By JUNE WILLIAMS 


     SEATTLE (CN) - Midas International canceled its "Lifetime Oil Change" promise after customers paid $130 for it, a class action claims in King County Court. Midas and its J&A Automotive outlet charged $129.99 for up to four oil changes a year for "lifetime," then sent letters in October 2009 canceling the deal as of Dec. 31, 2010, the class says.  

By BILL GIRDNER 

     One of the remarkable aspects of the small, affluent nation of Denmark is the ability of the Danes to speak not only passable but articulate English. That skill reflects the importance of international trade and their emphasis on education.
     But multi-cultural the nation is not. It is by and large blonde and tall and traditional.
     When the controversy erupted over Danish cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet four years ago, it seemed to me a simple matter of press freedom. I noted the solidarity of many European newspapers in re-publishing the cartoons and the deep reticence in the English and American press to do the same.
     My first conclusion was that the reticent were just wimps. But that impression has shifted.
When I was in Denmark this summer, I attended a wedding in a neighborhood of city-owned "summer houses," beat up little shacks with big gardens meant to allow Danes to get some fresh air outside the city.
     My friend Søren and his wife had fixed up their summer house modestly, with a small television inside, and, outside, a barbecue used on most summer nights and a most marvelous garden of fruit trees and raised planters for onions, leeks, eggplant, tomatoes and cucumbers.
     I recently asked Søren, who is Danish to the core, if he thought the cartoons were meant as a provocation. It was a good question.
     "I think the cartoons were a deliberate provocation meant to fuel the debate, enhance the difference between them and us, put the debate in the field of the government and DF -- and sell more newspapers."
     DF is the Danske Folkeparti, a rightwing, anti-immigrant party, that received a tremendous boost in votes from the Muslim reaction to the cartoons. Danish goods were boycotted in the Muslim world while the newspaper and individual cartoonists were subject to threats and attempted murder.
     "I'm just very frustrated to witness the way things are heading," Søren said. "I think that there a lot of reasonable, sane Danes, Muslim and non-Muslim, and we are being ignored."
     He said the often painful road already traveled by England and the United States on the way towards a mixed society is now being traveled by Denmark and other nations in Europe.
     "Denmark is on the road to a multi-cultural society, and there is no rewinding back to the imaginary old Denmark of the DF. Nor is there a fast forward to the harmony between cultures and benefits of multiculturalism we are told exists by the progressive and liberals."
     His comments on the general state of affairs in Denmark reflected a reality I had observed when I spent the better part of a summer in Denmark a long time ago, learning a fair amount of Danish and studying in Copenhagen's vast, modern and welcoming library.
     Famous keepers of statistics, the Danes showed in their numbers a surprising parallelism between the political positions of the Americans, English and Scandinavians, and the same was true of the social trends within those northern societies.
So it was at first a surprise but then a confirmation of that paralellism to hear Soren listing the difficulties facing Denmark today, a nation that I had thought was so well and reasonably run.
     "We have budget deficits, unemployment is up, kids are being killed in Afghanistan, the public health service is on its knees. The housing prices are plunging and everybody is looking for a mono-causal explanation."
     Boy does that sound familiar.
     He said the Danish conservatives offer a simple, understandable explanation in hard times and they are backed up by a willing media and extremists on both sides, while the cultural divisions within the nation are fed by a failed effort to integrate immigrants into Danish society.
     "The progressives don't seem to have real answers to the real problems the country has, none that the majority understands anyway, and while we are focusing on Muslims, burkas, sharia and halal, the real problems are being pushed ahead and will then hurt `Greek style' when they can no longer be ignored."
     So the Danes have been playing out a conflict with fundamentalist Muslims through their politics, while the U.S. has been playing out a conflict with fundamentalist Muslims through our wars.
     But underneath both those great conflicts lie the same problems: deficits, unemployment and public health. And I wonder if the dark and skeptical view of Søren is correct -- because it may well be -- that we will push away those problems until they come crashing down on us and bring the government to its knees.

By JOE HARRIS 


     ST. LOUIS (CN) - Unlike President Bill Clinton, South Butt Founder Jimmy Winkelmann did inhale, and he's not ashamed of it. Outdoor apparel maker North Face is trying to shut down South Butt on trademark claims; Winkelmann, a freshman at the University of Missouri, spoke frankly during a recent deposition. "I am not sure, but I think they were trying to embarrass me," Winkelmann said later.

By NICK WILSON 


     WASHINGTON (CN) - After spending $19 billion to fight roadside bombs, casualties from improvised explosive devices continue to rise in Afghanistan. Witnesses told legislators Wednesday how the military is trying to combat the devastating effect of the bombs with new mine-resistant vehicles and sophisticated mine detection methods. Even if a car protects passengers from the force of a blast, it can twist a fighter's head to inflict spinal damage, and cause the skull and the slower-moving brain to collide. "No helmet is able to protect against that," Brigadier Gen. Michael Brogan said.

