Nowakowski was nearing the end of his shift along Interstate 15 when a vehicle sped by at more than 95 mph in the opposite lanes.

Nowakowski crossed the median and took off after the driver, reaching speeds of 120 mph in an effort to catch up. Nowakowski said he had just decided to end the pursuit for safety reasons when one of the rear tires of his cruiser blew out, sending his patrol car careering off the highway and through a barbed-wire fence.

"This happened in a heartbeat," he said. "I had no idea."

Moments later, the man he had been trying to stop, whom the patrol identified only as a Bozeman man, was at his side at the crash scene.

Trooper David Braggs said the driver apparently was unaware that Nowakowski was trying to pull him over, but saw a large cloud of dust in his rearview mirror, knew there had been an accident and turned around to help.

The man, who later confessed to being late for an appointment, agreed to give officers a statement, and if nothing else, had the opportunity to apologize.

"It was very heartfelt," said Nowakowski. "He felt bad because there could have been some lousy consequences."

Capt. Butch Huseby of the Highway Patrol called it "amazing" and "fortunate" the trooper's car didn't roll.

"If there is an automatic inspection system, I can use this card to enter any country," Grunwald said, holding up a computer chip containing electronic information he had copied from his German passport.

The research is the latest to raise concerns about the growing use of RFID, short for radio-frequency identification, which allows everyday objects such as store merchandise, livestock and security documents to beam electronic data to computers equipped with special antennas.

Countries such as Germany already use RFID in passports to help border officials guard against forgeries and automate the processing of international visitors. U.S. officials plan to start embedding RFID in passports in October.

A State Department spokeswoman said late Saturday she did not have enough information on the matter to comment.

The presentation was one of dozens delivered at the Defcon conference being held through Sunday in Las Vegas. The conference, attended by many of the world's best-known security experts, has become an annual showcase of the latest discovered weaknesses in computers, phone equipment and other machines.

Another security professional showed how people can have their phone numbers hijacked when using certain types of equipment that route calls over the Internet.

The research, from Arias Hung, a security professional with Media Access Guard in Seattle, showed how to control the inner workings of Internet phone routers made by Linksys, which is owned by Cisco Systems Inc. of San Jose, Calif.

Once the routers are accessed, a person can change the device's so-called media access control address, which acts as a serial number that Internet phone providers such as Vonage Holdings Corp. use to verify the identity of customers. A person exploiting the flaw could intercept calls made to a legitimate Vonage user and make calls that would appear to come from the user's phone number.

"The service providers should be very concerned," Hung said. "The general consumer should stay away from this router," he said, referring to two models that Linksys designates the WRTP54G and the RTP300.

Cisco spokeswoman Molly Ford said she could not immediately comment on Hung's research.

Although Defcon focuses largely on computers, not all the research focused on circumventing high tech gizmos.

Marc Tobias, a South Dakota lawyer who authored a textbook for locksmiths, showed how a simple technique can allow a person to secretly pick the locks of most homes, businesses and post office mailboxes.

The method, known as bumping, requires a person to file down a key and then gently tap it into a lock.

"You can do this with virtually every lock," said Tobias, who is calling for a change to U.S. postal regulations to prohibit the trafficking of bump keys, which are advertised for sale on the Internet.

Refusing to employ someone who smokes tobacco is "not covered by European anti-discrimination legislation," said Katharina von Schnurbein, spokeswoman for European Labour and Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimir Spidla, confirming a report in the Financial Times .

The issue was raised by a British European deputy Catherine Stihler who questioned the commissioner over a job advertisement by an Irish company that warned smokers need not apply, Britain's financial newspaper reported.

"EU anti-discrimination law prohibits discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, disability, age, sexual orientation and religion and belief in employement and other fields," Spidla told Stihler, quoted in the FT.

"A job advertisement saying that 'smokers need not apply' would not seem to fall under any of the above-mentioned prohibited grounds," the Czech commissioner continued.

Stihler asked the EU Commission for clarification over the issue after the Irish government ruled that the advertisement had not breached any laws, the newspaper said.

Such singular incident was taken notice by the believers of occult throughout the world and merited attention from no less than prestigious TV international programs like "Showbiz Tonight" and NBC's "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann.

