Premise: Blue Mountain Lumber is a subsidiary of Malaysian forestry transnational corporation, Ernslaw One.

Hypothesis: Blue Mountain Lumber owns Ernslaw One.


Premise: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and BJP prime ministerial candidate LK Advani are among candidates whose seats are holding voting in the third phase. Results are due on 16 May and no party is expected to win a clear majority.  Voters in the states of Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are casting ballots on Thursday. Voting is also being held in the federally-administered territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu.

Hypothesis: Sonia Gandhi is winning in the Uttar Pradesh state.


Premise: New Zealand's Qualifications Authority said Friday that it still strongly discourages students from using anything other than full English, but that credit will be given if the answer "clearly shows the required understanding," even if it contains text-speak.

Hypothesis: Full English is recommended by New Zealand's Qualifications Authority.


Premise: SCORES of fast food outlets have launched a legal challenge over payment and employment conditions for its workers, it emerged yesterday. The case is being taken by the newly formed Quick Service Food Alliance (QSFA), which also warned that current legislation would lead to job losses and businesses closures due to labour costs. The QSFA represents 170 businesses in the fast food sector including Subway, Supermacs and McDonald's. It said it was to take a High Court challenge to the rights of the Catering Joint Labour Committee (JLC) to set minimum wages and employment conditions for workers in the catering industry.

Hypothesis: The Quick Service Food Alliance also includes McDonald's.


Premise: As hurricane Katrina moves beyond the Floridian peninsula, death tolls have begun to surface. On Friday, the official count was seven dead, at least five missing. 4 people in Broward, 3 in Miami. The forecast for Hurricane  Katrina predicts that it will continue on its present northwesterly course and approach the panhandle of Florida and the Mississippi delta region in the next few days.

Hypothesis: Hurricane Katrina hit Florida.


Premise: The Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics will take place from February 8th to February 24th 2002. The Paralympics will take place in Salt Lake City from March 7th to March 16th 2002.

Hypothesis: 2002 Olympic Winter games take place in Salt Lake.


Premise: LISBON, Jan. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Anibal Cavaco Silva, a former prime minister, won Portugal's presidential election on Sunday.

Hypothesis: New Portuguese prime minister is elected.


Premise: Practically every architect of international stature has vied for the bonanza of public and private projects -- including Renzo Piano, Peter Eisenman, Philip Johnson, Rafael Moneo, Helmut Jahn and Richard Rogers.

Hypothesis: Renzo Piano is an architect.


Premise: Whilst the Government has an absolute majority in the Australian Senate, it is not guaranteed that the necessary legislation will pass this house. Garnering the support of key Senator Joyce is critical to ensure that the bills will pass (as he will have the deciding vote) and he has already stated that, due to a damning report released earlier in the House of Representatives showing that fourteen percent of lines were faulty amongst other criticsm, that it has turned the "green [light] to amber" [1].

Hypothesis: Mr Joyce is an Australian Senator.


Premise: The six-member delegation included lawyers from the Justice, State, and Homeland Security Departments, according to U.S. military sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because only Justice was allowed to officially disclose the mission. They were to spend a minimum of one hour with each of the Uighur (WEE-gur) captives, who are part of China's Muslim minority and who risk religious persecution if returned to their homeland. Each was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and handed over to U.S. forces, who interrogated them to learn about al-Qaeda's paramilitary training camp structure.

Hypothesis: Six Uighurs were captured to gain information about al-Qaeda.


Premise: Though owning no trees and no waters, Takeshima Island has become the subject of a bitter political dispute between Japan and South Korea.

Hypothesis: There is a territorial waters dispute.


Premise: After graduating in 1977, Gallager chose to accept a full scholarship to play football for Temple University.

Hypothesis: Gallager attended Temple University.


Premise: For women who are HIV negative or who do not know their HIV status, breastfeeding should be protected, promoted and supported for six months.

Hypothesis: For HIV-positive mothers, the decision about whether or not to breastfeed a child can be difficult.


Premise: The recovery of the capsule, which carried astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom on a brief suborbital flight on July 21, 1961, took place on the 30th anniversary of mankind's first moon landing.

Hypothesis: The moon was first touched by mankind in 1969.


Premise: The conference found that many Australians experience discrimination through the Governmental, penal, legal and health care systems because of their mental health, race, skin colour, sexuality, sexual formation or refugee status.

Hypothesis: Mental health problems increase in the young.


Premise: Tourists pay millions of dollars a year to come and see Africa 's wildlife and smugglers pay millions more in strictly illegal purchases of ivory and rhino horn from poachers.

Hypothesis: African countries encourage keeping animals alive to attract tourists.


Premise: Rehnquist served longer as chief justice than anyone in a century, and his 33-year career as a justice was among the half-dozen longest in the court's history.

Hypothesis: Rehnquist served the second-longest tenure, as chief justice, in US history.


Premise: The Red Planet is thought to have no magnetic field. It has the greenhouse effect which raises the temperature about 5 degrees. It has a very thin atmosphere consisting of 95.3% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, 0.15% oxygen, and 0.03% water.

Hypothesis: Mars is called the red planet.


Premise: When Adolf Hitler heard of how Mussolini was executed and put on public display, he vowed he would not let this happen to him. Hitler shot his mistress and new wife, Eva Braunn, and then swallowing some poison, he shot himself in the mouth.

Hypothesis: Mussolini's mistress was Eva Braunn.


Premise: Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, along with top members of the Automobile Club of Southern California, along with will announce the kickoff of a $9 billion plan to fund Los Angeles County's Top Ten Traffic Busters.

Hypothesis: James Hahn is a member of the Automobile Club of Southern California.


Premise: Getty also starred in several movies after the show including Mask where she played the mother of singer and song writer Cher and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot where she also played the mother of actor Sylvester Stallone. She also starred in the television show spin off of The Golden Girls titled The Golden Palace and made a two episode appearance on another spin off called Empty Nest. Getty was born in New York City on July 25, 1923, passing away just three days before her 85th birthday.

Hypothesis: Stallone played Getty's father.


Premise: Strong competition in industries such as shipping has resulted in waves of investment in labour saving technology such as steel and aluminium cutting tools, processing machine and welding robots.

Hypothesis: The automotive industry has seen advances in robotic metal cutting.


Premise: Cuban Leader Fidel Castro sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan assuring him that Cuba will follow anti-terrorism treaties in the wake of last month's terrorist attacks against New York and Washington.

Hypothesis: Castro visits the UN.


Premise: "We've never had a core (business) thing," founder Richard Branson told Reuters at the launch this month of Virgin Vodka, which, with Virgin cola and Virgin computers, are his latest bright ideas.

Hypothesis: Richard Branson's cola is called Virgin Cola.


Premise: Actor Christopher Reeve, best known for his role as Superman, is paralyzed and cannot breathe without the help of a respirator after breaking his neck in a riding accident in Culpeper, Va., on Saturday.

