Made from the coca leaf and named after Bolivia's indigenous Colla people, the soda is the latest attempt by Bolivia to expand legal markets for coca products.

The Davey family's £815-a-week state handouts pay for a four-bedroom home, top-of-the-range mod cons and two vehicles including a Mercedes people carrier.
Father-of-seven Peter gave up work because he could make more living on benefits.
Yet he and his wife Claire are still not happy with their lot.
With an eighth child on the way, they are demanding a bigger house, courtesy of the taxpayer

State regulators today demanded that health insurers submit revised April 1 premium rates for tens of thousands of individuals and small businesses by 3 p.m. Thursday or face stiff fines.

The fines could run to as much as $5,000 a day per carrier, plus $1,000 for each consumer who is unable to buy coverage, according to a letter sent by Insurance Commissioner Joseph G. Murphy this afternoon to Massachusetts insurers.

Judge in Ohio tells people to carry a gun if they feel less safe as a result of budget cuts

Thousands of consumers are gaming Massachusetts’ 2006 health insurance law by buying insurance when they need to cover pricey medical care, such as fertility treatments and knee surgery, and then swiftly dropping coverage, a practice that insurance executives say is driving up costs for other people and small businesses.

Of the 352 students who attended prom, 18 violated the (dress code) policy. Seventeen of them chose to be paddled, while DeRamus chose a three-day suspension.

During a fire drill at a middle school in Worcester, England, students aged 10 to 13 looked on in horror as "as a man appeared brandishing a gun and appeared to shoot dead Mr. Kent, their science teacher, as he ran across a field." It was only ten minutes after the shooting that teachers revealed the whole thing to be fake.

"Air passengers already tolerate a large invasion of their privacy," the committee said in a report, citing pat-downs and bag searches as specific examples. "We do not feel that full body scanners add greatly to this situation."

The privacy fears raised by the deployment of full body scanners at airports are overblown, a committee of British lawmakers said Wednesday, adding that the technology was no more of a threat to passengers' rights than pat-downs or bag searches.

Government services will be cut at every level. Potholes will deepen, infra-structure problems will worsen, pension plans will become insolvent, school systems will declare bankruptcy, police and fire protection will be reduced, etc. etc. You will be "nickled and dimed" in terms of new fees and taxes. Public unions will strike, providing further disruption. But when there are no funds, there is nothing to gain.

DERBY LINE, Vt. --
A recent increase in border patrol along side streets dividing Derby Line, Vt., and Stanstead, Canada, are causing confusion and animosity between locals and border patrol agents.