Of course the High Tribunal did not declare the judge "insane" per se but suffering from psychosis. An honor student during his college days and a 12th
placer in the 1983 Bar Examinations, the sacked magistrate is now enjoying his international fame and believes he has attained "immortality" together with his friends from the "elemental" realm.

But as A. J. Hammer of CNN's "Showbiz Tonight" asked why it took three long years for the highest court to decide, nobody has given a definite answer; it's mind-boggling.

In the world of esoteric or occultism which cannot be found in any legal perspectives like the positivist's theory as mentioned by the high court associate justice, yet there are believers and practitioners of "supernatural powers" like paranormal psychology or the idea of bilocation where one could be seen in two different places at the same time.

Mysticism does not sit well with any known and accepted sciences and more so on legal sciences which depend in most cases on empiricism.

And yet in many instances we are inclined to believe what Nostradamus wrote several centuries ago about his predictions on world major events like wars and assassinations of leading personalities.

If psychic phenomena have no place in the judicial plateau, then how would we explain the "a priori" of Immanuel Kant, who called his theory as "transcendental philosophy"?

How about those "spirit hunters" of those whose departure from life was consequent on horrible disasters?

While the former judge finds some kind of happiness of being "immortalized" in TV and print media all over the world, there could be answers in the near future the role of paranormal psychology in our lives.

How could we explain extra-sensory perceptions in layman's language and relate to the functions of the law? At present, we adhere faithfully to the verifiability principle in contrast to subjectivism?

This is not a brief for the ousted judge but the issues involved vis-à-vis his claim of being possessed of "psychic powers" must be inquired into thoroughly by those engaged in the same level of phenomenon.

Psychosis is a broad concept about one's mental processes and actuations, but in the inquiry conducted on the judge did not disclose any decision he has rendered marked with psychotic inclination or one with bizarre exposition of his thoughts.

With the unusual reaction of the occult believers all over the world, those engaged in neuro-sciences could very well take the case of the said judge for further studies, if only to show that friendly elementals do exist as well as the thoughts coming out in a trance.

We have to flesh out any substance or which may empirically suggests the "psychotic mind" and distinguish it from a deranged mental process. In reality, in total darkness the ears become subsidiary which enables us to know or hazard a guess.

If psychosis had taken hold of the former judge, his reputation of "being abnormal" person may have radically changed. This stigma shall forever his nameplate and his capacity to render legal service may be suspect.

Skeptics have found non-biological explanations for every piece of evidence that was presented on Aug. 6, 1996. And though they still vigorously defend their claim, the NASA scientists who advanced it now stand alone in their belief.

"We certainly have not convinced the community, and that's been a little bit disappointing," said David McKay, a NASA biochemist and leader of the team that started the scientific episode.

But even though the majority of his colleagues don't buy his "life on Mars" theory - McKay's own brother, also a NASA scientist, is one of his most prominent critics - many say they respect him and greatly appreciate his efforts.

The announcement and the technical paper that followed it practically created exobiology, the scientific field that investigates the potential for life on other planets.

"Without that paper I wouldn't be working in this field," said Martin Fisk, a marine geologist who studies how bacteria survive under the sea floor, partly because their harsh environment may resemble that of extraterrestrial life.

Debating the claim has helped researchers develop standards that will eventually prove useful for evaluating the presence of life in other Martian meteorites or a sample from the red planet. It has given the scientific community ideas about exactly where on the planet they would most like to scoop up a sample, should they ever get to retrieve one.

And it is undeniable that McKay and his colleagues have drawn attention to what is - whether it contains evidence of life or not - a very interesting rock.

The rock in question was discovered in Antarctica, where rocks that fall from the heavens are easy to spot on the icy glacial plains. Its name, ALH84001, indicates that it was the first meteorite found during the 1984 research season in the Allan Hills, an especially meteorite-rich area in the Trans-Antarctic Mountains.

At first ALH84001 was misclassified, so it wasn't until 1993 that researchers even realized the rock came from Mars. That was interesting enough, because at the time fewer than a dozen Martian meteorites were known to science.

But ALH84001 also turned out to be much more ancient than the other known Martian meteorites. At 4.5 billion years old, it dates from a period of Martian history when liquid water - a requirement for the presence of life - probably existed at the now barren planet's surface.

It made sense to ask: Could there be fossils of ancient Martian microbes, or maybe traces of them, preserved in the cracks and pore spaces of ALH84001?

