The U.S. semi-automatic ban: "The ban on magazines and firearms -- passed in 1994 -- represents one of the most hated pieces of gun control ever enacted. But with less than two months to go (and Congress being in recess most of that time), the ban is scheduled to sunset on September 13, 2004. Anti-gun Senator Dianne Feinstein, however, is not giving up and is pushing hard to get the semi-auto ban tacked on to some other bill."

"A farmer has been arrested after allegedly shooting an intruder he found on his property. The injured man is now under police guard in hospital. Lucy Kite reports. The shooting happened here at Keys farm in Ockbrook near Derby. Around 6 o'clock this morning. The farmer, a 73 year old man discovered an intruder apparently trying to break in to his garage and called the police. As the burglar fled the farmer fired a shot gun. ... Detectives say the farmer had been burgled on two other occasions in the past three weeks."

Swiss stick to their guns: "Even Switzerland's defence minister Samuel Schmid admitted he was thinking the unthinkable this week when he mooted the end of an age-old tradition that has turned every fit young Swiss man into a combat-ready pillar of the country's defence force. Schmid triggered an outcry on August 2 when he raised the idea of abolishing conscription, which in Switzerland uniquely translates into several weeks service a year with the militia army for each adult male until the age of 30. ... Next month Switzerland's government is due to discuss Schmid's suggestion, which is at one extreme of a range of options the defence ministry is floating for the long-term future."