A Japanese research team is planning to run a campaign on environmental awareness by entering a racecar that runs on cooking oil, used to fry tempura, in the Dakar rally. Hidefumi Onaka, a lecturer at the Osaka Sangyo University, said Toyota's Land Cruiser 100 would be the first racecar to run on bio-diesel in the prestigious sporting event. Onaka told the Canadian Press, "We want to show what tempura oil can achieve, as a way to raise environmental awareness. . . We're not doing it just for fun, so we decided to enter an internationally acclaimed event and appeal to the world. "

On July 11, Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corp. gave President George W. Bush a pair of red, white and blue patriotic wingtips when he visited their factory in Port Washington. However, the company is now saying that they will not duplicate the shoes for anyone else.

Sex workers in Vegas are advocating respect for their profession in Sin City. Prostitutes demonstrated on the steps of the courthouse in downtown Las Vegas. Hookers and strippers demanded more legal protection in an effort to decriminalize the "world's oldest profession. " Thirty-six-year-old ex-Army Reservist, Starchild, stood in solidarity with the rallying sex workers in Las Vegas. He emphatically claimed his seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Fist fights broke out and police made a handful of arrests at a neo-Nazi rally today before a march through a predominantly black neighborhood. About 30 members of the National Socialist Movement, many wearing khaki uniforms, black boots and red armbands with swastikas, marched through the historically black neighborhood of Parramore.