From the BBC

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill that officially classifies beer as alcoholic.

Until now anything containing less than 10% alcohol in Russia has been considered a foodstuff.

The move, signed into law on Wednesday, will allow ministers to control the sale of beer in the same way that spirits are controlled.

Russian alcohol consumption is already twice the critical level set by the World Health Organization.

Although vodka has long been the traditional tipple in Russia, beer has soared in popularity, being marketed as a healthier alternative to spirits.

Over the past decade, beer sales in Russia have risen more than 40% while vodka sales have fallen by nearly 30%.

Correspondents say it is common to see people swigging beer in the street and in parks as if they are drinking soft drinks.

It is not restricted to certain stores and is sold around the clock.

“The law brings some order into the sale of beer,” Vadim Drobiz, director of the Centre for Federal and Regional Alcohol Market Studies, told US broadcaster Bloomberg.

Last year the Russian beer industry was hit by a 200% tax hike on its products as ministers sought to bring consumption under control.

The new measures – which come into effect in 2013 – will stop alcohol being sold in unlicensed kiosks, ban its sale from stores between certain hours and restrict its advertising.

In 2009 President Medvedev ordered the government to prepare draft laws on a package of measures to counter growing alcohol abuse.

In America we can legally take some plant material, roll it up in some paper, light it on fire, and inhale the smoke – all while knowing it might very well give us cancer.  But if a man wants to nibble on a little imported sheep lung (and other tasty bits), he’s prevented from doing so…

Scots government bid to overturn US haggis ban

As long as the world has been around, people have cursed politicians. But most of us are rank amateurs. To see the professionals level a curse, you have to travel to Romania, where you’ll find a group of witches who are so enraged that they are mobilizing across the country and gathering in solidarity in anti-government rallies.

That’s because the Romanian government recently decided to recognize witches, astrologers and fortune tellers in the official Romanian labor code — meaning the professions will be taxed like everybody else.

Naturally, this isn’t going over very well. In addition to the demonstrations, some of the witches have taken a more direct route, casting poisonous mandrake plants into the Danube River as part of their campaign to “threaten the government with spells and spirits,” and using concoctions of dead dogs and cat feces to create powerful curses against the government.

For its part, the government has held strong, arguing that difficult times call for strong measures, adding that turning President Basescu into a newt is an inappropriate redress of grievances.

“There’s no hard feelings,” Harvey Westmoreland, 41, said in an interview at his home in Anderson County. “I mean, I ain’t going to speak to them, and they better not pull in my driveway.”

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/11/17/1527445/2-anderson-men-avoid-jail-for.html#ixzz15eOgwURo

From Slashdot.org: “A study out of Canada claims that seeing meat actually calms a person down. From the article: ‘Contrary to expectations, a McGill University researcher has discovered that seeing meat makes people significantly less aggressive. Frank Kachanoff, who studies evolution at the university’s department of psychology, had initially thought the presence of meat would provoke bloodlust, believing the response would have helped our primate ancestors hunt. But in fact, his research showed the reverse is true.’”

Peruvian mayor blackmailed with father’s stolen skull

From the BBC

Thieves have tried to blackmail a Peruvian small-town mayor into withdrawing his re-election bid by claiming to have stolen his late father’s skull, police say.

The thieves dug up the body of Rogelio Vizcarra’s father and then sent him a text message.

Mr Vizcarra, mayor of San Cristobal in southern Peru, says the message sender offered to return the skull if he withdrew his bid for re-election.

But he says he still plans to run.

Police in the small town near Moquegua say the grave robbers unearthed the remains of Juan Vizcarra, who died in 1978, removing the skull and leaving the bones scattered around the cemetery.

The crime of offending the memory of the dead could be punished by a two-year jail sentence, police said.

Meanwhile Mr Vizcarra publicly condemned his political rivals for running a dirty campaign, and the authorities said they were investigating a number of leads including the mayor’s opponents.

Peruvians are to vote in municipal and regional elections across the country next week.

Local polls say the current mayor is the second most popular of the four candidates for the job.

But the public sympathy of shocked local residents might just push him into the number one position.

Now all we have to do is train them to fight zombies and humanity will be saved.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/weird/2010/09/09/15294701.html

Brace yourself before looking at the below image.

A pilot at low level has no control over his aircraft.

It narrowly misses a crowd gathered for the airshow and slams into four buildings.  One can only imagine the horror of the occupants inside those buildings.