Hypothesis: Christopher Reeve had an accident.


Premise: One year on since he was elected to office as President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo is making headlines in the country he leads, but for all the wrong reasons. Newspapers and TV programmes have been dominated by stories of women coming forward to claim they had a child with the former Catholic bishop. This "political soap opera", complained one of these reports, is "paralysing the government".  Three women have made allegations so far and there were reports in the Paraguay media that there may be more claims to come.

Hypothesis: Fernando Lugo was a Catholic bishop.


Premise: The London Eye in London, England sits 443ft over the River Thames. It has attracted more than 27 million visitors since its formal opening on December 31, 1999. Each compartment is set to be air-conditioned and hold up to 30 people. Three possible locations for the wheel to sit have been selected. This is not the first attempt by the Iraqi Tourism Board to bring tourists into the capital. The board are seeking investors for a resort island. The island would include a six star hotel and a 18 hole golf course.

Hypothesis: The River Thames flows through London.


Premise: Women are poorly trained for politics.

Hypothesis: Women are poorly represented in parliament.


Premise: About two weeks before the trial started, I was in Shapiro's office in Century City.

Hypothesis: Shapiro works in Century City.


Premise: The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said on Monday that repairing the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will cost up to €16.6 million or $21 million. The LHC, which is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, is located near the border of France and Switzerland and crosses the border four times. It has a diameter of 27 km (17 miles). It is designed to simulate the conditions shortly after the Big Bang, but it broke down on September 19 due to an electrical failure.

Hypothesis: CERN head office is in Paris.


Premise: The Walt Disney Co. donated one of the world's most significant private collections of African artwork, yesterday, to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art.

Hypothesis: Disney gave the Smithsonian a trove of sought-after African art.


Premise: PM has now firm projects which include a stake in a joint venture called Constellation in Samara involving the city's main tobacco factory.

Hypothesis: PM acquired three Russian factories.


Premise: Aides to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose Labor Party won power 13 months ago and who is the current EU president, said the leaders acknowledged jointly - and without trying to blame each other - that the EU's Belgian-based bureaucracy is regarded as both remote and overbearing.

Hypothesis: Tony Blair belongs to the Labor Party.


Premise: A Spanish man who murdered a Welsh couple with a hammer on the island of Fuerteventura has been jailed for 39 years by a court in the Canary Islands. Brian and Tina Johnson were bludgeoned to death by tenant Juan Carmelo Santana, 42, when they tried to collect overdue rent from him in July 2006. Santana was sentenced to 17 years for Mrs Johnson's murder and 22 for the more "brutal" killing of her husband. He was ordered to pay their son Sam £270,000 in a private prosecution.

Hypothesis: Juan Carmelo Santana was killed by Brian and Tina Johnson.


Premise: First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band GCB, ADC of the United Kingdom, the most senior serving officer in the Royal Navy, said that "...the submarines came into contact at very low speed. Both submarines remained safe. No injuries occurred. We can confirm the capability remains unaffected and there was no compromise to nuclear safety." "Both navies want quiet areas, deep areas, roughly the same distance from their home ports. So you find these station grounds have got quite a few submarines, not only French and Royal Navy but also from Russia and the United States. Navies often used the same nesting grounds," said John H. Large, an independent nuclear engineer and analyst primarily known for his work in assessing and reporting upon nuclear safety and nuclear related accidents and incidents.

Hypothesis: Two submarines have collided.


Premise: By law, Mexico can only export half the oil it produces to the United States.

Hypothesis: Mexico produces more oil than any other country.


Premise: The wait time for a green card has risen from 21 months to 33 months in those same regions.

Hypothesis: It takes longer to get green card.


Premise: Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, will meet his Brazilian counterpart, Celso Amorim, in London today.

Hypothesis: Jack Straw is a partner of Celso Amorim.


Premise: The West Pharmaceutical Services plant, which had been cited for numerous safety violations last fall, made syringe plungers and IV supplies.

Hypothesis: The West Pharmaceutical Services plant had been cited for numerous safety violations last autumn.


Premise: If confirmed as rabies, the case could be the first occurence of the infection acquired in the UK since 1902.

Hypothesis: A case of rabies was confirmed.


Premise: Busby countered, telling The Iconoclast, the point is that material from Chernobyl which is 1,800 miles to the east of Great Britain traveled to Great Britain and contaminated Wales, Scotland, and various parts of the United Kingdom. And they might as well have said that it was equally unfeasible for it to travel that distance in the opposite direction to the general flow of the wind, but we have examined computer Models of wind directions over the period of the Gulf War and its quite clear the material from Iraq could have come through the United Kingdom because of the particular types of depressions and anticyclone systems that were there.

Hypothesis: The Chernobyl disaster had repercussions outside the ex-USSR.


Premise: Carmen was only slightly put out to find that women are as poorly represented among Australian political scientists as they are in parliament (Leonie was asking, 'where are all the women?').


Premise: Canadian wireless technology licensing company Wi-LAN has begun legal action against Cisco, alleging the networking giant's Linksys and Aironet products are making use of its intellectual property without permission.

Hypothesis: Linksys and Aironet begin legal action against a Canadian company.


Premise: Actual statistics about the deterrent value of capital punishment are not available because it is impossible to know who may have been deterred from committing a crime.

Hypothesis: Capital punishment is a deterrent to crime.


Premise: "If we could put a man on the moon within decades back in the 1960s, I think we can eliminate TB if we develop the will to do so" said O'Brien, who called for a significant investment for the research, particularly the large field trials necessary to demonstrate efficacy.


Premise: Councilman Pierce had built the home for his daughter on E. 28th Street off Rossville Blvd, as he lives nearby.

Hypothesis: Pierce lives on E. 28th Street.


Premise: Argentina and Britain announced an agreement Thursday to restore full diplomatic ties nearly eight years after they fought a 74-day war over the Falkland islands.

Hypothesis: Full diplomatic relations were re-established in 1990.


Premise: Hooper, a salesman of Portland, is accused of posing as a potential home buyer on July 26, then forcing himself inside the residence and raping a 19-year-old woman.

Hypothesis: Hooper bought a house in Portland.


Premise: In the 1970s, she was one of the most popular female vocalists in France, and became well-known internationally. Anne Marie David, from Arles in the south of France, parlayed her initial success from playing Mary Magdalene in the French production of Jesus Christ Superstar into taking home the "grand prix" at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973. Her winning song, "Tu te reconnaîtras" (You will recognize yourself), became a Europe-wide hit that spring.

Hypothesis: Anne Marie David won the Eurovision Song Contest.


Premise: In France, art dealers are obliged by law to register all purchases except those bought at a public auction.

Hypothesis: In France, works of art bought at public auction are exempt from registration.