By IZZY KAPNICK 

     ORLANDO (CN) - An Orange County judge has temporarily restricted the release of gruesome footage showing a captive orca whale killing a Sea World trainer. The court granted an injunction sought by the trainer's family, who pleaded that the underwater tapes of the attack forever stay out of the public eye.  

By DAN MCCUE 

     (CN) - A mother claims a cheerleading coach had sex with her 13-year old daughter in a bathroom after years of other sexual predations upon young girls, including fathering a child upon a 16-year-old cheerleader and inviting a 17-year-old to "come to his house, try some bath toys and play strip Monopoly."  

By SONYA ANGELICA DIEHN 

     CHEYENNE, Wyo. (CN) - An oil company sued the Bureau of Land Management because the Obama administration canceled seven oil-drilling leases it bought in Bridger-Teton National Forest for about $117,000 apiece under the Bush administration.  

By NICK WILSON 

     WASHINGTON (CN) - Republicans heaped ridicule on Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at a Wednesday hearing after LaHood suggested that bicycling and walking are just as good ways to get around as cars. To laughter, Republican House members suggested LaHood was taking drugs, dismissed the very idea of bike lanes and derided any change to a car-dependent society. "What job is going to be created by having a bike lane?" asked Ohio Republican Steven LaTourette.

By SERGIO FREZ 

     CHULA VISTA, Calif. (CN) - A woman says her bikini wax "exploded" while she put it on. She says the label of the "Gigi Brazilian Bikini Wax" didn't warn her that the wax might explode.  

By BARBARA LEONARD 

     (CN) - A family claims they contributed thousands of dollars and hours of work to LULAC because the League of United Latin American Citizens promised their children $60,000 in college scholarships - then failed to deliver them.  

By JACQUELINE J. HOLNESS 

     ATLANTA (CN) - A man claims he caught his priest "half naked ... locked in an intimate embrace" with his wife, who was "completely naked" in the parishioner's kitchen. He says he chased the holy man out of his house, and the priest left behind his shoes, watch and other belongings.  

By DAN MCCUE 

     (CN) - The Bank of Montreal claims the San Francisco Bay Guardian newspaper is trying to use a court order to shut down the competing SF Weekly, disregarding the senior lien rights of lenders to whom the SF Weekly still owns $77 million.  

By MARIMER MATOS 

     PENSACOLA, Fla. (CN) - A black law enforcement agent says sheriff's deputies Tasered and beat him and sicced a dog on him though he identified himself as a cop and, in fact, was talking on his cell phone to the sheriff's office, explaining his situation, while the deputies beat the hell out of him.  

By JOE HARRIS 

     KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CN) - A man will spend 20 years in federal prison for making a clothed child appear nude in photos. Elvon Arndt, 66, of Kansas City, agreed to the sentence in his plea bargain.

By TIM HULL 

     SACRAMENTO (CN) - A company that sends out millions of glossy direct-mail campaign ads to Republican households topped a list of California's highest-spending mass mailers, according to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

     WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CN) - Two New Jersey residents took nearly $400,000 in a foreclosure protection scam, federal prosecutors said. Andrew Bartok of Clifton and Kathleen Addario aka Kathy Adams of Saddle River raked in $44,000 a month for 9 months last year through their business, Revelations Consulting, prosecutors said.  

          MANHATTAN (CN) - Two computer programmers who worked for Bernie Madoff were charged on Wednesday with conspiracy and falsifying records, federal prosecutors said. Jerome O'Hara and George Perez are charged with maintaining programs that generated bogus records that fooled the SEC.  

By DAN MCCUE 

     HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (CN) - An experimental airplane that lost a propeller killed a jogger on the beach, officials said Tuesday. Robert Jones, 38, was listening to his iPod as he jogged, and the plane hit him from behind, Hilton Head authorities said.

By BILL GIRDNER 


     LOS ANGELES (CN) - The largest trial court system in the nation is shutting courtrooms and laying off staff in big waves as the result of a massive shortfall in its $800 million budget. Fifty courtrooms are expected to close and roughly 1,000 court workers -- 20 percent of the sprawling court system's staff -- are scheduled to be laid off by the end of the year.  

By ELIZABETH BANICKI 


     LOS ANGELES (CN) - The children of comic book artist Jack Kirby, who helped create Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and the X-Men, sued Marvel Entertainment and Disney over rights to the characters. Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion last year. The Kirby clan says their notice of termination will give them rights to the characters in 2014.  
By MARIA DINZEO 


     (CN) - A federal judge in San Jose approved a $9.5 million consumer class action settlement against Facebook, stemming from its Beacon advertising program that the class claimed violated peoples' privacy. The controversial program launched in November 2007 allowed Facebook members to view their friends' purchases at Internet retailers like Zappos, Overstock.com, Blockbuster and Hotwire.  

By MARIA DINZEO 

     CN) - A federal judge in Sacramento sided with California water agencies and contractors in their dispute with the federal government over pumping restrictions aimed at protecting endangered salmon. U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger said the government failed to take a "hard look" at how the limits would impact farms and communities vying for water.  