The NASA scientists proffered four reasons to support their view that the answer to that question is "Yes."

First, chemical analysis showed that the meteorite contained a variety of organic molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. PAHs can be produced by biological processes, and that's what McKay and his colleagues argued. But they are also commonly found in asteroids, comets and meteorites, not to mention the Antarctic ice where ALH84001 is estimated to have lain for 13,000 years. For that reason, skeptics immediately dismissed the importance of PAHs in the Martian meteorite.

A second line of evidence - that the elongated blobs in the electron microscope images could be fossils of ancient Martian bacteria - was also rejected pretty quickly by most scientists.

The problem was, those blobs were much smaller than any bacteria that have ever been observed on Earth. A
National Research Council panel concluded in 1998 that the blobs were 100 to 1,000 times too small to be free-living organisms because they couldn't have held all the proteins, DNA and other molecules necessary for even the simplest metabolic processes.

You could argue that perhaps Martian life evolved a more compact biochemistry, or that the blobs shriveled as they fossilized. At one point McKay and the other NASA scientists suggested the blobs might be pieces of larger organisms.

"That was only mentioned once or twice and never brought up again," said Allan Treiman, a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

The two other lines of evidence survived longer. Both revolved around minerals sprinkled through the meteorite that could have been produced by microbes.

The first mineral, carbonate, is typically formed on earth by the remains of living organisms that make shells and other skeletal parts out of minerals they extract from seawater. Some of those organisms can be quite tiny. So finding carbonate in ALH84001 could indicate the presence of ancient microbes in the rock.

The story is similar for magnetite, the other mineral of interest in ALH84001. Some bacteria produce extraordinarily small and pure magnetite crystals, then align the magnetic grains to make a microscopic compass needle that helps them navigate.

The bacteria don't use their internal compasses to find north; they use them to tell up from down. Earth's spherical shape means that a compass needle in either hemisphere points at least somewhat downward, so the magnetite grains help the microbes sense where they are with respect to the planet's surface.

Some of the most evolutionarily ancient bacteria on Earth produce magnetite, McKay and his colleagues pointed out. Perhaps ancient Martian microbes did as well; at least some of the magnetite grains in ALH84001 share the shape, small size and remarkable purity of those produced by bacteria on Earth.

Of all the lines of evidence presented by the NASA scientists, it was the magnetite grains that proved most provocative. They were embedded in the carbonate along with other iron-containing minerals in such an unusual arrangement that something out of the ordinary must have put them there - could it have been alive?

"The shape of the magnetite grains is still rather distinctive," McKay said. "If it were found on Earth it would be a very strong biosignature."

For years McKay and his detractors argued about how distinctive the magnetite grains in ALH84001 are, and whether a non-biological process could have produced them. Certainly nobody had ever produced similar magnetite grains in the laboratory.

Then somebody did. In 2001 a second team of NASA scientists, including McKay's brother Gordon and a consultant to the space agency named D.C. Golden, managed to cook up a batch of magnetite grains very similar to the ones in ALH84001. Golden and Gordon McKay were also able to incorporate the magnetite grains into balls of carbonate like the ones David McKay and his colleagues described in 1996.

"He got a little testy about the results we were getting," said Gordon McKay, whose office is down the hall from his brother's. "What we have shown is that it is possible to form these things inorganically."

What's more, their laboratory method simulated conditions ALH84001 is known to have experienced during its time on Mars.

Yet David McKay insists his brother's team has not accurately described the synthetic crystals' shape, and that they aren't sufficiently similar to the ones found in ALH84001. He also suggests that the purity of the magnetite crystals stems not from the lab process itself, but from using unrealistically pure raw materials as a starting point.

Most of the scientific community doesn't buy those arguments.

"Personally I don't understand why (Gordon McKay's and) Golden's work hasn't just been the final word on it," said Treiman, the Lunar and Planetary Institute geologist.

Now David McKay has added another meteorite to the mix. At a March scientific meeting he presented microscopic images of the Nakhla meteorite, another Martian specimen. The pictures resemble pits that terrestrial bacteria create as they literally eat the volcanic rock of the sea floor.

"When I first saw it I was really struck by the similarity," said marine geologist Fisk, who is a professor at Oregon State University.

