By DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 30,10:54 AM ET

MARIETTA, Ga. - As Garin Hughes picks through his school-lunch burrito and unidentifiable apple-pear dessert, he has a secret. Hidden underneath the eighth-grader's right leg is a chocolate cookie in shrink-wrapped plastic. That's for dessert. In the past, his parents had no clue when he bought a treat at school. Now, thanks to a new school-lunch monitoring system, they can check over the Internet and learn about that secret cookie
Health officials hope it will increase parents' involvement in what their kids eat at school. It's a concern because federal health data shows that up to 30 percent of U.S. children are either overweight or obese.
"My parents do care about what I eat. They try, like, to keep up with it," said Hughes, a 14-year-old student at Marietta Middle School.
Three school districts in the Atlanta area last week became the first in the country to offer the parental-monitoring option of an electronic lunch payment system called Mealpay.com, created by Horizon Software International of Loganville, Ga.

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By Timothy Heritage
Reuters
Sunday, May 29, 2005; 10:41 PM
PARIS (Reuters) - France overwhelmingly rejected the European Union constitution on Sunday, pitching the EU deep into crisis and dealing a potentially fatal blow to a charter designed to make the enlarged bloc run smoothly.
EU leaders said after a referendum "no" vote that the treaty was not dead and member states should continue the ratification process. But British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the rejection raised profound questions about the future of the EU.

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Few car owners know of the data-collection devices in their vehicles. While valuable research tools, they may also be threats to privacy.

If you're like most people, you don't know there is a device in your vehicle that, in the event of an accident, stores information about such things as speed, throttle position, braking, and airbag deployment. It can even tell if seatbelts were buckled.

Two-thirds of the new cars sold in the U.S. and some 30 million vehicles already on the road contain such devices, officially known as event data recorders. Information from the black boxes can be critical evidence in criminal cases and lawsuits, helping convict speeders and drunk drivers and exonerate the falsely accused. The auto and insurance industries also believe such data-tracking could be invaluable in improving traffic laws and designing safer vehicles.

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By Timothy Heritage
Sun May 29, 6:55 PM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - France overwhelmingly rejected the     European Union's constitution in a referendum on Sunday, plunging the EU into crisis and dealing a potentially fatal blow to a charter designed to make the enlarged bloc run smoothly.
EU leaders in Brussels said the constitution was not dead and member states should continue the ratification process, but British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said France's rejection raised profound questions about the future of the bloc.
French President Jacques Chirac swiftly conceded defeat in a televised address to the nation as the "No" camp celebrated a crushing victory with about 56 percent of votes on the EU's first constitution, intended to simplify decision-making.

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