Free Republic

Unlikely stories of 2003 PARIS, Dec 18 (AFP) - Every year, thousands of news stories get overlooked, lost beneath the welter of major international events. They are, for the most part, simple matters with a human dimension, not involving world leaders, war or other political upheaval, stories which illustrate the extraordinary in the everyday, the amusing, absurd, outlandish and the downright bizarre occurrences which can befall any of us. Here, then, is a selection of some of those "offbeat" stories which offer an insight into human nature but which may have been overshadowed by more weightier news items in 2003:...

11 killed in new Iraq ambush attempt. 16/12/2003. ABC News Online This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1011419.htm Last Update: Tuesday, December 16, 2003. 8:58pm (AEDT) US troops on patrol in Samarra (Reuters) 11 killed in new Iraq ambush attempt United States troops have killed 11 Iraqi guerrillas who tried to ambush their force in a town north of Baghdad. A US military statement says US forces suffered no casualties in the incident in the town of Samarra, 100 kilometres north of Baghdad. "Task Force Ironhorse soldiers travelling through the city of Samarra repelled a complex ambush...and killed 11...

Iraq-US-Sahhaf-wanted 04-29 0373 US forces turn down Sahhaf's surrender overtures: Arabic daily CAIRO, April 29 (AFP) - Iraq's former information minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf, who denied to the end the presence of US forces in Baghdad, was turned down by US troops after trying to turn himself in, said the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday, citing a Kurdish official. Sahhaf has been at his aunt's house in Baghdad for the past four days and had wanted US troops to arrest him so that "they can protect him" but they refused since he was not on their "most wanted"...

Iraqi minister claims human shields bombed by US aircraft .. on BBC & CNN now

The thin men sitting in the hut are the lucky ones: Iraqi soldiers who escaped U.S. bombs and Saddam's "execution committees." .... All of the Iraqi soldiers speak of their fear of their commanding officers and the armed security men who make sure that no one defects. The term the soldiers use is "execution committee." The men say the officers warned them that if they do successfully surrender, they will be killed by the Kurds, so they shouldn't think about it. "Qasim Daragi," a soldier from Baghdad who was stationed not far from Falah Tal Afar, also fled the Thursday...

ELEANOR HALL: Well, now as you say, you have produced your own estimates. WILLIAM NORDHAUS: Yes. ELEANOR HALL: What sort of things have you considered in calculating the cost of this possible new war in Iraq? WILLIAM NORDHAUS: One of the things that came out of if that I was quite surprised by was if you actually look at the costs, that the military costs tend to be a very small fraction of the total cost. So when I, when I reckoned the total costs, they ranged, they include obviously the direct military costs, but in addition would be the...

Yemen-US-doctors lead 12-30 0078 Suspected Islamic extremist kills three US doctors in Yemen SANAA, Dec 30 (AFP) - A suspected Islamic extremist shot dead three American doctors and wounded a fourth on Monday in the southern Yemeni town of Jibla, hospital sources told AFP. Wielding a Kalashnikov assault rifle, the gunman opened fire in a Christian-run hospital in the province of Ibb, 170 kilometres (105 miles) south of the capital Sanaa, the sources said. mou/mh/bp/mb Yemen-US-doctors AFP 300701 GMT DEC 02

SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) - A cake showing a plane crashing into New York's World Trade Center has been pulled from a show in Western Australia after parents complained their children could be upset, a local news agency reported on Tuesday. The 30 cm (12 inches) tall fruit cake depicting the Twin Towers and a plane made from spaghetti covered in icing caused considerable controversy at the Perth Royal Show, the Australian Associated Press reported. Show organisers first tried to stiffle the furore by turning the cake around to hide the aircraft, but complaints continued to flow in from parents...

URGENT Annan and UN win Nobel Peace Prize OSLO, Oct 12 (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the United Nations have won the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Institute announced here Friday. po-cb/ns AFP 120901 GMT OCT 01

what it says.... on cnn/ bbcworld / fox as we speak.

Extremists lose the perceptual war By Errol simper September 20, 2001 THE suicide bombings in New York and Washington were, in media terms, Hollywood transplanted east. Like so many Hollywood fantasies they were also spectacular, successful, brave, audacious, mad and meticulous. Yet, the real thing was a dreadful mistake. It was political ineptitude of the highest order. It constituted a miscalculation which has set back the philosophical forces of the anti-America industry for decades. If the US hadn't quite convinced the world it wears the white jerseys in times of conflict, then it wears white jerseys now. No one occupies ...