So far the scientific community hasn't shown much interest in David McKay's analysis of the Nakhla meteorite, partly because it dates from a more recent period of Martian history when the planet was just as frigid and inhospitable to life as it is today. In fact all of the 30-some Martian meteorites now known to science, with the exception of ALH84001, are probably too young to have contained living organisms.

But new Martian meteorites turn up almost every year. Eventually, another 4.5 billion-year-old piece of the red planet is going to be discovered.

"Sooner or later we're going to get another old rock," said Massachusetts Institute of Technology geophysicist Benjamin Weiss.

And when that happens, the talk about life on Mars will begin anew.

An MoD spokeswoman said: "We examine any UFO sighting reports to establish whether there is any evidence to suggest that UK airspace has been compromised by hostile or unauthorised air activity."

The probe is under way after Seaham couple Harry and Elizabeth McCall filmed the orbs flying over the town last Saturday night.

Mr McCall, 67, told the Echo: "They were silent, as if they were floating. There was no noise.

"It was unbelievaable and until someone convinces me otherwise, they were UFOs."

Since then Echo readers from Westlea, Eastlea, Northlea, Deneside, Dalton-le-Dale, and Hollycarrside, in Sunderland, have reported seeing the lights.

UFO Hunters, a national organisation which researches and compiles information about sightings internationally, has also appealed for witnesses to get in touch.

Its leader, Russ Kellett, wants any UFO spotters to file reports on its website, www.ufo-paranormal.co.uk, or call him on 01723 514700 so he can start his own investigation.
North East-based UFO expert Alfred Dodds receives an average of three reports a year of sightings in the region.

Mr Dodds, 68, who runs the Northumberland UFO Research Centre, has been interested in the subject since the age of 10 and has never heard of any local sightings like those made last weekend.

He said: "There have been similar sightings, but mainly abroad.

"The problem is you see is that we don't know what is being developed in technology and who is developing it.
"It's mainly America, which we have seen recently in the press.

"There are a lot of triangle sightings, with three lights and then a larger central light. This doesn't sound like that at all.

"There is usually an explanation for most things, but there is about five per cent that are unexplained."

lReports to the MOD can be sent to the Directorate of Air Staff - Freedom of Information, 5th Floor, Zone H, Main Building, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2HB.

A 24-hour answerphone, where people can leave a name and contact details, can also be reached at 020 7218 2140 or people can email das-ufo-office@mod.uk.

"The whole passport design is totally brain damaged," Mr Grunwald told Wired.com. "From my point of view all of these [biometric] passports are a huge waste of money - they're not increasing security at all." Since March anyone applying for a UK passport has been issued with a biometric version, which contains physical identification information.

Mr Grunwald said his discovery was made within two weeks of first attempting to copy the data, and the equipment used cost $200 (£105). It is believed the hacking principle could be applied to any new passport issued in Britain, the US and other countries. But the findings do not mean that all biometric information could be faked or altered by criminals. Although the data held on a passport chip is not encrypted, it is not yet possible to change the cloned data without alerting the authorities.

The Home Office said yesterday that the UK biometric passport was one of the most secure in the world and while it might be possible to copy the chip data it was not possible to modify or manipulate any of the data. Last week the House of Commons' science and technology committee called on the government to reconsider the technology behind the biometric ID scheme.

"I feel really bad for Mel," Swayze told GMTV. "He's a good guy, we have been in each other's lives for a long time.

"He is not anti-Semitic. People say stupid things when they happen to have a few (drinks), and especially if you don't drink anymore, or have limited your drinking for a long time.

"Everybody else gets to be allowed to have a stupid moment and nobody knows about it or cares the next day," he said. "So it makes it difficult when your life is under the microscope."

Foster has also came out in Gibson's defense.

"Someone told me what had happened, and I said, 'That is just so not true'," she was quoted as saying in the Los Angeles Times on Friday.

"Is he an anti-Semite? Absolutely not," Foster said. "But it's no secret that he has always fought a terrible battle with alcoholism. I just wish I had been there, that I had been able to say, 'Don't do it. Don't take that drink'."

Asked if he thought Gibson's career had effectively been ended by his remarks, Swayze said: "No way, are you kidding me? A man that talented? You don't put somebody down like that, you can try -- they've tried in my world."

Gibson, who holds strong conservative Catholic religious and political views and whose father is a Holocaust denier, has apologized for the outburst and entered a rehabilitation program to treat alcoholism.

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