The wild weather brought trains to a halt for more than four hours between Caboolture and Gympie just after 6:30 this morning. Services were restored at 11am.Fallen trees and branches on overhead wires at Traveston and Landsborough meant passengers were stranded at stations throughout the morning peak. Read Full Story .

Smell of floating corpses adds to S.Asia flood woes

Two boys are seen drying clothes on the rooftop of their flooded home at Mohammadpur in the capital Dhaka August 21, 2007. Residents in eastern India complained on Wednesday about the smell of corpses floating in flood waters as the toll from widespread monsoon flooding in South Asia rose by 68 overnight. (REUTERS/Rafiqur Rahman) .

Shopzilla: Dangerous Kid's Backpacks

If your back-to-school shopping includes a new backpack for your kids, buyer beware. Your buying decisions could be doing more harm than good, especially if your child opts for fashion over function.

Overweight and ill-fitting backpacks are blamed for more than 7-thousand injuries in emergency rooms across the country last year alone, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In extreme cases, spinal conditions like scoliosis and kyphosis can result.

Stephanie Yellin-Mednick, a school nurse, says “In schools that don't have lockers, we see shoulders, one shoulder that's lower than the other. We see children who complain of a lot of back aches and a lot of problems. “ Backpacks can range from less than $10 to over $100. But a higher price doesn't necessarily mean a better backpack.

Keeping the Skies Friendly: Next Steps for General Aviation Security

Programs must be tailored to different types of aircraft, airfields, and aviation services. Establish a reasonable role for the private sec­tor. Security activities should be dictated by a comprehensive assessment of risks. Washington, not the private sector, is responsible for prevent­ing terrorist acts through intelligence gathering, early warning, and counterterrorism efforts. The private sector is responsible for taking reasonable anti-terrorism precautions in much the same way as society expects it to take reasonable safety and environmental precautions. The government has a role in defining what is reasonable and facilitating information sharing. A model public–private regime for the aviation industry would (1) define what is reasonable through clear performance measures, (2) create transparency and the means to measure perfor­mance, (3) establish ways for the market to reward good behavior, and (4) ensure that any "fix" does not cripple the economic viability of the aviation industry.

Retirement center evacuated for fire

A small roof fire at a retirement center in southeast Columbia caused 46 people to evacuate and $10,000 in damage, the Columbia Fire Department said. No one was injured.

Firefighters were called at about 4 p.m. to a fire on the roof of Lutheran Services at Lenoir Woods Care Center, 3300 New Haven Road, according to a news release from the fire department.

Fire crews accessed the roof with a chain saw and used a garden hose to extinguish a small fire, the news release said.

The maintenance staff told firefighters there was not enough smoke to activate the detection system. A burning smell in the South Hall leading to the special-care unit prompted the evacuation, the news release said.

Maintenance staff first noticed smoke coming from an area around the generator vent, climbed a ladder and discharged an extinguisher, the news release said.