FREDERICA, Del. - The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went
unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween
decoration, authorities said.

The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some
homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police
said.

The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from
passing vehicles.

State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the
body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank.
Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.

"They thought it was a Halloween decoration," Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William
Glanden, told The (Wilmington) News Journal.

"It looked like something somebody would have rigged up," she said.

Madonna, Mick Jagger also make Ellegirl's list.

Never mind the fact that Axl Rose hasn't been seen in years - not since his
reconfigured Guns N' Roses pulled out of their 2002 tour with eight stops to go.
Forget that Guns N' Roses haven't released fresh material in more than six years
(the track "Oh My God" appeared on the "End of Days" soundtrack in 1999). None
of that matters to the teenage readers of Ellegirl magazine.

To them, even though Axl hasn't been a blip on pop culture's proverbial radar
for years, he's still rad.

According to the results of the magazine's latest poll, which can be found in
the new "Cool" issue, Rose, at the ripe age of 43, is one of the world's coolest
old people. He ranked second in the survey (that's 10,000 girls worldwide, with
about 4,000 of them U.S. citizens), right behind top vote-getter "grandparents."
Whose grandparents? Everyone's grandparents, it seems.

Called "The Second Annual International Cool Survey," the poll covers all the
basics - coolest couple, coolest guy celeb, coolest band, and coolest person to
be stuck in an elevator with (that person being Clay Aiken), among other
categories.

GN'R's reclusive frontman - who has been working on his long-overdue Chinese
Democracy album for about a decade now - wasn't the only recognizable name that
made the cut. Clint Eastwood, who's 75, was third in the voting, followed by
rocker Elvis Costello (51), Julie Andrews (70), designer Karl Lagerfeld (67),
Madonna (47), Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger (62) and designer Vivienne
Westwood (64).

- Chris Harris

POSTED: 4:45 pm MDT October 24, 2005

CALHAN, Colo. -- El Paso County authorities, puzzling over another herd of dead
horses near where other horses were found dead two weeks ago, have been told
that lightning is the likely culprit.

Sheriff's deputies said 16 horses were discovered dead in a pasture near South
Calhan road over the weekend. Dr. John Heikkila, a veterinarian, said Tuesday
that he believes lightning is the most probable cause of the weekend deaths.

Investigators said earlier that the horses appeared to have died suddenly,
possibly from a lightning strike.

The animals were found about a mile where investigators found six horses and a
mule dead from mysterious circumstances earlier in the month. The precise cause
of death for those animals has not yet been determined, although they were first
reported to have been shot to death.

Heikkila performed autopsies on the first group of horses and found round
puncture wounds in their hides or skulls. The wounds, however, were no more than
three-quarters of an inch deep and no bullet fragments or slugs were found.

"(They were) not a case of lightning," Heikkila said Monday. "In real life,
there are a lot of incidents where we just don't know."

Tissue samples from both herds have been sent to labs at Colorado State
University for further testing.

WASHINGTON - The State Department said Tuesday that it's adding two security
features to the new electronic passports that it will start issuing in December.

The announcement partially assuaged privacy advocates who feared the technology
wouldn't protect travelers from identity theft or from people who aim to harm
Americans traveling abroad.

"Is it a step forward? Yes. Is it foolproof? That remains to be proven," said
Barry Steinhardt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union.

As a result of tougher post-Sept. 11 security requirements, all new U.S.
passports issued by the end of this year are supposed to have a microchip
containing the holders' name, nationality, sex, birth date, place of birth,
issuing office and a biometric identifier - a digital photograph.

A tiny antenna embedded in the passport cover will allow remote reading devices
to capture the data on the chip. Privacy advocates said anyone with a portable
reader could remotely read, or "skim," a passport holder's personal information.

The State Department said its original proposal in February generated 2,335
comments that were overwhelmingly opposed to the technology because of concerns
that terrorists could identify and target them as U.S. citizens.

So the new passports' front covers and spines will include an anti-skimming
material that blocks the radio waves that could pick up the data.

They also will use Basic Access Control technology, which utilizes a kind of
personal identification number that must be touched physically to unlock the
data on the chip.

"It will not permit `tracking' of individuals," the State Department said in
making the announcement. "It will only permit governmental authorities to know
that an individual has arrived at a port of entry, which governmental
authorities already know from presentation of nonelectronic passports."

