The truth of the matter is that action beats reaction most of the time, of course, and so police mortality rates, in the line of duty, were relatively high. Then the trend shifted toward officer survival, with techniques taught for bringing firearms to bear safely in situations where there was a reasonable and heightened likelihood that a suspect may bring deadly force to bear. This resulted in much lower officer death rates, as well as lower rates of criminal deadly force usage in comparable incidents, since suspects who otherwise might have used a knife or gun realized that the officers "had the drop" on them. Criminals usually don't want to die either. When the boys in blue bring the guns out, the criminals almost always give up.

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday deplored attacks in "countries including Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Britain".

Israel said he had failed to mention a 12 July suicide bombing in Netanya that killed five Israelis.

The foreign ministry said it would be interpreted as "granting legitimacy to... terrorist attacks against Jews".

"We expected that the new Pope, who on taking office emphasised the importance he places on relations between the Church and the Jewish people, would behave differently," the ministry said in a statement.

I don’t know how her appeal translates to a real value in livestock, though. Derek at Weapons of Mass Distraction, however, is onto the story:

Former US president Bill Clinton has been offered 40 goats and 20 cows for his daughter by a love-struck African government official.

Mr Clinton was offered the deal on a recent trip to Kenya.

He was offered the animals as a traditional African way of getting a father to give away his daughter's hand in marriage.

The dowry is a very generous one by the country's own standards.