Cool Foreign News You're Probably Not Reading Beacuse You're Obsessed With Sarah Palin

Some dispatches from correspondents flung far and wide:

The Guardian reports on how the major domos in the Yakuza, Japan's version of the Mafia, are trying to skirt laws that make them liable for crimes committed by their henchmen.

The Times of India has word on how the winner of Mr. Gay UK is now on trial for killing a man, and then cooking and chewing on pieces of the unfortunate chap. But it stands to reason. Defendant Anthony Morley has worked as a chef.

The Sun is very pleased with itself a day after an expose that found Starbucks outlets in the UK are told to leave tap water running all day, wasting 23 million liters of water daily. After the story ran, the chain reversed its policy.

The Globe and Mail has word on a gym in North Vancouver that caters to parents who want their kids pumping iron as soon as age eight. Soon they'll want to mix in some HGH with their Lucky Charms.

And The New York Times, one of the few U.S. papers that still has foreign correspondents (after the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, can you think of any more?), has sad news out of China that attempts to get two giant turtles to engage in a little terrapin nooky have gone for naught.