The international standards for "electronic" passports were set by the
U.N.-affiliated International Civil Aviation Organization, which has worked on
standards for machine-readable passports since 1968. The State Department said
Basic Access Control will soon be added to the ICAO standards.

Bill Scannell, a privacy advocate who founded a Web site that generated comments
opposing the new passports, said Basic Access Control is an unproven technology
that shouldn't be used in an identity document.

"We don't know what can and cannot be done with this technology," Scannell said.

Other countries are also switching to microchipped, biometric passports at the
request of the United States. The Patriot Act says visitors from 27 countries
whose citizens don't now need visas to visit the United States would have to get
electronic passports by next October.

The State Department will test the electronic passports in December with
government employees who use official or diplomatic passports for government
travel. The U.S. traveling public is expected to start receiving new or
replacement electronic passports in early 2006.

It's just another smurfy day in Smurf Village. The perpertually perky blue
beings frolic around the fire, holding hands and singing that
"tra-la-la-la-la-la" tune as bluebirds flutter by and rabbits hop around.

A regular Smurftopia.

But then the bombs come.

Hundreds of them raining down from warplanes in the sky, wiping out the
mushroom-shaped abodes. Amid the fiery explosions, Smurfette is killed. Papa
Smurf disappears. As the smoke clears, only an orphaned Baby Smurf remains,
sobbing among the corpses.

No, this is not some pipe dream of Gargamel. The Smurfocide was instead
perpetuated by the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF.

UNICEF's Belgian office is using the Smurfs as the centerpiece of a new
fundraising initiative to shock viewers into donating money to help children in
war-torn regions. The agency also hopes to rehabilitate former child soldiers in
Burundi.

"The idea of using familiar, reassuring childhood icons in a decidedly dangerous
context was intended to bring home to the public the horrendous nature of this
theft of children's rights," says UNICEF's Gaelle Buasson.

"We could have shown real-live images of children wounded in Iraq, Palestine or
other places. But we refused this option because they would not respect the
dignity and rights of the depicted children...So we decided to use 'fictive'
cartoon images."

Dubbed the first adults-only version of The Smurfs, UNICEF's 30-second 'toon
ends with the tagline: "Don't let war affect the lives of children."

After coming up with the idea for the Smurfogeddon, UNICEF obtained permission
to create the short from IMPS, which took over control of the critters after the
death of their creator, the Belgian cartoonist Peyo. The clip was previewed on
Belgian TV last week during evening newscasts.

According to London's Daily Telegraph, the spot evoked mixed emotions from
viewers--including shock from children who accidentally caught the spot.

But the clip received a thumbs up from the official Smurf fan club. "I think it
will wake up some people. It is so un-Smurf-like, it might get people to think,"
a spokesman told the Telegraph.

Julie Lamoureux, account director for Publicis, the ad agency that created the
campaign, says the original concept included even more graphic imagery of
weapons of mass Smurfstruction.

"We wanted something that was real war--Smurfs losing arms, or a Smurf losing a
head--but they said no," she told the Telegraph.

The clip will begin airing regularly next week in Belgium, but only after 9
p.m., and run through April. UNICEF says response has been so strong that the
short could soon be seen in Europe, Latin America and Australia with the
stipulations that it must air after 7 p.m. local time, it can only be aired with
information explaining the clip, and it cannot be put on the Internet. There are
no current plans to broadcast the clip in the U.S.

For Stateside fans, and those who prefer their Smurfs intact, a 3-D,
CGI-animated Smurfs feature film will bow in theaters in 2008. The extravaganza
from Paramount's Nickelodeon Movies will be the first in a planned trilogy.

Ricky Gervais is to appear in cult US comedy Arrested Development after the cast
said they'd have a whip round to pay for his flight to the States.

The Office and Extras star wanted to play a cameo in the comedy, but producers
refused to pay for him to come to the US.

The cast were upset when they heard the news and offered to pay for Ricky's
travel themselves. The TV bosses finally agreed to bring Ricky over.

Actor Jason Bateman, who plays Michael Bluth in the series, said: "The network
said they weren't going to fly him out there, so we as a cast got together and
said 'Well, why don't we pay for it out of our pockets?'

"As soon as the studio heard about that, they said they'd do it after all.

"Hopefully his schedule will work out this year and the studio are now on record
saying that this time they will definitely pay his fare."

Ricky has become a huge star in the US after the success of The Office. The show
won two Golden Globes in 2004.