Premise: Twenty-four people, among them seven children, were killed on Sunday after their airplane crashed in a river in Brazil. Four people survived the crash, including a 9-year-old boy. The aircraft, which was a twin-engine Embraer turboprop chartered by Manaus Aerotaxis, was carrying 26 passengers and two crew members when it crashed. The pilots of the plane, which had departed from Coari, had supposedly contacted the air traffic control near their destination of Manaus to announce  that they were turning back. The plane, however, then disappeared from radar. The plane made an emergency landing in the river Manacapuru, a branch the  Amazon river in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Manaus.

Hypothesis: 24 people died in an airplane crash.


Premise: A young gunman known as Scarface has been jailed for life for the murder of a promising teenage footballer. Richard Harrison-Allen, 20, shot Etem Celebi dead in November 2007 as he tried to flee the scene in the Smalley Close estate, Stoke Newington, north London. Gang member Harrison-Allen, from Hackney, east London, who was convicted of the teenager's murder earlier this month, was sentenced to a minimum of 26 years at St Albans Crown Court. He sat motionless as sentence was passed.

Hypothesis: "Scarface" is the nickname of Richard Harrison-Allen.


Premise: Some large Russian oil companies, including Lukoil, Zarubezhneft, the state-owned oil company, and Alpha Eco, the trader, were implicated by the report.

Hypothesis: Zarubezhneft trades in oil.


Premise: Some of the stolen trade secrets were seized from the defendants at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) while they were attempting to fly to China.

Hypothesis: Trade secrets were stolen.


Premise: Westbridge manufactures certified organic fertilizers including liquid growth enhancers and biostimulants.

Hypothesis: Organic fertilizers are used as soil enhancers.


Premise: The optimal style of dam building is specific to the particular macroproject, the nature of the geophysical worksite (Anon., 2005) as well as social uncertainty, the undertaking management organizations experience, the operational complexities of many kinds of construction machinery and worker nationalities, the macroprojects situational geography and the logistics of its required compositional materials.

Hypothesis: Dam building prevents life-threatening situations.


Premise: Earlier this year, Kai-Uwe Ricke, chief executive of Deutsche Telekom, floated the possibility that T-Mobile USA might be sold.

Hypothesis: Deutsche Telekom sold T-Mobile USA.


Premise: For a western European country, the birth rate in Finland is high.

Hypothesis: Finland is the European country with the highest birth rate.


Premise: Typhoon Chanchu, packing winds up to 170 kph (106 mph) and the strongest typhoon on record to enter the South China Sea in May, made landfall between the cities of Shantou and Xiamen and was advancing northeast, the Hong Kong Observatory said.

Hypothesis: A typhoon batters the Philippines.


Premise: The two rescuers who retrieved him are firefighters with a California-based FEMA team: J.D. Madden of Santa Clara and Eric Mijangos of Menlo Park.

Hypothesis: A FEMA team is based in California.


Premise: The resignation came amid recent allegations by Massachusetts' attorney general that the Boston archdiocese engaged in "an elaborate scheme" to keep quiet the issue of child sexual abuse by priests.

Hypothesis: The state attorney general claimed that the archdiocese engaged in a coverup.


Premise: At approximately 3:20 p.m., an unnamed caller reported sight of the suspects on a near street, East 27th Street, causing police to create a blockade, surrounding the suspect. This is where the other two officers were shot, this time in an exchange of gunfire while attempting to take the alleged shooter of the two officers into custody. The suspect was killed by police gunfire. The suspects name was Lovelle Mixon, aged 26, who had a warrant issued for his arrest after his bail was revoked for violation of parole. All four of the officers were taken to Highland Hospital in critical condition where they all later died of their injuries. There names were: Sargent Erv Romans, aged 43, Sargent Dan Sakai, 35, John Hege aged 41 and Mark Dunakin, 40.

Hypothesis: Sargent Dan Sakai was a colleague of John Hege.


Premise: The Royal Navy servicemen being held captive by Iran are expected to be freed today.

Hypothesis: British servicemen detained


Premise: A male rabbit is called a buck and a female rabbit is called a doe, just like deer.

Hypothesis: A female rabbit is called a doe.


Premise: A song proclaiming that United States president-elect Barack Obama is Irish has got more than 600,000 views on video sharing site YouTube, with many of those views coming after he was elected on November 4. "O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara, There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama," states the song. "You don't believe me, I hear you say. But Barack's as Irish, as was JFK. His granddaddy's daddy came from Moneygall, a small Irish village, well known to you all".

Hypothesis: According to a song, Barack Obama is Irish.


Premise: On Wednesday night people in the Bahçelievler district of Yenibosna in Istanbul, Turkey, claimed that they had seen a UFO flying in the sky, the Turkish newspaper Sabah reports. They said that the UFO was glowing with white lights and that it revolved around itself. Istanbul has had previous UFO incidents in the past, and in 2002, the Istanbul UFO Museum was opened to the public.

Hypothesis: A UFO might have been seen in Turkey.


Premise: A massive polio immunization drive is under way in more than 20 nations of West and Central Africa, but in Cote d'Ivoire violence has forced a postponement of the vaccination campaign, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) announced November 18.

Hypothesis: Polio is under control in the world.


Premise: BEIJING — In the decade since the Chinese government began repressing Falun Gong, a crusade that human rights groups say has led to the imprisonment of tens of thousands of practitioners and claimed at least 2,000 lives, the world's attention has shifted elsewhere. The drive against the spiritual group has eliminated its leadership, decimated the ranks of faithful and convinced many Chinese that the group is an "evil cult," as the government contends. But 10 years on, the war on Falun Gong remains unfinished.

Hypothesis: Falun Gong is a spiritual group.


Premise: A four-day state of emergency has been declared in the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar after violent protests occurred after allegations of vote rigging and fraud in Sunday's elections. Reports state that 5 people have been killed, and over 300 injured. The injured were police and protesters alike, suffering from smoke poisoning, rubber bullets, and stoning. Among the injured was a Japanese citizen, who was reportedly flown to Japan in the morning.

Hypothesis: 300 people were killed in Mongolia.


Premise: Ecuador has received short shrift in U.S. policy debates. Yet in recent years, significant public debate has taken place in Ecuador on the joint U.S./Colombian initiative and its effects on Ecuador and its citizens.

Hypothesis: Peru debates border region with Ecuador.


Premise: Reagan was seriously wounded by a bullet fired by John Hinckley Jr. in an attempted assassination, but made a remarkably speedy recovery.

Hypothesis: Reagan survived an attempted assassin's bullets.


Premise: With more than 223,000 refugees already in Texas, Perry said officials at relief centers, around the state, say they are running out of room.

Hypothesis: With more than 220,000 refugees in Texas, Perry warned that his state was running out of room.