By SONYA ANGELICA DIEHN 


     (CN) - The European Union Court of Justice followed an adviser's opinion in ruling that soccer clubs can recover money if a young trainee signs on with another team.  

By ANNIE YOUDERIAN 

     (CN) - The 11th Circuit upheld a $20,000 fine against California attorney Orly Taitz, a leader of the "birther" movement challenging President Obama's citizenship.  

By AVERY FELLOW 

     (CN) - A California private-school student who posted death threats on a classmate's Web site isn't shielded from hate-crime allegations, because the comments weren't protected speech, a state appeals court ruled. 

By JEFF GORMAN 

     (CN) - A couple who kept two foster children in an outdoor "cage" did not abuse or neglect them, an Illinois appeals court ruled.  


     (CN) - The 9th Circuit has agreed to rehear the free-speech case of a man ousted from two Santa Cruz City Council meetings after he gave a Nazi salute to the presiding officer.  

     (CN) - A federal judge in San Francisco largely refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing police of yanking a man from a parked Cadillac without probable cause, and punching and "stomping" him until he blacked out.  

     (CN) - An air quality regulatory agency in California used the wrong baseline when it approved ConocoPhillips' plan for diesel production in Los Angeles without analyzing the project's environmental impact, the California Supreme Court ruled.  

     (CN) - Customers who claimed they were tricked into thinking that the regular prices at Carter Inc. were bargains compared to the phony "suggested" prices lost their bid to revive a class action against the children's clothing store. 

By AVERY FELLOW 

     (CN) - Oprah Winfrey must stand trial in a case accusing the talk-show host of defaming the former headmistress at a girls' school in South Africa, a federal judge in Philadelphia ruled.  

By TIM HULL 

     (CN) - The 2nd Circuit struck down most of New York's content-based restrictions on attorney advertisements, ruling that even an ad depicting giant lawyers with superhuman speed who regularly defend space aliens is not likely to mislead consumers. 

By SONYA ANGELICA DIEHN 

     (CN) - Europe's top court reports that it is processing more cases than ever. Statistics released by the Court of Justice show that its 2009 caseload increased nearly 10 percent from the previous year.  

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continues to conduct consumer research on replacement tire purchasing decisions, and seeks input on educating consumers about the effect of tires on fuel efficiency, safety and durability.  
By MATTHEW HELLER 

     A Louisiana judge has protected the satirical expression of the publisher of a "fake news" Web site from the misguided legal attack of a wildlife sanctuary that objected to a story about a killer giraffe. more

By NICK WILSON 

     WASHINGTON (CN) - Eleven Republican senators joined the Democratic majority Wednesday to pass a $35 billion jobs bill in a 68-29 vote in a break from what has been described as one of the most partisan legislatures in history.

By TRAVIS SANFORD 


     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is poised to ban the importation and interstate trade of nine species of constrictor snakes harmful to human health and native species in areas where they have escaped captivity.  

     Cumberland Packaging Corp. sued Chubb Insurance Co. for $7.3 million, claiming its "crime coverage" should include losses to Bernie Madoff, because of Madoff's crimes, in Kings County Court, Brooklyn. 

     Parents say their 5-month-old baby suffocated in an unsafe Amby Baby crib, in Portland, Ore., Federal Court. 


     United Parcel Service charges for next-day delivery service that "it knows, or should know, cannot be timely delivered," a class action claims in Brooklyn Federal Court. 

     Kalju Kahn, a chemistry lecturer at UC Santa Barbara, says KEYT-TV defamed him by broadcasting that police were looking for him on a rape charge, in Santa Barbara Superior Court. 

     Brother claims that its color laser printers will work after replacement of only the tint cartridge that has run out, but that's not the case, a class action claims in Newark Federal Court. 


     VirnetX claims Microsoft's Windows 7 violates two patents, in Tyler, Texas, Federal Court. 

     The National Wildlife Federation and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community say Michigan improperly granted permits for Kennecott Eagle Minerals to mine sulfide metallic ores, which will pollute the Salmon Trout River, according to two complaints in Washtenaw County Court, Ann Arbor. 

     Judicial Watch wants the Department of Health and Human Services to deliver documents on all White House meetings about health-care reform "behind closed doors with various groups" between Jan. 1 and 15, in a FOIA complaint in DC Federal Court. 

     Directors of Accuray inflated its share price through false and misleading statements, a class action claims in San Francisco Federal Court. 

By TRAVIS SANFORD 


     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that the world wide population of loggerhead turtles can be divided into nine distinct population segments. The agency plans to list seven of them as endangered and the remaining two as threatened, according to an agency proposal.  

     WASHINGTON (CN) - President Obama has extended by one year Executive Order 12957, which prohibits U.S. based corporations and U.S. citizens from engaging in petroleum exploration, refining or trade with Iran.