Florida considers Christian license plate

MIAMI, Florida (AP) — Florida drivers can order more than 100 specialty license plates celebrating everything from manatees to the Miami Heat, but one now under consideration would be the first in the nation to explicitly promote a specific religion.

The Florida Legislature is considering a specialty plate with a design that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words “I Believe.”

Rep. Edward Bullard, the plate’s sponsor, said people who “believe in their college or university” or “believe in their football team” already have license plates they can buy. The new design is a chance for others to put a tag on their cars with “something they believe in,” he said.

If the plate is approved, Florida would become the first state to have a license plate featuring a religious symbol that’s not part of a college logo. Approval would almost certainly face a court challenge.

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U.S. businessman aims to bring ‘badly needed’ fun to Baghdad

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Llewellyn Werner acknowledges he is facing obstacles most amusement park developers never have to deal with. Such as mortar attacks, stray gunfire and random looting.

But when you’re building your amusement park in downtown Baghdad, those risks come with the territory.

The California businessman is pouring millions of dollars into developing the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive U.S.-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum.

“The people of Iraq need this kind of positive influence. It’s going to have a huge psychological impact,” said Mr. Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles based holding company for private-equity firms.

The mayor of Baghdad has granted Mr. Werner a 50-year lease on a development property for an undisclosed sum.

The 20-hectare swath of land, which sits adjacent to the Green Zone and encompasses the Baghdad Zoo, was looted, left without power and largely abandoned after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

In the years that followed, it became an occasional target for insurgent attacks.

However, in recent months, Iraqi families have begun to return to the area for weekend picnics. Renovations have already begun on the zoo, with cages being repainted and new animals arriving, including ostriches, bears and a lion.

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The new shoes that grow with children’s feet

It’s an expensive exercise keeping children in shoes, as any parent would attest.

All too often, the little darlings are bursting out of their new ones before the soles have been scuffed.

But one inventor claims to have found the solution – shoes that grow with the feet.

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