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The Swedish unit of U.S. carmaker Ford Motor Co. is experimenting with a built-in breathalyzer and speed governor to reduce road accidents. The breathalyzer is part of the seat belt mechanism, and before the car will start, the driver must blow below .08 percent or less with the belt buckled. The test vehicle also is equipped with a special set of ignition keys that can be programmed to limit the car to preset speeds, which would enable parents to have control over inexperienced teenagers.

FEDS VOW TO GET TOUGH ON ILLEGALS Tue Aug 23 2005 17:15:30 ET Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, acknowledging public frustration over illegal immigration, said Tuesday that the federal government's detention and deportation system must be fundamentally restructured. "We have decided to stand back and take a look at how we address the problem and solve it once and for all," Chertoff said during a breakfast meeting with reporters. The NEW YORK TIMES is planning a front page placement for the Chertoff comments on Wednesday, newsroom sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT. The unusually blunt assessment by the nation's top immigration...

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - Antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, is moving her camp closer to President George W. Bush's Texas ranch. The piece of private property was offered by a relative of a man who had a fired shotgun in frustration over the protests, a source in the Sheehan camp said. The property owner is also a veteran. "A neighbour of President Bush's has offered us his land," the source said. "It's got plenty of acreage for us, it's private land, we would have legal permission to be on it, it's much closer to the...

A majority of Latinos born in the United States don't think illegal Hispanic immigrants should be given drivers' licenses, according to a new poll. Most foreign-born Latinos disagree, according to the polling for the Pew Hispanic Center. Six in 10 Latinos born in this country approve of measures to prohibit illegal immigrants from getting drivers' licenses, while two-thirds born in another country disapprove of such measures.

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Turkish police have detained 10 people suspected of links to the Al-Qaeda extremist network and of plotting attacks on Israeli cruise ships in southern Turkey, security sources said. The suspects, one of them a Syrian, were detained several days ago in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, home to some of Turkey's most popular resorts, which attract millions of foreign tourists each year, said the sources, who requested anonymity. They were believed to be planning to attack Israeli cruise ships on behalf of Al-Qaeda, they said. Israel's counter-terrorism unit Monday warned Israeli holidaymakers to avoid a strip of...

The seals placed by the UN IAEA on Iran's nuclear conversion plant in Isfahan should be broken by midday tomorrow, a top Iranian nuclear official said. He said the agency (IAEA)had promised Tehran that the seals placed on the machinery would be lifted 'by Wednesday midday.' Breaking the seals is the next crucial stage at the plant after Iran resumed uranium conversion activities yesterday, sparking warnings of an international crisis.

Iran has manufactured about 4,000 centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade, an exiled Iranian dissident who helped uncover nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity in 2002 said Tuesday. Alireza Jafarzadeh told The Associated Press the centrifuges _ which he said are unknown to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency _ are ready to be installed at Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Iran had restarted the nuclear activities mothballed under a deal with the European Union's three biggest powers, defying EU warnings that Tehran could be referred to the U.N. Security Council for...

Iran's resumption of uranium conversion Monday is set to be taken up at an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency Tuesday - a move that could result in referral of the Iranian nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council. The council, in turn, could set in motion an international effort to isolate Iran politically and economically, something Iran has long wished to avoid. The flurry of activity over Iran followed the Islamic Republic's terse rejection over the weekend of a European offer of economic incentives, including help with nuclear-energy generation, in exchange for verifiably giving up all...

The percentage of people who say they consider Bush honest has dropped slightly from the start of the year. In January, 53 percent described him that way in the AP-Ipsos poll, while 45 percent said they did not believe he was honest. Now, people are just about evenly split — 48 percent saying he's honest and 50 percent saying he's not. A solid majority still see Bush as likable and a strong leader, but a growing number view the president's confidence as arrogance, up from 49 percent in January to 56 percent now. The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted...

The new mayor wants to change Los Angeles' car culture, though his push for mass transit comes in the same month of the London subway and bus bombings. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is starting small, asking Los Angeles residents to give up driving just one or two days a week. The theory is that getting a few more cars off the road would go a long way toward easing gridlock and air pollution that are the worst in the nation. "Los Angeles has a history of over-reliance on the single-passenger automobile, and we're going to have to change that history," said...