Premise: The prize is named after Alfred Nobel, a pacifist and entrepreneur who invented dynamite in 1866. Nobel left much of his wealth to establish the award, which has honoured achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and efforts to promote peace since 1901.

Hypothesis: Alfred Nobel invented dynamite in 1866.


Premise: Ostriches put their heads into the sand to avoid the wind.

Hypothesis: Ostriches bury their heads in the sand.


Premise: Hugh Jackman has done it all - almost. He's hosted the Oscars, danced on Broadway, flashed his winning grin and flexed his acting muscles, but Friday is the first time the Australian actor will claw his way into movie theaters as the main attraction. In "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," there's no Halle Berry or Nicole Kidman by his side to buoy the box office. This time it's just Jackman, his claws and a heap of Hollywood expectations to the tune of $150 million.

Hypothesis: Hugh Jackman will play the magician Harry Houdini.


Premise: "The rapidly mixed brigades of former enemies have been sent to the front lines with no salaries, rations, or any formal training, increasing the likelihood of future human rights violations," Human Rights Watch said in a statement. Among the former rebels integrated into the regular army are Bosco Ntaganda, who was recently promoted to the position of general. He is wanted on an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for enlisting child soldiers and is accused of commanding the rebel troops that massacred 150 villagers in the town of Kiwanja last November.

Hypothesis: Bosco Ntaganda is a general.


Premise: The 84-year-old pope was wheeled to a hospital window, and blessed the crowd by making the sign of the cross in clear gestures, as a Vatican photographer snapped pictures.

Hypothesis: The pope made the sign of the cross.


Premise: Janet Elaine Adkins, 54, used a controversial machine to commit suicide in Michigan.

Hypothesis: An Alzheimer patient was in Michigan for an assisted suicide.


Premise: The bet, which won him dinner for four, was regarding the existence and mass of the top quark, an elementary particle discovered in 1995.

Hypothesis: The Top Quark is the last of six flavors of quarks predicted by the standard model theory of particle physics.


Premise: The drive towards this new law was driven in part from a string of transport-related disasters in the late 1980s, such as the sinking of cross-Channel ferry the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987, the oil platform Piper Alpha disaster in 1988, and the Marchioness Thames river boat collision in 1989. More than 400 people lost their lives in these three disasters, but no one individual or organisation was brought to account.

Hypothesis: 100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.


Premise: Brent Frei, the co-founder of midmarket CRM vendor Onyx Software Corp., plans to step down as chief executive and chairman.

Hypothesis: Brent Frei quits ceo position.


Premise: As leaders gather in Argentina ahead of this weekends regional talks, Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's populist president is using an energy windfall to win friends and promote his vision of 21st-century socialism.

Hypothesis: Hugo Chávez acts as Venezuela's president.


Premise: Al-Qaida-linked militants have carried out a series of suicide bombings targeting Western interests in Indonesia since 2002.

Hypothesis: Since 2002 Al-Qaida militants have tried to hit Western interests in Indonesia.


Premise: France is to compensate people who suffered health problems as a result of three decades of nuclear weapons tests, its government says.  It was time to investigate health complaints reported by staff who took part in tests, Defence Minister Herve Morin said.  Mr Morin told Le Figaro France should be "true to its conscience".  France carried out more than 200 tests, firstly in Algeria and later in French Polynesia, between 1966 and 1996.  Mr Morin said about 150,000 civil and military workers were "theoretically affected" by the tests.  Mr Morin said an independent commission would examine claims on a case-by-case basis.  He added that 10m euros ($13.6m; £9.3m) had already been earmarked to compensate victims.

Hypothesis: France carried out more than 200 nuclear tests during 30 years.


Premise: Although he won with the lowest majority ever tallied by the ruling party , 48.7% of the votes , his ballots almost doubled those of outsider Diego Fernandez de Cevallos , the rightist runner-up . And insiders are now favored to win other Latin American elections in the coming months : In Brazil , Fernando Henrique Cardoso , a former Senate leader and Cabinet minister , is expected to finish ahead of outsider Luis Inacio (Lula) da Silva , a leftist former labor leader , in the first round of president.

Hypothesis: Fernando Henrique Cardoso is a Brazilian former Senate leader and Cabinet minister.


Premise: Gold mining operations in California and Nevada use cyanide to extract the precious metal.

Hypothesis: Cyanide is used in gold mining.


Premise: Hakimi also claimed that the rebels killed Mawlavi Waqifi, a religious leader in the southeastern province of Khost.

Hypothesis: Mawlavi Waqifi lived in the southeastern province of Khost.


Premise: "The aftershocks were less in the past two months, but they seem to be starting again. We are really worried about the fate of these islands," Smriti Kana Saha of Ranjat village, in the Middle Andaman Island, told Reuters by phone.

Hypothesis: Smriti Kana Saha is a resident of Ranjat village.


Premise: Budapest consists of two parts, Buda and Pest, which are situated on opposite sides of the river and connected by a series of bridges.

Hypothesis: Budapest consists of two principal parts that were merged in 1873.


Premise: The ship, owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and flagged in the Cayman Islands, came under attack at around 4 p.m. Somali time (UTC+3) as gunfire came from two small priate boats. The vessel, with a crew of eighteen from the Philippines, suffered light damage to its front and windows were broken. The Jasmine Ace was en-route from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates to Mombasa, Kenya. The 126.75m car carrier had loaded with 377 used cars in Sharjah on March 17.

Hypothesis: Mitsui O.S.K is the owner of the Cayman Islands.


Premise: Consumers continued buying fewer lattes and coffees at Starbucks in its second quarter and restructuring charges led to a 77 percent in net income, but the drop in sales was something of an improvement. Starbucks Corp. - hurt in recent quarters by the perception that its drinks are too pricey - said Wednesday that sales at established locations fell 8 percent both worldwide and in the U.S. the first three months of 2009 compared with a year earlier. In the last three months of last year, Starbucks' global same-store sales fell 9 percent and U.S. same-store sales declined 10 percent.

Hypothesis: Starbucks is a US coffee giant.


Premise: Israel controls an area of about 850 square kilometres in the south of the Lebanese Republic, while Syria has about 30 thousand soldiers over two thirds of the Lebanese territory.

Hypothesis: Syria has 30,000 soldiers in 60% of Lebanon, and Israel controls an area in the south of 850 square kms.


Premise: Ashley Olsen has decided to remain with her twin sister, Mary-Kate, instead of going on a planned trip to Australia to promote the opening of the siblings' latest movie adventure "New York Minute," reports the AP.

Hypothesis: Ashley Olsen plans a trip to Australia with Mary-Kate.


Premise: The privately owned spacecraft only got about 400 feet into space, according to radar measurements, but it was enough to confirm that it no longer takes a well-heeled government project to organize space travel.

Hypothesis: private spaceship launches


Premise: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was elected March 28 with a mandate to reform Italy's business regulations and pull the economy out of recession.

