A blind man who was pulled over last April for erratic driving in Oldbury, West Midlands, is due to be sentenced Monday. Police who pulled the car over were told the man in the passenger seat, who also had been banned from driving, was giving him instructions on where to steer and when to break. Not surprisingly, Omed Aziz, 31, was convicted of dangerous driving.

A new St. Louis Post-Dispatch poll finds former-Gov. George Ryan is more popular in Illinois than U. S. President Bush. Ryan faces sentencing this week. The newspaper and KMOV-TV conducted its poll in both Democratic favoring Illinois and Republican leaning Missouri. The survey predicts that while Bush is less unpopular in Missouri, only 39 percent of state voters approve of his job performance and 56 percent do not.

Australia's military may allow overweight applicants and mild asthmatics to enlist as it tries to increase the number of troops. Lieutenant-General Peter Leahy, head of the Australian army, says he was confident recruitment targets would be achieved, even if they have to lower recruitment standards.

A balloon, that managed to travel over 2,500 miles from England to Iraq, was discovered by a British soldier while clearing landmines in the warn-torn country. Corporal Pete Allen found the balloon, which was released by 5-year-old Kelvin Bielunski, as part of his schools' competition to raise funds for an infant school in Peterborough, England.

A Department of Homeland Security press aide thought he was talking to a 14-year-old girl, and made comments calling his Commander in Chief a "liar. " Brian Doyle, 56, thought he was chatting with "Ashlynne," but was really talking with Polk County, Florida sheriff's detectives when he said President Bush is "nice guy but not a good president . . . he is not very bright and it is evident . . . bush is a liar . . . there were NO weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. total lie to go to war. "