He has since announced he is writing an episode of hit US animated comedy The
Simpsons.

Last Updated: 10:49 UK, Monday October 03, 2005

© 2005 BSkyB

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. has e-mailed invitations to
reporters for a special event next week, prompting speculation on the Internet
that the company would unveil a long-rumored iPod that can display videos.

The invitation from Apple, which is notoriously tight-lipped about its future
products, said simply: "One more thing..."

Early last month, Apple unveiled its pencil-thin iPod nano, which holds up to
1,000 songs and replaced the iPod mini, then the most popular iPod model.

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs has in recent years at conferences and events
saved the largest products that most delight the Apple faithful toward the end
of his keynote speech, prefacing the announcement with the phrase, "Oh, and one
more thing" or a variant.

Apple enthusiast Web sites, including AppleInsider, speculated on Tuesday that
the October 12 announcement could well be a video iPod that has long been
rumored.

Apple declined to comment beyond the invitation.

Many analysts have said Apple is all but certain to introduce a version of the
No. 1 digital music player that can also play video. Most models of the current
iPods, in addition to playing music, can also display photos and perform other
functions with accessories that are sold separately.

"There's a whole generation coming up that doesn't have a lot in their checking
account but will some day, who think this is a cool idea," said Roger Kay,
president of market research firm Endpoint Technology Associates, referring to a
video iPod.

"Apple Computer has begun production of a new version of its iPod digital music
player that will be capable of playing videos, AppleInsider has learned,"
according to a Tuesday post on the AppleInsider Web site. "Sources who claim to
have seen the new iPod describe it as being similar to Apple's 60 GB iPod photo
player, but several millimeters thinner."

The invitation itself from Apple gave no indication what the announcement might
be, but in a separate post on Tuesday on AppleInsider, the site said: "Recent
information suggests that Apple may be preparing to introduce a version of its
iPod with video capabilities."

While Jobs has publicly downplayed the notion of a video iPod, saying that most
people don't want to watch videos when they're on the move, many in the industry
have been expecting such a product for some time.

"It would be a very Jobsian move to say it's stupid and bring one out anyway,"
Kay said, referring to an iPod that plays video.

Kay added that Apple would need to have wrapped up agreements with major studios
and record labels over copyright protection and antipiracy technology similar to
its FairPlay digital rights management software used in iPods and on its iTunes
online music store.

Apple, which sold more than 6 million iPods in its most recent quarter,
accounting for about a third of overall company revenue, has 75 percent of the
market for digital music players, according to market research firm NPD Group
Inc.

Curious George comes to the big screen in February with a few updates but also
some returns to old-fashioned storytelling for families.

Nearly 65 years after the first books by the late illustrator/writer duo H.A.
Rey and his wife, Margret, were published, the Curious George movie is an
ink-and-pen animated film rather than the computerized animation currently in
vogue. (Related story: Animated George takes flight)

"It has a very painterly feel, as opposed to high-gloss," says director Matthew
O'Callaghan.

The Curious George trailer arrives in theaters Friday with Wallace & Gromit: The
Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

In the movie, George's keeper, the Man with the Yellow Hat, gets a bigger role.

"The books usually introduce the Man with the Yellow Hat at the beginning. He
says, 'Goodbye, George, I'm going to work.' He leaves, George gets into all his
adventures, and the Man is absent until the end," O'Callaghan says. "My approach
was to make it more of a buddy comedy."

The Man (voiced by Will Ferrell) is a timid museum employee who is reluctantly
dispatched to the jungles of Africa to find artifacts for exhibit by his curator
boss (Dick Van Dyke).

There he meets George, who spots his yellow hat from the trees and mistakes it
for a banana. What follows is a story about owner and pet, about giving kindness
and getting kindness in return, O'Callaghan says.

In the books, the Man befriends George after catching him for a zoo, but
O'Callaghan feared that would seem harsh today. "He basically steals George,"
the director says.

Instead, the movie presents the Man as the first friend George meets, and then
George follows him to the city, O'Callaghan says.

Singer Jack Johnson, whose band contributes seven songs to the soundtrack, says
the movie "lacks the sarcasm" of many contemporary cartoons. "The Man with the
Yellow Hat and Curious George are both renegades and misfits, learning from
their mistakes as they go."

The MIT Media Lab has launched a new research initiative to develop a $100
laptop - a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's
children. To achieve this goal, a new, non-profit association, One Laptop per
Child (OLPC), has been created.