Free Republic

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — British writer Doris Lessing on Thursday won the Nobel Literature Prize for five decades of epic novels that have covered feminism and politics, as well her youth in Africa.Lessing, who will be 88 on October 22, is only the 11th woman to have won the prize since it was first awarded in 1901.The Swedish Academy described her as "that epicist of the female experience who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny."Lessing was out shopping when the prize was announced and only learned the news several hours later when she returned...

A council in the Australian city of Sydney is taking radical measures against car-revving youths - the calming tones of singer Barry Manilow. Officials in Rockdale say that local youths have been hanging around in car parks, revving their engines and generally annoying residents. So the council has decided to strike back. From July, Barry Manilow's greatest hits will be piped into one car park in a bid to drive the youths away.

SACRAMENTO - Doris Matsui, the widow of the late U.S. Rep. Robert T. Matsui, took a huge early lead Tuesday night in the race to fill the remainder of the term left vacant when Robert Matsui died Jan. 1. A victory by Doris Matsui, a lobbyist and former Clinton White House official, would make her the nation's 45th congressional widow since 1923 to assume the seat of her late husband. She would be the third to win in California under such circumstances since 1998. With the early absentee votes counted, Matsui had 72 percent of the overall and 91 percent...

WHEN Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, scraped back into office with a wafer-thin majority in last September’s general election, his victory was attributed partly to the role played by his wife Doris. The petite former journalist not only provided him with invaluable behind-the-scenes advice, but was also popular among young female voters impressed by how she had combined a media career with bringing up her daughter from an earlier marriage. Yet the woman known as the “chancellor whisperer” for her ability to influence her husband will not be on the podium with him this week when he returns to their...

MIDI - BIG (Heart and Soul was the movie's theme song) Heart and guts, you stole it from my book Heart and guts, you are a real crook Doris, you've got a lot of nerve Hey, Harvard, send her packing Heart and guts, you really ripped me off Heart and guts, your students all should scoff Doris, you've got a lot of nerve Hey, Harvard, send her packing Heart and guts, eight years you'd been a shill Heart and guts, down on your knees for Bill Doris, you've got a lot of nerve Hey, Harvard, send her packing