ATHENS, Greece (PNN) - September 1, 2011 - Tax evasion in Greece threatened to take organized form on Thursday when café and restaurant owners refused to pay a 10-point VAT rise, as a deep recession clashes with the government’s increasingly desperate search for revenue.

The steep rise in value added tax on the hospitality sector from 13%- 23% is part of a package of fiscal measures agreed to in return for the country’s second financial rescue by European Union partners.

But for many of Greece’s ubiquitous cafés and souvlaki stands, which have already seen a 20-40% decline in business in the past year as customers rein in spending, the VAT rise is the final straw.

TRIPOLI, Libya - September 1, 2011 - Moammar Qaddafi warned from hiding Thursday that tribes loyal to him were well-armed and preparing for battle, hours after terrorist rebels hoping for a peaceful surrender extended the deadline for loyalist forces to give up in the long time Libyan leader's hometown.

LONDON, England - September 1, 2011 - It will cost £220,000 to produce and will probably have the slippery texture of squid or scallops. But scientists are salivating over the prospect of the world’s first test-tube burger, which could be less than a year away.

Sausages and other processed meat products could swiftly follow, although pork chops and sirloin steaks will be much more problematic.

ROME, Italy - August 31, 2011 - If you’re a small town mayor unhappy with your national government, there’s one thing you can do: declare independence and start issuing currency with your face on it. Just ask the mayor of Filettino, Italy.

Italy is right in the middle of the larger sovereign debt crisis going on in Europe, which is shaking the confidence of markets across the globe. The Italian government has issued a number of austerity measures to get its books in order, including plans to merge the governments of towns with less than 1,000 people to cut costs. That’s a total of 1,963 towns.

But Luca Sellari, the mayor of Filettino, Italy, is fighting back. Rather than give in to the national government’s demands, Sellari wants his central Italian town of 598 to become an independent state under a monarch. Who would be the monarch, you ask? Well, Sellari, of course.

ITHACA, New York - August 30, 2011 - Whether a research team at the esteemed Cornell University falls into the insane category remains to be seen, but they may be skating along the edge of sanity - and perhaps playing a deadly form of quantum Russian roulette - with the entire universe at stake.

What has created this disconcerting state of affairs?

Certifiably brilliant scientist Mordechay (Moti) Fridman and his tenacious team of "time bandits" have succeeded in punching a hole in the fabric of time by compressing and decompressing it.

LONDON, England - August 19, 2011 - Scientists have embarked further down the road to genetic engineering than ever before, by altering chicken DNA to create embryos with alligator-like snouts instead of beaks.

Experts changed the DNA of chicken embryos in the early stage of their development, enabling them to give the creatures snouts, which are thought to have been lost in the cretaceous period millions of years ago.

WASHINGTON - August 10, 2011 - Privacy is a major concern in today's day and age, whether regulators are calling Facebook out on its invasive features like facial recognition or consumers are worrying about new camera technology like license plate recognition and red light cameras.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is giving the American people a whole new list of worries in the realm of privacy. According to recent reports, DHS is planning to duplicate the FBI's Terrorist Screening Database to expand an extensive database called Watchlist Service, which will include names, birthdays, photos and biometrics of the accused.

LONDON, England - August 16, 2011 - It might look like a poorly drawn picture of an alien, but this is actually one of the most advanced types of skin ever made - that can even stop bullets.

Researchers genetically engineered goats to produce milk that is packed with the same protein as silk spiders.

Once this is milked it can be spun out and weaved into a material that is ten times stronger than steel.

The fabric can then be blended with human skin to make what the scientists hope will be tough enough to stop even a bullet.

CHICAGO, Illinois – August 11, 2011 - You no longer have to look like a Star Trek Borg to wear skin-mounted electronics. A team of scientists and engineers at the University of Illinois has developed a “smart skin” that can be used to connect wearers to the cyber-world as easily as sticking on a temporary tattoo.

LONDON, England - August 8, 2011 - Jackie Onassis believed that Lyndon B Johnson and a cabal of Texas tycoons were involved in the assassination of her husband, John F. Kennedy, “explosive” recordings are set to reveal.

The secret tapes will show that the former first lady felt that her husband’s successor was at the heart of the plot to murder him.