Hypothesis: The Italian Prime Minister is Silvio Berlusconi.


Premise: Although the number of the confirmed Ebola cases has risen slightly to 26 in Gabon and to 16 in Congo Brazzaville, new infections are now so low that it seems the epidemic is "burning out".

Hypothesis: Ebola Epidemic breaks out in Zaire.


Premise: According to research done by an anti-spam research company Sophos, the United States is the point of origin of over 42% of all spam. Trailing are South Korea with 13% and China with 8% of the world's spam. The security firm performed an audit of its honeypots to come up with the figures ―a honeypot is a special system set up to attract spam or spammers in order to gauge spammer activity. Such activity is not entirely unexpected. The United States accounts for slightly over 25% of all Internet usage, whereas South Korea and China have about 4% and 11% of the world's Internet users, respectively. Yet these percentages still point to the U.S. as being a disproportionate source for spam.

Hypothesis: The United States produces spam.


Premise: "Glue sniffing" is most common among teenagers. They generally grow out of it once other drugs such as alcohol and cannabis become available to them. Seven-year-olds have been known to start "glue sniffing". Because of the social stigma attached to "glue sniffing" most snifters stop around 16 or 17 years, unless they are seriously addicted.

Hypothesis: Glue-sniffing is common among youngsters.


Premise: Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf held talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London on Tuesday, reassuring his host that Pakistan will hold a fair election next month and is ready to continue a sustained fight against terrorism and extremism. The visit has been widely called President Musharraf's "charm offensive." The Pakistani leader has held talks in Brussels, Paris, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and now in London in an effort which has been seen as an attempt to shore up European support for his government.

Hypothesis: Musharraf met Brown in London.


Premise: The city is twinned with Glasgow, Dortmund, Pleven, and Le Mans.

Hypothesis: Dortmund is twinned with Glasgow.


Premise: This year, however, the contest has taken on a new urgency as the Clinton Administration, moving to block the Pyongyang government's bid to build a nuclear arsenal, has rekindled some of the passion in North Korea's defiance of the West.

Hypothesis: Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea.


Premise: Sondhi Limthongkul, the founder of the political movement which overran Bangkok's airport last year, is in hospital after a gunman wielding an AK-47 ambushed his car at a petrol station and sprayed it with bullets early this morning. The unknown number of gunmen shot out the tyres of the car owned by Mr Sondhi, the head of the People's Alliance for Democracy 'yellow shirt' movement, and riddled the vehicle with bullets. Stray bullets also hit a nearby public bus.

Hypothesis: Sondhi Limthongkul has been hit by more than 100 bullets.


Premise: The Yankees split Hollywood with something to feel OK about after last night's 5-4 loss to the Dodgers.

Hypothesis: Dodgers lose first game ever at Fenway


Premise: The Yemeni Islamic Jihad group emerged in 1992, and it is comprised of old warriors from Afghanistan.

Hypothesis: Yemen's Islamic Jihad group was set up by old Afgan warriors in 1992.


Premise: Ms. Miers' whole life was based in Dallas and revolved around her legal work, her family and an attachment to an evangelical church that led her to what her former pastor described as a flowering of faith late in life.

Hypothesis: Ms. Miers was a leader of an evangelical church.


Premise: RJ Reynolds Tobacco announced yesterday that it plans to build a factory in Turkey to produce cigarettes by late 1993.

Hypothesis: RJR built factories in Turkey.


Premise: Yes, water is a critical area of dispute in the Arab-Israeli conflict; but given the current climate of peacemaking, and given the general war-weariness among states and populations, such predictions are excitable pieces of subjectivism.

Hypothesis: There is a territorial waters dispute.


Premise: The organizers of the 15th International AIDS Conference, scheduled for next month in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday responded to press reports that a prominent hotel in Bangkok discriminated against HIV-positive visitors attending a different conference this month.

Hypothesis: HIV-positive visitors take part in the 15th International AIDS Conference.


Premise: A collection of real-life testimonies by Klaus Pohl, one of Germany's most performed dramatists, its power resides less in the conventional meaning of the word drama than in what it reveals - a country still deeply at odds with itself, a kaleidoscope of events that flatters neither side, neither Western capitalism nor the former communist regime.

Hypothesis: Klaus Pohl is a German dramatist.


Premise: The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), one of the main stock indices in the United States, has broken an all-time closing record, to close at 14,000.41 points which is up 82.19 points (0.59%) from its last close. Just 59 days before, the Dow hit an all-time high when it passed 13,000. This is the first time the DJIA has ever closed above 14,000 since its debut on May 26, 1896.

Hypothesis: The Dow Jones has gained points.


Premise: It is the country's aging nuclear facility that currently concerns Armenian environmental groups as well as those in neighboring countries. Twenty miles west of the capital Yerevan, Armenia's Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant was built in 1970s and houses two VVER-440 Model V230 nuclear reactors. Metsamor, which currently produces about 40 percent of the country's electricity, is located in a seismically active zone and was closed even before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union because of the devastating Dec. 7, 1988, earthquake in Spitak.

Hypothesis: Metsamor nuclear reactor was shut down after the 1988 Armenian earthquake.


Premise: Pratibha Patil has won the 12th Presidential Elections of the Republic of India, becoming the first woman president of the second most populous country in the world. Patil, 72, previously governor of the state of Rajasthan, had support from the governing coalition. She won approximately two thirds of the vote, almost double the number of votes of her nearest rival Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who resigned as Vice-President after losing the poll.

Hypothesis: Chile has a female President.


Premise: In documents they filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, government lawyers argued that three inmates who committed suicide last month by hanging themselves coordinated their actions by using attorney-client confidentiality to communicate with each other. Government officials said that among papers marked "Attorney Client Privilege" were instructions on how to tie knots and a classified memo on camp activities and inmate locations.

Hypothesis: Three people committed suicide in jail.


Premise: The world's fast-growing thirst for water can only be met by purifying sea water as rivers and reservoirs become unable to meet demand, Spain said last week unveiling a major program to fight its own chronic shortages.

Hypothesis: The Ebro Delta is used for farming.


Premise: The Marriott is a popular place for foreigners to stay and a prominent enterprise in the city, despite a wave of violence the country suffers. The hotel had been victim of another attack in January 2007 where a security guard was killed and several people injured after the guard blocked a bomber from getting at the hotel, forcing him to detonate his explosives where he was.

Hypothesis: There is a Marriott Hotel in London.


Premise: This case is one of the first to be prosecuted under a new U.S. law regulating unwanted e-mail.

Hypothesis: There is a new U. S. law that bans e-mail.


Premise: Cage is a big fan of "Superman" (who was born on the fictional planet Krypton) and was to play the role in a film planned for the 1990s that never came to be.

Hypothesis: Cage played Superman.


