1502 US Dead.

47% of Americans believe the war was a mistake, as opposed to 23% a year ago

Meanwhile, 48% of Americans believe that neither side is winning the war in Iraq.


And a recently released Italian hostage was fired on by American troops, wounding her and killing an Italian special agent who had negotiated with her captors and was now shielding her with his own body. Berlusconi's demanding a full inquiry. The Pentagon says that its troops followed all the appropriate procedures (waved hand signals, flashed lights, fired shots into the air).



On A Lighter Note:
- In 1919, disgruntled World War One veterans burned down Luton Town Hall, while a pianist played "Keep The Home Fires Burning" on a piano looted from a local music shop.

- The = sign was invented in the 16th century by a Welsh mathematician, Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing 'is equal to' in every equation. He chose two lines because, "noe 2 thynges can be moare equalle".

- The Queen has never played dominoes, as she told prisoners this week.

- The Queen has also never used a computer, as she told Bill Gates when she gave him an honorary knighthood.

- The Sudanese government is complaining that the Sudan 1 food colouring should be renamed, as it leads to negative publicity for their country. They prefer it's formal name, 1-phenylazo-2-naphthalenol, rather than the Sudan 1 trade name, which was probably made up in the 1800s to sound all glamorous, exotic and hot. Strange, that Sudan sees a health scare in one country as a more negative advertisement for their country than, ooh, government-sponsored death squads murdering tens of thousands of civilians...

- The length of a man's fingers can tell you how physically aggressive he is. Basically, finger length and physical aggression are both believed to be linked to the amount of testosterone a foetus is exposed to in the womb. The shorter the index finger is, compared to the ring finger, the more boistrous you're likely to be.

- Nederland, a town in Colorado, is celebrating Frozen Dead Guy Day. No, seriously. A quote from the mayor: "The town is open to consider anything we can do for any foreign frozen dead people in stiff circumstances." For more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1872334.stm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4320773.stm .