Shelbyville's post office is taking precautions to make sure the potentially deadly MRSA or "staph" infection isn't spread through the mail after two employees became infected with the bacteria. The T-G received a call Thursday from a concerned citizen who claimed that Shelbyville's postmaster Larry Ellis was allowing a postal employee with a staph infection to continue to work, possibly exposing the public to the bug... .

Singapore apologizes for terror escape

The Singapore government apologized Thursday for the security lapse that allowed a suspected Islamic terrorist leader to escape from jail, triggering a manhunt across this usually well-policed island nation.</p><p>Authorities said Mas Selamat Kastari, who once allegedly plotted to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's international airport, slipped away Wednesday. He is said to be commander of the Singapore arm of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian extremist group allied with al-Qaida.</p><p>Minister of Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng said Mas Selamat escaped after being taken from his cell to go to a room for a scheduled visit by his family at the Whitley Road Detention Center, which is in a wooded residential area in central Singapore.</p><p>Mas Selamat, 47, was allowed to first go to the restroom and escaped from the heavily guarded facility, Wong said in Parliament, without offering any specifics.</p><p>"This should never have happened," said Wong, who is also deputy prime minister.

Hillary's Mutnemom!

It's the same show that they broadcast. They better hope it doesn't catch on too rapidly--after all, what if everyone got their news this way? Wouldn't NBC be in trouble? It's not that I wouldn't pay money for their product. But they've been protected by their position as holder of scarce broadcast frequencies. Once the Nightly News is just another Webcast, competition will be fierce--barriers to entry in the Webcasting business, it seems, are close to zero. There will be 50 or 500 competing Webcasts, not two. Advantage: Pajamas! I suppose I'm the last guy to have figured this out. ... P.S.: Does this mean Katie Couric's salary will go down or up? Someone who can increase market share in a competitive industry, after all, might be all the more precious. ... 8:24 P.M.

The only way in which these elections may lead to a US withdrawal is that they will ensconce parliamentarians who want the US out on a short timetable.