An entire family managed to escape the flames engulfing their Allendale home, thanks to the screaming of the family cat. Dianne Busscher was woken up at 4:45 a. m. by the cries of the black-and-white cat, Oreo, coming from the garage. Upon investigating, Busscher saw the smoke and flames, prompting her to grab the cat, rush back inside and wake up Warren, her husband, and their five children.

ree press advocates in China are sounding the alarms after a Chinese man was beaten to death by officials after trying to film a confrontation between city officials and residents of Wanba village in Tianmen over the dumping of waste near their village. According to the report, 24 municipal inspectors have been detained so far for their involvement in the incident, in which 41-year-old construction company executive Wei Wenhua was beaten to death for trying to record a scuffle between city officials and village residents on his cell phone. The villagers were attempting to stop trucks from unloading waste near their homes when the fight broke out.

Idaho power officials have blamed a cat for a blackout on Monday afternoon that affected more than 12,000 homes and businesses in Nampa City. The blackout lasted more than two hours, and officials say it was started when feeder lines blew up after a cat touched a live circuit inside a power substation. The cat was electrocuted to death.

Senior residents of a local retirement center are protesting against plans to construct a funeral home right across the street. Saying that the location of the proposed establishment would be a bit too much of a train, many older residents of the center signed a petition, showing the protest of about 100 residents of the Lake City Senior Center.

Beginning January 2, the city of Reeves, Louisiana will no longer carry the mark of the beast. After 40 years of carrying a stigma for having the number 666 as its area code, Reeves starts 2008 with a new code; 749. Mayor Scott Walker made changing the city's area code a personal crusade after he got tired of receiving admonitions from friends and strangers to drop the number linked to the Devil. He made representations with the local phone company CenturyTel and the state Public Service Commission to amend the city's area code.