FRAMINGHAM, Mass.—A Framingham lake has reopened to swimmers even though officials are taking seriously a teenager's claims that he spotted an alligator in the water.

Fifteen-year-old James Boudreau says he saw a 5- to 6-foot alligator in Lake Waushakum twice last week.

Police searched the lake over the weekend to no avail and Framingham's animal control officer set a trap that so far has snared just two snapping turtles.

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/07/22/framingham_lake_reopened_despite_gator_sighting/

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Scientists are hailing a new drug to treat aggressive prostate cancer as potentially the most significant advance in the field for 70 years.

Abiraterone could potentially treat up to 80% of patients with a deadly form of the disease resistant to currently available chemotherapy, they say.

The drug works by blocking the hormones which fuel the cancer.

The Institute of Cancer Research hopes a simple pill form will be available in two to three years.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7502238.stm
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The New York Times has rejected an essay that Sen. John McCain wrote defending his Iraq war policy. The piece was in response to an op-ed from Sen. Barack Obama that was published in the paper last week.

In an e-mail to the McCain campaign, Opinion Page Editor David Shipley said he could not accept the piece as written, but would be "pleased, though, to look at another draft."

In a statement released Monday, The New York Times said it is "standard procedure on our Op-Ed page, and that of other newspapers, to go back and forth with an author on his or her submission."

"We look forward to publishing Senator McCain's views in our paper just as we have in the past. We have published at least seven Op-Ed pieces by Senator McCain since 1996. The New York Times endorsed Senator McCain as the Republican candidate in the presidential primaries. We take his views very seriously," the statement said.

McCain's rejected op-ed was a lengthy critique of Obama's positions on Iraq policy, particularly his view of the surge.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/21/mccain.nyt/index.html

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The driver of a backhoe was shot and killed after driving the construction machine over a number of vehicles near the Jerusalem hotel where Sen. Barack Obama is scheduled to stay Tuesday night, according to police.

Israeli police identified the driver as a Palestinian from East Jerusalem.

The construction vehicle struck several other vehicles, including a No. 13 city bus, before an Israeli border policeman and a civilian shot and killed the driver, an Israeli government statement said.

One person was "moderately to seriously wounded," and four others sustained minor injuries in Tuesday's attack, the statement said, citing Jerusalem's police chief.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/22/israel.attack/index.html