The state Bridge Task Force released a report on Wednesday asserting that New York's 49 deck trusses are safe for traveling. The report also confirmed that the bridge inspection procedures that are in place at the moment are adequate. The mass inspection was ordered by New York governor Eliot Spitzer following the collapse of a Minneapolis deck truss bridge in August.

Frantic calls from New Hampshire to Canada about strange lights in the sky had police scrambling to look for unidentified flying objects only to find out the fireballs coincided with Monday evening's launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A defense agency spokesman described the launch was for a "national security satellite. "

A man and a dog were joined in matrimony last Sunday through a traditional Hindu ritual, as an attempt from the man to be cleansed of his sin of stoning two dogs to death. The marriage took place at a temple in Tamil Nadu, located south of India, upon the advice of an astrologer who revealed that doing so would be the only way for Selva Kumar, 33, to atone for his evil deed, which involved Kumar stoning and clubbing to death two dogs he found mating. Afterwards he strung the bodies up a tree.

Two lesser pandas at a zoo in Kawasaki have drawn and fascinated visitors with their frequent daily mouth-to-mouth kissing. According to the Kyodo News the two pandas, both named Yuyu, were at first seen with the already-unusual habit of displaying behaviors similar to kissing on a regular basis early this year. A more astonishing development took place after the pandas have suddenly been seen engaging in such act several times in one day in their habitat at the Kawasaki Yumemigasaki Zoological Park.

A lawmaker has filed a measure that seeks to impose a 10 percent tax on all flavored or colored syrups being used in the manufacture of softdrinks. Rep. Danilo Suarez (3rd District, Quezon) said the main purpose of House Bill 595 is to discourage inclusion of softdrinks in the Filipino diet, which he believes will help avoid some of the health problems that frequent soda drinking bring.