment perhaps as body paint and made small stone blades that could be used at the tip of a spear — all far earlier than previously thought.

An international team of scientists, writing in the journal Nature on Wednesday, described the earliest evidence for humans living in a coastal habitat and exploiting the resources of the sea.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Deepening unhappiness with President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress soured the mood of Americans and sent Bush’s approval rating to another record low this month, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

The Reuters/Zogby Index, which measures the mood of the country, also fell from 98.8 to 96 — the second consecutive month it has dropped. The number of Americans who believe the country is on the wrong track jumped four points to 66 percent.

Bush’s job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month’s record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent. A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month’s record low.

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