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<p>The Drop Broke Saddam's neck killing him instantly. At the executions following the Nuremberg Trials others were not so lucky.</p> <p>"..The executions, in a brightly lighted prison gymnasium where three looming black wooden gallows had been erected, were witnessed by a handful of Allied military officers and eight journalists, one of whom, Kingsbury Smith of International News Service, wrote a famous newspaper article, "The Execution of Nazi War Criminals, 16 October 1946," based on his eyewitness observations. Although Smith discreetly omitted mentioning it, the experienced Army hangman, Master Sgt. John C. Woods, botched the executions. A number of the hanged Nazis died, not quickly from a broken neck as intended, but agonizingly from slow strangulation. Ribbentrop and Sauckel each took 14 minutes to choke to death, while Keitel, whose death was the most painful, struggled for 24 minutes at the end of the rope before expiring..."</p>

Since it now seems very imminent, I decided that it was an appropriate time to start this up. Links to information and pictures (if we get them) can be posted here.

MANILA (AP) -- Remains believed to be those of the chief of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, one of the objectives of a long U.S.-backed manhunt, have been found in the southern Philippines, the military said today. Khaddafy Janjalani is on a U.S. list of wanted terrorists with a $5 million bounty on his head for a series of beheadings, bombings and mass abductions. He has proved elusive in the dense jungles and mangroves that have become home for Janjalani and his men.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro was not present as a military parade marking his 80th birthday began on Saturday in Havana's main square. The event, expected to last perhaps 1 1/2 hours, is being closely watched to see if Castro is well enough to appear in public for the first time since he had intestinal surgery in late July and temporarily turned over power to his brother, defence minister Raul Castro. Castro's health and questions about his future have overshadowed the military display that experts say is a show of muscle to anyone who thinks communist Cuba...

"The fact that he's dead is unfortunate but looking back on his life it's a very pleasant thought."The father of late The Doors singer Jim Morrison has branded the death of his estranged son "unfortunate," despite the rocker often singing about his family's imagined demise. George Morrison, a retired Navy admiral, insists memories of his rocker son are "pleasant" - even though he once joked his parents were dead and used Oedipal rant "The End" to imagine killing his dad and sleeping with his mother. However, in a new memoir of the band, George remains positive about his child. Contributing...

If you are the kind of person who worries about the future, this might not make happy reading.Scientists have found that on average mammal species enjoy only 2.5 million years of life before being wiped out because of the Earth's "wobble." They say when the tilt and orbit reach key points it can spark dramatic global cooling - and the last time this happened was 2.6 million years ago. This suggests we are overdue a wave of extinction. However, before you panic, scientists say our planet has changed beyond all recognition in the last 3 million years. The new research...

LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A leaked intelligence report of Osama bin Laden's death has met scepticism from Western and Muslim governments but may increase a clamour from his followers to show himself on video for the first time in nearly two years. One theory surrounding the mysterious French leak is that it was designed precisely to flush the al Qaeda leader into the open, prompting him to release a new tape that might give a clue to his whereabouts and state of health.

Fugitive al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is suffering from a serious illness, but his death has not yet been pronounced, according to a senior Saudi intelligence source, CNN reported Saturday. This conflicted with the report earlier Saturday that a French secret service report said Saudi Arabia was convinced the al-Qaeda leader died of typhoid in Pakistan la

PARIS (AP) - The head of terrorist network al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, has died, according to information from the Saudi police, transmitted by the Directorate-General of External Services (DGSE), and reported on the Lorraine daily newspaper L'Est republicain in its Saturday edition. "According to a commonly reliable source, the Saudi police believes that Osama Bin Laden has died," said a September 21st confidential note from the DGSE classified as "defense." L'Est republicain will publish it in its Saturday edition. The note, specified the daily newspaper, would be re-printed "un-edited." According to the note to be published by the L'Est...

HANOI (Reuters) - A Vietnamese man who once appeared on national television to demonstrate his ability to resist electric shocks has been electrocuted while repairing a generator, an official said on Tuesday. Nguyen Van Hung, aged in his early 40s, was killed in Tay Ninh province near the Cambodian border while repairing the generator without first cutting the power supply, a local official said. "When alive, he used to demonstrate at our office how he would insert two fingers into the electrical plughole without problems," the official said. Hung, nicknamed "Hung Electric," had appeared on television's "Strange Stories of Vietnam."

