Fiery soccer celebration, Ground Zero, big yellow taxis, meteor shower, the Taj Mahal reflected and more news and feature photos from around the globe.

I've been reading a lot the past few days about the decision of the Attorney General and the President to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and a few of his fellow terrorists in federal court in New York City.

Radioactive batteries could power electronic devices for years. But if even mildly radioactive material leaks into the environment, it could cause harmful mutations in animals or cancer in humans.

Political heat over the White House decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects in U.S.

Lawsuits get a lot of attention when they're filed or a jury makes a multimillion dollar award, but not much when a judge throws them out.
Still, I'm chagrined that, after covering the complaint, I missed the dismissal last week of a lawsuit claiming Denny's perpetrated consumer fraud when it didn't tell a New Jersey man just how much salt its entrees have.

While Denny's offers a range of items, it's not hard to figure that some of them are salty. (If you're not persuaded, this link will tell you their Spicy BuffaloChicken Melt has 3,870 mg of sodium.)
The New Jersey judge held the defendant, Nick DeBenedetto, couldn't show physical injury from consuming Denny's meals.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, which spearheaded the suit, says it will try again. In any event, their head of litigation told me that the real aim of these legal challenges to change the amount of salt in chain restaurant foods, a strategy that's worked in reducing transfats in menus. For now, though, Denny's can serve salty meals in the Garden State without fear of civil liability.

Are we at war — or not? For if we are at war, why is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed headed for trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York? Why is he entitled to a presumption of innocence and all of the constitutional protections of a U.S. citizen?

Sarah Palin's new book called Going Rogue more accurately should be called I'm a Whiner. When Sarah Palin entered the national political arena, she struck me as different, refreshing, and a really out of the box choice on the part of Republican national candidate John McCain.

Senate Democrats will presumably get their act together and bring a health care bill to a vote someday. Whether the Senate bill includes some form of a public option is not the only issue that may cause the bill to fail.

ELKHART, Ind. -- Returning to his hometown, Chris Burkhead hopes he's seeing signs of change in the devastated local economy.
When first profiled in July in "Faces of Elkhart," the third-generation member of two highly successful family businesses was living in Davenport Iowa, telecommuting as chief estimator for the larger concern, Indiana Plastics, while his wife, Angela Lucterhand, studied to be a chiropractor.

If leaks from the White House mean anything, President Obama will opt for a mini-surge, doomed to be called Surge Light, which would mean an additional 10,000 to 20,000 troops and not the 40,000 or more that Gen. Stanley McChrystal would like.

A Missouri man accused of killing Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller says he did so out of necessity to protect unborn children.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event has special meaning for me since I was living and working in Berlin when it happened. I had been there for over a year when The Wall came down, and I stayed for almost a year afterward.

I've read both of President Obama's books,* Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope. I recommend them to anyone who has an interest in politics generally or Barack Obama in particular.