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It's a classic stand-off between one of the world's best loved animals and one of its most unpopular leaders, between the planet's largest bear and its most powerful man. And it comes to a head this week.

On Thursday, by order of a federal judge, George W Bush must stop stalling on whether to designate the polar bear as a species endangered by global warming. The designation could have huge consequences for his climate-change policies; his administration would, by law, have to avoid doing anything that would "jeopardise the continued existence" of the mammal whose habitat is melting away.

Thanks to a vivid Carscoop reader who wishes to remain anonymous, you have a chance to see the first (semi) official shot of the forthcoming Nissan 370Z. The camera-phone picture was shot during a recent Nissan event. It’s apparent that the 370Z’s design is more of an evolution of the current 350Z, albeit a bit more muscular.

Dallas’s experiments in tracking truancy started three years ago. Last year, case managers used a G.P.S. system to locate a truant student on the verge of overdosing on drugs, and they discovered that a student had skipped school because he was contemplating suicide.
Educators are struggling to meet stricter state and federal mandates on attendance and graduation rates. The Dallas school system, which, like other large districts, has found it difficult to manage the large numbers of truant students, is among the first in the nation to experiment with the electronic monitoring.

Nissan reported today their fiscal year 2007 numbers and all was good with net revenue up 11.6%, operating profit up 4.7% and net income up 7.4%. Good news all around in regards to last year, but the best news comes in the future. Nissan has finalized its Value-Up plan and has entered into the Nissan GT 2012 plan which involves Ultra-Low Cost Cars, 15 new technologies every year until 2012 and 20 new models until 2012.

The Vatican's chief astronomer says there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of intelligent life on other planets that is perhaps even more evolved than humans.
"In my opinion this possibility (of life on other planets) exists," said Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, a 45-year-old Jesuit priest who is head of the Vatican Observatory and a scientific adviser to Pope Benedict.