Chavez endorses Fidel's tummy bug recipeFrom correspondents in Caracas August 12, 2006 04:46am THE stomach condition of Cuban leader Fidel Castro is a classified secret, but his close ally Hugo Chavez openly suggests the communist try a dose of his own medicine for his intestinal woes. The Venezuelan president is known to offer graphic details on live television of his digestive troubles, and how Fidel has helped cure them. During a broadcast overnight to inaugurate new health clinics partly staffed by Cuban doctors, Mr Chavez described the recipe for Fidel's home-grown stomach cure-all known as "tsunami." "Fidel has a formula...

At long last, Fidel Castro's 47-year reign as dictator of Cuba may be coming to an end. The 79-year-old Communist revolutionary transferred power to his brother Raul, 75, after emergency stomach surgery earlier this month. No one knows just how sick the onetime guerrilla fighter really is, since, in keeping with Castro's totalitarian regime, his condition is classed as a state secret. Yet it is hard to imagine a man of Castro's age - he will soon be 80 - recovering fully and retaking the reins of government. Castro's illness spurred hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles and their families...

HAVANA - It was supposed to be the ultimate tribute, several days of parties and concerts to mark Fidel Castro's 80th birthday. But instead of listening to folk music and attending conferences on his legacy, Castro is expected to spend his birthday Sunday in bed, recovering from surgery for intestinal bleeding. Cubans have cultivated a myth over the last half-century that Castro is invincible, but now confront the fact that he is an octogenarian — and frail like other elderly mortals. A few Cubans say it won't be long before Castro is giving five-hour speeches once again, but many believe...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that Fidel Castro is in a "great battle for life," but added that he's been given reason by the Cuban leader's aides to be optimistic about a quick recovery.

Surgeons fought for hours to save Castro's life By Phil Hart in Havana (Filed: 06/08/2006) Doctors at the exclusive Cimeq hospital in western Havana are accustomed to handling the delicate health problems of Cuba's communist elite. It was here last weekend, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt, that they battled for several hours to save the life of the regime's most important patient, Fidel Castro. Unable to stem intestinal bleeding with drugs, the country's top surgeons performed an emergency operation on the veteran leader. To all but a handful of trusted doctors and his closest lieutenants, President Castro's medical condition has...

MEXICO CITY - The Cuban government has provided no details on Fidel Castro's health and released no pictures of the leader since it announced Monday night that he was having surgery and handing power to his brother. Cubans were told in a statement attributed to Castro that most details of his health would be kept "a state secret" to prevent the island's enemies from taking advantage of his condition. Most Cubans have insisted that they are sure Castro will recover and that the government will function fine until then. But others have privately expressed worries that their leader may be...

Cuba's communist government provided no new information on Fidel Castro's condition Thursday but sought to reassure Cubans that nothing would change. "The revolution will continue" was the mantra chanted on state-run television and displayed in government newspapers three days after Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power to his younger brother Raul while recovering from surgery.

UNANIMOUSLY and firmly workers from the National Assembly of People’s Power backed the President Fidel Castro’s Proclamation to the Cuban people. “We are rising up to meet the stature of this young man of 80 years who, convalescing from a complicated operation, still made the effort to adopt measures to assure that we are capable of confronting any aggression,” affirmed Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, president of the Assembly. Alarcón commented that on July 31 he was with Fidel, who transmitted “his confidence and certainty that all of us united will be capable of fulfilling the tasks of today and those...

Reported in the minute-by-minute sidebar on El nacional (Venezualan Newspaper) Internacionales Agencia internacional desmintió información de supuesta muerte de Fidel Castro La agencia internacional de noticias EFE desmintió haber divulgado información relacionada con la supuesta muerte del presidente de Cuba Fidel Castro. En horas de la mañana una emisora de noticias venezolana dijo citando a la agencia que el mandatario había fallecido. Es por ello, que EFE informó que en ningún momento ha difundido ese hecho. La agencia dijo haber presentado su reclamo a la emisora que reconoció publicamente su error. **** google translate. International agency denied information of supposed...