Premise: The German-based team say their study is the only report of prolonged hibernation in a tropical mammal.

Hypothesis: The team studies hibernating mammals in Germany.


Premise: Nine soldiers and two police officers were killed in the ensuing gun battle, and two police officers were wounded, the officials said.

Hypothesis: Six policemen and two soldiers were killed in a gunbattle, officials said.


Premise: Iran will hold the first runoff presidential election in its history, between President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Tehran's hard-line mayor, election officials said Saturday.

Hypothesis: Hashemi Rafsanjani will face Tehran's hard-line mayor in Iran's first runoff presidential election ever, officials said Saturday.


Premise: Edwin Hubble is recongized as having been one of the foremost astronomers of the modern era.

Hypothesis: Edwin Hubble was an astronomer.


Premise: "The Herald is now pleased that Kennedy can vigorously pursue a re-examination of the Iraq war and how to extricate our nation from it. Speaking seriously, I'll take this change of heart as a sobering indication that all of us, wherever we stand on the liberal-conservative continuum, are deeply concerned about the damaging impacts of the Iraq war and are looking for ways to work together to resolve it as soon as possible."

Hypothesis: All are deeply concerned about the damage of the Iraq war and are looking for ways to resolve it.


Premise: To the south of Castle Hill rises the higher Gellert Hill ( 771 feet ), a steep limestone escarpment overlooking the Danube, which provides a panoramic view of the whole city.

Hypothesis: To the south is Gellert Hill, which features the 19th-century Citadel.


Premise: Miller, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright whose most famous fictional creation,  Loman in 'Death of a Salesman' came to symbolize the American Dream gone awry, has died.

Hypothesis: Playwright Miller, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'Death of a Salesman', has died.


Premise: Coal company stocks got a lift Monday morning after an article in Barron's said the industry was benefiting from soaring natural gas prices and the advent of new power plants that emit less pollution.

Hypothesis: Coal stocks rise.


Premise: Discovery of the top quark, if confirmed, completes one set of subatomic building blocks whose existence is predicted by the prevailing theory, called the Standard Model, of the particles and forces that determine the fundamental nature of matter and energy. In the whimsical lexicon of modern physics, the elementary particles are called quarks, leptons and bosons.

Hypothesis: Quarks, leptons, and bosons are the three elementary particles of physics according to the Standard Model.


Premise: Beijing's hard-line stance on the Dalai Lama has grown considerably tougher in recent years. Ties with Germany nose-dived after Chancellor Angela Merkel met with the Dalai Lama in September 2007, recovering only after Berlin offered a pledge similar to that made by France on Wednesday. Companies alleged to have supported the exiles' activities have been subjected to smear campaigns and boycott calls in China, and an appearance in mainland China by the British rock group Oasis was axed by Beijing last month because guitarist and chief songwriter Noel Gallagher once took part in a free Tibet concert — in 1997.

Hypothesis: Angela Merkel is a Buddhist.


Premise: Kabul - A roadside bomb that injured six U.S. soldiers in eastern Afghanistan, was followed by a blast near a Kabul police station, Monday, that hurt two police officers and a civilian.

Hypothesis: The six U.S. soldiers were residents in Afghanistan.


Premise: Hurricane Isabel was a tropical storm when she entered Virginia, but caused damage to 75% of the state, making it one of the costliest disasters in Virginia's history.

Hypothesis: A tropical storm has caused significant property damage or loss of life.


Premise: It has become increasingly clear that Iran is making rapid progress toward attaining a nuclear weapons capability as U.S. officials have confirmed the presence of various nuclear sites that Tehran has failed to disclose

Hypothesis: Iranian chemical weapons threaten United States.


Premise: Kuwait becomes the fourth Gulf country where women as well as men can vote in elections. Saudi Arabia holds strictly limited, male-only elections.

Hypothesis: Women can vote in elections in Saudi Arabia.


Premise: In Seoul, Han confirmed that all North Korean media on Monday had started referring to Kim Jong Il as "His Excellency" or by the term previously reserved for his father, "the Great Leader." Until now, the younger Kim has been called "the Dear Leader."

Hypothesis: Kim Il Sung's son is called Kim Jong Il.


Premise: The Daily Mail has confirmed it has pulled out of the bidding for rival newspaper the Daily Telegraph.

Hypothesis: Daily telegraph is sold.


Premise: In a game ripe with controversy, Manchester United walked away with a crucial away win after a Ryan Giggs free kick gave them the lead. Lille protested the goal, saying the team was setting up its wall at the time Giggs took the kick, and the team nearly left the pitch. After goading by officials, the game was resumed, but Lille said it would be making a stake for a replay with UEFA. UEFA has rejected the claim and declared the goal valid, as well as deciding to "instigate proceedings against Lille for the improper behaviour of their players immediately after the goal."

Hypothesis: Lille has defeated Manchester United.


Premise: According to Nelson Beavers, who is a co-owner of the current company, Carolina Analytical Laboratories, LLC. and has ownership/employment history with Woodson-Tenent and Eurofins, the septic system was installed in the early 1990s.

Hypothesis: Nelson Beavers worked for Eurofins.


Premise: On the eve of a widely anticipated retaliation against Russian forces in Grozny, military commanders withdrew key units from the city, leaving it vulnerable to guerrilla infiltration.

Hypothesis: Russian forces vulnerable to guerrilla fighters


Premise: The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) provides funding for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis treatment in 15 focus countries among the world's poorest, mainly in Africa. As of September 30, PEPFAR supported life-saving antiretroviral treatment for over 2.1 million men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS around the world, including more than two million people in Sub Saharan Africa, Perino said. Nearly 9.7 million people affected by HIV/AIDS in PEPFAR countries, including nearly four million orphans and other children, had received "compassionate care" by that date, she said. "Nearly 240,000 babies have been born HIV-free due to the support of the American people for programs to prevent mothers from passing the virus on to their children," Perino added.

Hypothesis: Pepfar was founded by President Bush.


Premise: David Marshall, responsible for customer training at ABB Robotics in Milton Keynes, fervently hopes that the food, drinks and confectionery industry will become the next big market for robots.

Hypothesis: Robots are used in the food industry, in general.


Premise: The Dayton Peace Accords for Bosnia and Herzegovina was the first major peace agreement adopted after the Beijing conference, in December 1995.

Hypothesis: The Dayton Peace Treaty was formulated to end the war in Bosnia.


Premise: A jet filled with tourists returning home to the French Caribbean island of Martinique, crashed Tuesday, in Venezuela.

Hypothesis: A plane carrying vacationers home to the island of Martinique crashed, Tuesday, in Venezuela.


Premise: "The capacity people have to adjust and make peace with a new situation, even if they feel vulnerable, is really remarkable," said Randy Quevillon, chair of the psychology department and the Disaster Mental Health Institute at the University of South Dakota.