NEW YORK - At least half a million New Yorkers have diabetes, many of them at risk for blindness, kidney failure, amputations and heart problems because they are doing a poor job of controlling their illness. The question is, how much privacy are they willing to give up for a chance at better health? A century after New York became the first American city to track people with infectious diseases as a way to halt epidemics, officials here propose a similar system to monitor people with diabetes, a non-contagious foe. Conceived after a sharp rise in diabetes deaths over the...

When 35 pirates carrying machine guns and rocket launchers boarded a tanker laden with methane in the Malacca Strait in March, it sent a shudder through the crew, and a ripple of fear from Tokyo to Washington. It also served as a reminder of the risks to world trade, and of the potential for terrorism in the region. The attack on the tanker turned out to be routine highway robbery in the strait, whose waters are shared by Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. But in the nightmare scenario, terrorists using the methods of modern-day pirates seize a gas tanker and use...

A North Korean defector who survived 10 years in a prison labor camp said he told President Bush last month that the United States should do more to help those who flee the communist regime. Mr. Kang said about 200,000 North Koreans are in the prison labor camp system throughout the country. All in the camps are malnourished, and unless their will is strong, they eventually die, he said. Mr. Kang said he agreed to meet the president after a White House National Security Council official told him that Mr. Bush had read his book and became interested in the...

WASHINGTON, July 18 (Reuters) - Dark chocolate can not only soothe your soul but can lower blood pressure too, researchers reported on Monday. The study, published by the American Heart Association, joins a growing body of research that show compounds found in chocolate called flavonoids can help the blood vessels work more smoothly, perhaps reducing the risk of heart disease. "Previous studies suggest flavonoid-rich foods, including fruits, vegetables, tea, red wine and chocolate, might offer cardiovascular benefits, but this is one of the first clinical trials to look specifically at dark chocolate's effect on lowering blood pressure among people with...

AN ENFEEBLED President Chirac will attempt to raise Gallic morale in his annual Bastille Day appearance tomorrow amid mounting French anxiety over Britain’s supposed new supremacy in Europe. In his eleventh national day address from the Elysée Palace, M Chirac will seek to persuade a self-doubting country that economic redemption is just around the corner and that the world still looks to France as the ideal model. His challenge is difficult because 75 per cent of the public tell pollsters that they have no faith in the President and 44 per cent were reported by a poll in Libération yesterday...

So much for record budget deficits. The tide of economic growth and surging corporate and individual tax revenues are now expected to erase as much as 25% of the red ink the government was planning to expend this year. Three-quarters of the way through fiscal 2005, the Congressional Budget Office says the deficit will come in well shy of $350 billion and may fall below $325 billion. The White House, which had forecast a record $427 deficit, will update its view Wednesday. Some see the better-than-expected federal revenues as evidence that President Bush's tax policy is working as advertised. "This...

On the day before Christmas in 2002, Sen. Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) was given an early present by the White House and his fellow senators. He was elected majority leader of the United States Senate on a conference call. It was the first time in the history of the Senate that a majority leader was elected over the telephone. Frist replaced Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.) as majority leader. Lott resigned after making remarks that the Left and the liberal elites deemed controversial at the late Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party. Lott was engulfed in a media frenzy and in the view...

U.S. response to the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 helped improve the nation's image around the world, but the re-election of President Bush and the Iraq war have solidified anti-American feelings, according to a Pew Global Attitudes poll released Thursday. The biggest increase in European support was in France, where 43 percent had a favorable view in 2005, compared with 37 percent in 2004. Ten of the 15 foreign countries surveyed didn't have a favorable view of the United States, and in nine countries respondents said Bush's re-election damaged the U.S. image. Nine of the countries still support the war...

Conservatives believe in lower taxes; liberals believe in higher taxes. We want few regulations; they want more. Conservatives measure the effectiveness of government programs by results; liberals measure the effectiveness of government programs by inputs. We believe in curbing the size of government; they believe in expanding the size of government. Conservatives believe in making America a less litigious society; liberals believe in making America a more litigious society. We believe in accountability and parental choice in education; they don't. Conservatives believe in advancing what Pope John Paul II called a "culture of life"; liberals believe there is an absolute...

A colossal earthquake that caused damage from South Carolina to Washington D.C. and temporarily reversed the course of the Mississippi River nearly two centuries ago could be repeated within the next 50 years, scientists said today. Strain is building on a fault near Memphis, Tennessee that was the site of a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in 1812, according to new observations that settle a debate on the risk of another huge quake. The odds of another 8.0 event within 50 years are between 7 and 10 percent, geologists said today. The assessment, based on new data from a recently installed array...