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The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a regulation for Christmas lights on Monday, deeming some holiday decorations a “substantial product hazard.”“The Consumer Product Safety Commission … is issuing a final rule to specify that seasonal and decorative lighting products that do not contain any one of three readily observable characteristics (minimum wire size, sufficient strain relief, or overcurrent protection), as addressed in a voluntary standard, are deemed a substantial product hazard under the Consumer Product Safety Act (“CPSA”),” the final rule said.The ruling applies to a variety of Christmas decorations, including “stars, wreathes, candles without shades, light sculptures, blow-molded...

Mother forced to give birth alone in toilet of 'flagship' NHS hospital 17.08.07     A young mother had to deliver her own baby in the lavatory of a flagship hospital because there were no trained midwives available. Surveyor Catherine Brown had made the agonising decision to undergo a chemically-induced abortion after being told her 18-week pregnancy was risking her life. But when the time came to give birth she was on an ear, nose and throat ward and had only her mother to help her through the ordeal. Her premature son Edward died in her arms minutes later. The...

Police have warned of a bizarre crime wave sweeping Britain as thieves strip millions of pounds' worth of metal off buildings to ship to China and other countries where demand is soaring.   Costly: The damaged roof of the Ragged School Museum, which was left with a repair bill of £20,000 Thousands of properties - including hundreds of churches and other historic buildings with lead roofs - have been targeted by organised gangs who sell the metal on to unscrupulous dealers.It is then shipped overseas, either as scrap or after being melted down, to countries such as India, China and...

The farm-produced fuel that is supposed to help wean the United States from its oil addiction is under scrutiny for its potentially corrosive qualities. E85, a blend of 85 percent corn-based ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, could be eating away at metal and plastic parts in gas station pumps, Underwriters Laboratories, the private product-safety testing group, said this month. BP, the British oil company, said Thursday that it would delay the expansion of E85 at its U.S. outlets until the laboratories certified an E85 dispensing system.

DETROIT (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry plans to travel to Michigan to address the Urban League next week.Kerry's recent visits to the state included last month's $1 million fund-raiser, where the U.S. senator from Massachusetts attacked Bush's economic performance and touted his own job-creation proposals.Word of Kerry's planned July 22 stop came amid a flurry of presidential campaign activity in Michigan.President Bush was in Michigan on Tuesday, telling an Upper Peninsula crowd his economic policies are bringing prosperity and jobs to the state. And Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Sen. John McCain plan to hold a campaign...