Hypothesis: Randy Quevillon is employed at the University of South Dakota.


Premise: Eddeh reasserted his opinion that President Al-Hrawi ought to be reinstated for another 3 years, claiming that the he "has considerable experience in the running of the state, but his resignation would be appropriate after the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian forces."

Hypothesis: Eddeh calls for an extension to Al-Hrawi's presidency, saying that he should resign after the withdrawal of the Israeli and Syrian forces."


Premise: The first dinosaur remains in south-east Asia were found in Laos as early as 1936, but little else eventuated until the 1980s. Much of the area is heavily vegetated, and although difficult to explore, promises many significant finds in the future. Thailand has provided the best finds, particularly from the Khorat Group, which covers the period from the late Triassic to the early Cretaceous .

Hypothesis: Dinosaur remains were found in Asia.


Premise: Friday, June 9, 2006 Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed SB 1800 that allows the death penalty or life without parole for those convicted of sexually abusing a child under the age of 14. Additionally, the bill also establishes a Child Abuse Response Team within the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Oklahoma has now joined Florida, Louisiana, Montana, and South Carolina to have similar measures for repeat child molestation.

Hypothesis: SB 1800 is a law that protects children.


Premise: The Pharos, a monumental lighthouse built around 280 BC and standing 330 ft high, lit the entrance to Alexandria harbour for centuries, but archeologists have never been able to identify positively any remains.

Hypothesis: The Pharos Lighthouse was built around 280 BC.


Premise: United States astronaut Sunita Williams, currently on board the International Space Station, has today broken the record for the longest unbroken space flight by a woman. At 5:47 a.m. UTC Williams passed the previous record of 188 days and four hours set by Shannon Lucid in 1996. This is not the only record Williams has broken. Earlier this year she set a record of 29 hours and 17 minutes for time spent by a woman on space walks.

Hypothesis: Anousheh Ansari paid to go in space.


Premise: Like the United States, U.N. officials are also dismayed that Aristide killed a conference called by Prime Minister Robert Malval in Port-au-Prince in hopes of bringing all the feuding parties together.

Hypothesis: Aristide kills Prime Minister Robert Malval


Premise: Michael Jordan, coach Phil Jackson and the star cast, including Scottie Pippen, took the Chicago Bulls to six National Basketball Association championships.

Hypothesis: The Bulls basketball team is based in Chicago.


Premise: A Miami International Airport concourse was evacuated for three hours Wednesday, after a pepper spray can discharged, causing 43 people to suffer respiratory distress.

Hypothesis: An Airport concourse was evacuated Wednesday, after people began having trouble breathing.


Premise: Hinostroza's children told police that four hooded individuals broke into the house and shot their mother after having insulted her.

Hypothesis: Hinostroza's children attaked their mother with a gun.


Premise: Food and Drug Administration, which regulates human experiments, says its regulations forbid human cloning without prior agency permission, and it has launched an investigation into whether Clonaid illegally performed any work on U.S. soil.

Hypothesis: Food and Drug Administration forbids human cloning without prior permission.


Premise: Three major bombings in less than a week will be causing some anxiety among political leaders in Baghdad and Washington.  Last Thursday 10 people were killed by a car bomb at a crowded cattle market in Babel province, south of Baghdad.  On Sunday more than 30 died when a suicide bomber riding a motorbike blew himself up at a police academy in the capital. Tuesday's bombing in Abu Ghraib also killed and wounded a large number of people - including journalists and local officials.

Hypothesis: Some journalists and local officials were killed in one of the three bombings in the Baghdad area.


Premise: In an interview this week, the president said that Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be a valued part of his administration until his presidency comes to an end.

Hypothesis: Dick Cheney is Vice President of the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.


Premise: Estimates vary widely, but it is believed there are up to 100 million children toiling in homes, factories, shops, fields, brothels and on the streets of rural and urban India.

Hypothesis: Child labor is widely used in Asia.


Premise: The group, along with a broad coalition of disarmament, environmental, peace, and religious organizations, expects the boycott to put pressure on French companies to exert their economic influence and encourage Chirac to end all nuclear weapons testing.

Hypothesis: International pressure is exerted to end French nuclear tests.


Premise: The answer to the number one question, "how many continents are there?", is seven.

Hypothesis: There are seven continents.


Premise: Dr. David Nabarro, of the World Health Organization, said a pandemic could come at any time and claim anywhere between 5 million and 150 million lives, depending on the world's response to bird flu.

Hypothesis: The World Health Organization moved Friday, to revise alarming predictions that a pandemic stemming from the bird flu virus ravaging parts of Asia, could kill as many as 150 million people.


Premise: Bountiful arrived after war's end, sailing into San Francisco Bay 21 August 1945. Bountiful was then assigned as hospital ship at Yokosuka, Japan, departing San Francisco 1 November 1945.

Hypothesis: Bountiful reached San Francisco on 1 November 1945.


Premise: After two years, the aspirin subjects experienced a reduced risk of fatal and nonfatal stroke.

Hypothesis: People experienced adverse effects while taking aspirin.


Premise: A teenager, belonging to the anti-scientology group Anonymous, has admitted that he launched a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the official website of the Church of Scientology, scientology.org. Dmitriy Guzner, aged 18, will admit to the charges related to carrying out the DDoS attack. He now faces a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment. In response to incidents such as these, Scientology have called Anonymous "cyber-terrorists." A DDoS attack occurs when multiple computers are used to attack a certain website with so much traffic that it is not accessible. The hackers attack the servers taking up all the available space, preventing the legitimate user from accessing.

Hypothesis: The 18 year-old D. Guzner is a member of the Anonymous group which attacked Scientology website.


Premise: It is an independence movement among the Tamil peoples of northern Sri Lanka -- the ancient land of Ceylon independent from Britain in 1948 and took the name Sri Lanka, a Sinhalese word, in 1972.

Hypothesis: The current name of Ceylon is Sri Lanka.


Premise: The biopic of wannabe actor, Johnny Stompanato, may be directed by Adrian Lyne of "Fatal Attraction" and "Indecent Proposal" fame.

Hypothesis: Johnny Stomponato starred in Fatal Attraction.


Premise: The Sea-Viewing wide Field-of-View Sensor, SeaWiFS, has brought to oceanographers a welcomed and improved renewal of the ocean color remote sensing data.

Hypothesis: Ocean remote sensing is developed.


Premise: 20 million years ago there were apes, and by 5 million years ago our closest ancestors and cousins, early ape-humans, had split from the other apes.

Hypothesis: Humans existed 10,000 years ago.


Premise: The American Defense Department reported today, that the bombing runs against Iraq are being especially carried out via cruise missiles launched from American aircraft carriers and B52 bombers.

Hypothesis: The Pentagon reported today, that the bombing runs against Iraq are being especially carried out via cruise missiles launched from American aircrafts.


