Working in Berlin, where in winter the sun makes a cursory appearance for a few hours round about midday, can be a gloomy experience. But a new annual event, launched this week, promises to brighten up the onset of the dark winter.  During the seven-day "Festival of Lights," more than 40 buildings, public squares and streets are splashed with the kind of color that only megawatts of electricity and an army of smart light designers can create. The project was conceived one year ago by Berlin lighting designer and visionary Andreas Boehlke, who made a name for himself planning Christmas lights for the city and its corporations. He's the man responsible for bringing Christmas cheer to Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden in the city's historic center and for putting Berlin on the map as an innovator in illuminating grand architecture. Several hundred thousands of tourists turned out for the event -- and many took pictures. You can check out our snapshots in the gallery below or browse some excellent Flickr sets from Aguno  , Blrx   and Albeido  .


US Troops Allegedly Set Fire to Taliban Corpses

When the US government allowed international journalists to be embedded among its military forces, the wager was that it would be a mutually beneficial relationship: news organizations could titillate their viewers with original footage from the front lines and American soldiers would earn respect for their heroics in the line of fire. The bargain hasn't exactly worked out as planned. Last night, the Australian investigative news program Dateline shattered the Pentagon's propaganda campaign by airing a segment depicting US soldiers in Afghanistan burning the bodies of dead Taliban fighters . The gruesome footage was peppered with American taunts, and disturbing displays of barbarity: the tape caught one soldier staring at the burning corpses and observing, "Wow, look at the blood coming out of the mouth on that one, f*cking straight death metal." Human rights groups say the Geneva Conventions have been violated by the troops. The Pentagon, for its part, assures that it is investigating the matter.

The Saddam Hussein Show

Saddam Hussein's trial began on Wednesday in Baghdad with the former dictator, as pledged, entering a not-guilty plea. The trial is being shown on television and streamed over the Internet, but only after a 30-minute delay, so that the feeds can be scrubbed of images and the voices of people testifying in the case. If their identities are leaked, it is feared, they might face assasination by Saddam loyalists, who are still lurking all across Iraq as part of the insurgency. So far, MSNBC and AP are the main organizations streaming the video   -- which is entirely in Arabic -- but AP says it will add subtitles as quick as possible. In the past, you never knew if what you were seeing on television was Saddam or one of his decoys. But for the duration of the trial, you'll be able to view the Real McCoy on the Web.