MADISON - Why would Tommy Thompson want to get a microchip implant? That just doesn't seem natural for a former Republican Wisconsin governor. I think of Wisconsin Republicans as a rather conservative lot, especially when it comes to messing with their bodies. I can't imagine, for example, gubernatorial candidates Mark Green or Scott Walker showing up at a press conference sporting new tattoos or body piercings. I think it's safe to conclude Thompson won't be a last-minute entry in that race. Some ultra-conservative Christians think microchip implants are the "sign of the beast" referred to in the Bible.

The Brazilian electrician was killed on 22 July, the day after the series of failed bombings on the tube and bus network. The crucial mistake that ultimately led to his death was made at 9.30am when Jean Charles left his flat in Scotia Road, South London. Surveillance officers wrongly believed he could have been Hussain Osman, one of the prime suspects, or another terrorist suspect. By 10am that morning, elite firearms officers were provided with what they describe as "positive identification" and shot De Menezes eight times in the head and upper body.

For anyone who has ever been stuck behind a car belching thick black plumes of pollution, Southern California's smog cops have a message that some will find reassuring: They will soon be scanning the streets for smoky clunkers. In the largest experiment of its kind in California, the South Coast Air Quality Management District plans to use remote sensors and video cameras to measure air pollution from 1 million vehicles as they enter freeways and navigate roads in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside. If caught, the owners of the most environmentally offensive cars and trucks would receive letters informing them that the government would pay to fix or scrap their vehicles. The South Coast district estimates that 10,000 to 20,000 of the dirtiest vehicles would be detected. Smog regulators lack the authority to order drivers to dump dirty cars, but they can offer incentives.

The top American commander in Iraq has been privately rebuked by the Bush administration for openly discussing plans to reduce troop levels there next year, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. President George W Bush personally intervened last week to play down as "speculation" all talk of troop pull-outs because he fears that even discussing options for an "exit strategy" implies weakening resolve. Gen George Casey, the US ground commander in Iraq, was given his dressing-down after he briefed that troop levels - now 138,000 - could be reduced by 30,000 in the early months of next year as Iraqi security forces take on a greater role.

One of three people suspected of committing a terrorist attack in the Georgian city of Gori on February 1 has said it was ordered by Russians. Giorgy Zaseyev detained at the territory of the restive Georgian republic of South Ossetia admitted he had committed the terrorist attack with the republic’s inhabitants Giorgy Valiyev and Iosif Kochiyev who were detained on July 17. Speaking before the Georgian Interior Ministry’s video camera, he said the attack had been ordered by “trainers that were in the lists of the Russian peacemakers in (the South Ossetian capital of) Tskhinvali,” Interfax quoted himas saying. “They told only their first names, Igor and Roma (the diminutive of Roman). In the beginning of this year, Igor who came from Moscow told us we must commit a terrorist attack in Gori.”

NUEVO LAREDO, Tamaulipas A drug war is ripping apart northern Mexico, but you won't find many details about who's behind it in the local newspapers. Journalists after their colleagues have been killed, kidnapped and threatened with death have stopped investigating organized crime. "It's the new trend of drug gangs: Journalists are warned, paid off or killed," said Daniel Rosas, the managing editor of the daily El Mañana, the oldest newspaper in this border city south of Laredo, Texas. "Drug battles have become bloodier, and gangs have no code of ethics. They don't respect human life; why should they respect reporters?" El Mañana, founded in 1932 after the Mexican revolution with a motto to promote freedom of expression, has been self-censoring itself since its editor, Roberto Javier Mora García, was stabbed to death on March 19, 2004.