The London Observer says it has intercepted a 12239,905954,00.html,memo describing a U.S. surveillance operation on UN delegates that involves tapping their home and telephone calls and e-mails, in order to find out who is for or against the war on Iraq. The story was widely reported in the Middle East and Europe and could make it harder for the U.S. and U.K. to get a new resolution in the Security Council.
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We read about Venice sinking into the sea, but New Orleans is sinking right here at home. Most of North America is built on bedrock, but New Orleans is built on Mississippi River silt, which is settling, due to gravity. This settling has been going on for a long time, but lately the surface has been dropping fast. This is due to the levees, which were built to stop the Mississippi from flooding. However, the floods used to deposit new layers of soil on the land. Without this process, the city has become 6 to 20 inches lower in the past 20 years.
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An Italian woman says she dreamed about a fatal car crash and told the victim’s brother many details about it. Now she’s been charged by police who suspect she had something to do with the accident. Is this a case of a helpful psychic being unfairly charged?
The psychic sought out Alfredo Baldeschi gave him a vivid description of the accident that killed his sister Loredana. When he told police about the encounter, they told him to have her repeat the dream and secretly record it. After listening to the tape, they arrested the woman and charged her with manslaughter. A police spokesman says, “The woman knew details known only to traffic officers or by the person who caused the fatal crash.”
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The reason Stonehenge was built 4,800 years ago remains mysterious. Archeologists have speculated that it was a place of worship or an early calendar. But a gynecologist thinks its design may be based on female genitalia. Gynecologist Anthony Perks first got the idea after noticing how the inner stones are arranged more in an egg-shaped pattern than a true circle. When he compared the layout with the shape of female sexual organs, he found surprising parallels.
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