news: the carrot, the stick and Waldo

-- (Reuters) - Dubai's government will pay residents in gold for losing those extra pounds as part of a government campaign to fight growing obesity in the Gulf Arab emirate.
The 30-day weight-loss challenge was launched on Friday to coincide with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when the faithful refrain from eating and drinking during daylight hours.

 -- WASHINGTON (AP) - During the bleakest days of the Great Recession, Congress agreed in bipartisan votes to bail out two of Detroit's biggest businesses, General Motors and Chrysler.
Today, however, there seems little appetite from either Democrats or Republicans in Washington for a federal rescue of the birthplace of the automobile industry. Detroit now stands as the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy protection.

-- A strange creature with a delicate, translucent shell and long, slender tentacles has been recognized as a new species, researchers say.
The unusual beast, Waldo arthuri, is a type of tiny clam that lurks among the spines of sea urchins.