Inspirational and good news.
North Korea is reported to be willing to stop its nuclear program. 
They will continue to make use of nuclear reactors, although the Bush administration is demanding they stop that too.
International talks have been more successful than previously thought and are moving along rather amiably. The North Koreans and Americans have been using diplomatic channels to create a good atmosphere for the upcoming talks.
Acclaimed writer and journalist Hunter S. Thompson was remembered by his friends and loved ones this month with a ceremonial firing of a cannon containing his ashes. The ashes were sent off from a 150ft tower topped by a red fist with two thumbs – the symbol of Thompson’s free-wheeling, first-person gonzo journalism, and were accompanied by explosive fireworks. Hunters wife Anita commented that Thompson always enjoyed explosions. These included many that he himself let off (firing guns at his secluded Colorado ranch, igniting smoke-bombs in the lavatory of his local pubactor, and lets not forget the final explosion which took his life in February).
Johnny Depp, who portrayed Hunter in the film ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’, donated the cannon for the ceremony and friends in attendance were instructed to remember him afterwards with the clink of ice in whiskey.
This is one of the coolest conclusions to a life that I have ever witnessed and certainly puts a positive spin on the end of exsistance for such a literary marvel. Talk about going out with a BANG!!