China to spend $14 bn to clean up toxic lake; FEMA apologizes for sham press briefing...

27 October :: China plans to spend $14.4 billion to clean up Lake Tai, 3rd largest fresh-water lake in country, affected by direct toxic dumping, rampant algal bloom that cut off drinking water to Wuxi, a city of 2.3 million; according to IHT "Lake Tai, known as China's ancient "land of rice and fish," is a legendary setting, once famous for its bounty of white shrimp, whitebait and whitefish. But over time, an industrial buildup transformed the region. More than 2,800 chemical factories arose around the lake, and industrial dumping became a severe problem and, eventually, a crisis"... FEMA has apologized for staging a sham press conference; the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave reporters from around the country only 15 minutes' notice to attend, then had its own public affairs personnel pose questions... DR Congo, US leaders meet to discuss the humanitarian, security situation, as well as economic policies, political viability; fighting in far east of sub-Saharan nation of major concern, rebels say they are fighting to protect the population from outsiders who fled Rwanda after their campaign of genocide there was ended... Georgia Supreme Court orders 21-year-old man freed who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having consensual oral sex at 17 with 15-year-old, saying the extreme sentence violated Constitutional protection against "cruel and unusual punishment"; court found the sentence "grossly disproportionate", that the activity considered criminal by then state law "did not rise to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children"... CNN reports "An eastern Kentucky school district with one confirmed case of antibiotic-resistant staph infection plans to shut down all 23 of its schools Monday, affecting about 10,300 students, to disinfect the facilities"; drug resistant bacterium suspected of infecting 90,000 Americans per year...