Germany is shutting down its nuclear program. Do you agree with the decision? - Wall Street Journal

Germany said it would close all of its 17 nuclear reactors by 2022, a sharp policy reversal that will make it the first major economy to quit atomic power in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan. What do you think? Is the plan an over-reaction to recent events in Japan? Can nuclear energy be safe and reliable, in a world of unforseen natural disasters and purposeful hacker attacks? Are safe, sustainable alternative forms of energy ready to fuel the needs of the industrialized world?

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Three drunk lads rescued after setting sail in dinghy with just one paddle - Mirror.co.uk

THREE drunk lads who set out to sea in a dinghy with just one paddle were rescued yesterday after drifting for 11 hours.

The trio, aged 15 to 25 wearing shorts and T-shirts, set off at 9pm on Saturday from Littlehampton, West Sussex.

They were spotted at 8am by a birdwatcher who saw them waving for help two miles out.

An RNLI crew picked them up. Thinking they had made it across the Channel to France, the three lads greeted baffled rescuers with "bonjour".

They were treated for hypothermia at Worthing Hospital and discharged.

Apology fails to silence questions over phone hacking - Financial Times

An apology to victims of phone-hacking published in Sunday's News of the World has failed to deter calls for a thoroughgoing investigation of the practice at Rupert Murdoch's newspapers and beyond.

"Here today, we publicly and unreservedly apologise to all such individuals," NoW said to an unspecified number of victims of voicemail interception between 2004 and 2006. "What happened to them should not have happened. It was and remains unacceptable."

Archbishop of Westminster says Cameron 'Big Society' is toothless - Mirror.co.uk

DAVID Cameron's "Big Society" could allow ministers to dodge responsibility for the impact of spending cuts, the head of the ­Catholic church in England warned last night.

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols has supported the Prime Minister's call for an expansion of voluntary engagement. But he said the philosophy lacked substance and was at a "critical point" as people started to feel the pain of public service cuts.

The Government could not simply "cut ­expenditure and expect that the slack will be taken up by greater voluntary activity", he said in a newspaper interview.

31000 residents of Southern Cross Healthcare homes face uncertain future - Mirror.co.uk

ABOUT 31,000 elderly people could be made homeless after a care home provider was plunged into fresh chaos.

Shares in Southern Cross Healthcare, which runs 750 homes, sank 60% yesterday as it revealed it may not be able to pay off its debts.

Its losses doubled to £47.4million in the year to September 2010.

The Darlington-based group blames a fall in local authority funding and higher rents and is appealing for help from the Government.

GMB union boss Paul Kenny said: "These 750 care homes aren't failing factories. They are an essential part of every community."

Gaddafi offers to oversee reform, say aides - Financial Times

Muammer Gaddafi has been offering to reform Libya's political system and pass power to one of his sons during a transition period as he seeks a way out of the Libya crisis, according to diplomats and former government officials.

As a United Nations envoy prepares to head to Tripoli in search of a political solution that western powers insist must include Col Gaddafi's departure, some of the leader's children are believed to be exploring exit options for the family.

An E. coli outbreak from around the world - USA Today

Farmer Tobias Haack drives a tractor over 100,00 heads of romaine, iceberg and 10 other types of lettuce in order to mulch them back into the ground at one of his fields near Hamburg, Germany. Vegetable farmers in northern Germany are facing a crisis as public reaction to the E. coli outbreak has brought vegetable sales to a near halt.

Haack says he usually sells 1,000 crates of lettuce a day, though currently he is selling about 40. "I hope they don't leave us hanging," he says of the German government, and considers current discussions of low-interest loans to stricken farmers unhelpful. He says if the crisis continues he will face severe financial problems within two to three weeks.