Premise: During that time, Wilson received the best-play Tony Award for "Fences," plus best-play Tony nominations for six of his other plays, the Pulitzer Prize for both "Fences" and "The Piano Lesson," and (a record) seven New York Drama Critics' Circle prizes.

Hypothesis: Wilson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.


Premise: Canada is officially a bilingual country but, with nearly 60% of the population speaking English as their mother-tongue, and only 24% speaking French as their first language, some people are questioning whether Canada is truly a bilingual nation or rather, a bilingual nation on paper only. French is not the only linguistic minority in Canada, and some of the languages spoken, in order of popularity, are Chinese, Italian, German, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Ukrainian, Arabic, Dutch, Tagalog, Greek, Vietnamese, Cree and Inuktitut.

Hypothesis: French is the most widely spoken language in Québec.


Premise: Anglo/Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, Total, of France, and Spain's Repsol were all named as examples of established oil companies involved in the oil-for-food programme before surcharges began in 2001.

Hypothesis: Total participated in the oil-for-food programme.


Premise: Alzheimer's disease is successfully treated, and controlled by drugs which inhibit the synthesis of beta-amyloid protein.

Hypothesis: Alzheimer's disease is treated using drugs.


Premise: Glue-sniffing and other forms of solvent abuse are being overlooked in the fight against drugs, according to a new report.

Hypothesis: Glue-sniffing is common among youngsters.


Premise: A gunman has killed at least nine people in a series of shootings across two towns in the southern US state of Alabama before killing himself. Officials say there were at least four separate shooting incidents. The gunman fired on homes, a petrol station, shops and vehicles in Samson and Geneva near the Florida border.  Five people - including a child - were killed in one home. Several of the victims are believed to have been members of the gunman's family.  The gunman has not been formally identified, but was named in the local press as Michael McLendon.

Hypothesis: Michael McLendon has killed his child in Samson.


Premise: China's announcement of a rival Panchen Lama to the boy already recognized by the Dalai Lama are indications that its Communist regime is desperate in using any means possible to strengthen control over Tibet and Tibetan affairs.

Hypothesis: Dalai Lama and the government of the People's Republic of China are in dispute over Panchen Lama's reincarnation.


Premise: Although Eurodisney is a great family day out, visit also the chateaux in the area and the various parks and pretty small villages.

Hypothesis: EuroDisney is located in the various parks.


Premise: Vodafone's share of net new subscribers in Japan has dwindled in recent months.

Hypothesis: There have been many new subscribers to Vodafone in Japan in the past few months.


Premise: The loss offered a minor moral victory for Liverpool, as they scored only the second goal this season against Chelsea in league play.

Hypothesis: Liverpool beat Chelsea.


Premise: However, witnesses said some of the black-clad gunmen who attacked a police station and government buildings in Baquba, 60 km (40 miles) northwest of Baghdad, proclaimed loyalty to Zarqawi and wore yellow headbands linking them to his group.

Hypothesis: Some of the gunmen showed loyalty to Baquba's group.


Premise: About 10 million people live in the Paris metropolitan area, more than 15 percent of the country's total population. France's second largest city is Marseille (795,600) on the Mediterranean coast.

Hypothesis: About 10 million people live in France.


Premise: The Scots pioneered the idea of a single currency, when they shared the Ecu with France during the Auld Alliance, and therefore they are certain to join in the monetary union process again when the EU states amalgamate their currencies under Maastricht.

Hypothesis: France still maintains Ecu is the best denomination for the Maastricht single-currency..


Premise: A.C. Milan is in second place with 13 points, after two first-half goals from captain Paolo Maldini earned them a 2-1 victory over Reggina.

Hypothesis: A.C. Milan lost to Reggina.


Premise: The plane involved in the incident was a Bombardier Dash 8, which crashed into a home located at 6038 Long Street in Clarence Center, a suburb of Buffalo. It went down at approximately 10:17 p.m. EST (03:20 UTC), February 12. 44 passengers, an off-duty pilot, and four crew members died in the accident, as well as one person on the ground.

Hypothesis: A plane crashed while flying on autopilot.


Premise: The surge in violence has occurred while U.S. Marines and Iraqi troops battle insurgents near Karabilah on the Syrian border. British and American warplanes pounded targets to support a 1,000 Marine force. A Marine statement also said patrols in the devastated city of Fallujah came under attack Sunday. According to the statement, 15 insurgents were killed while the attack was repulsed.

Hypothesis: Fallujah is not far from Karabilah.


Premise: O.J. Simpson has been arrested at the Palms Hotel and Casino on charges related to an alleged armed robbery on Thursday. Simpson is accused of taking items from memorabilia dealers at the Palace Station casino-hotel in Las Vegas. Simpson claims that the items belonged to him and were "things he hadn't seen in years or that had been stolen." Simpson denies guns were involved and that the incident was a robbery. The exact charges are currently unknown.

Hypothesis: O.J. Simpson was released in Las Vegas.


Premise: According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a cholera epidemic in the African country of Zimbabwe has now infected over 80,200 people. The epidemic is the worst cholera outbreak in Africa for fifteen years. The United Nations agency stated that approximately half of all the patients that died of the disease did not reach any of the 365 cholera treatment centers located in the country.

Hypothesis: A cholera outbreak hit Zimbabwe.


Premise: "Unlike the three subtypes, Zaire, Sudan and Ivory Coast, which can cause hemorrhagic symptoms, Reston does not. There has been no evidence that Reston can cause significant illness in humans. When Reston was previously found in monkeys, few animal handlers were infected but only one had very mild symptoms," the DOH's official website announced. In January 1997, the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources ordered the immediate slaughter of some 600 monkeys in Ferlite, a breeding farm in Laguna, to prevent an outbreak of Reston ebolavirus.

Hypothesis: DOH stands for Department of Hurricanes.


Premise: In 1969, more than 500 million people around the world sat in front of television sets, watching grainy images of two men in white bulky spacesuits planting a U.S. flag on the lunar landscape with its black horizon.

Hypothesis: The Apollo astronauts waved the American flag on the moon in 1969.


Premise: Manuel Rosales, who ran against Mr Chavez in the 2006 presidential election, faces corruption charges he says are baseless. He had been in hiding since the charges were filed last month. Venezuela's Interior Minister Tareck el-Aissami said Mr Rosales was a criminal on the run. "If he doesn't appear before the appropriate courts, he would be a fugitive from justice, and as a result the court will activate mechanisms for his international capture," said Mr Aissami, denying that the charges were political.

Hypothesis: Manuel Rosales was mayor of Maracaibo.


Premise: Vivid spokesperson Jackie Markham has said the footage was created earlier this year and was purchased by the company two months ago from an unidentified third party. Markham said Jessica's attorney has not contacted them and she is unsure if any proceeds will reach Sierra. The tape also shows her making abusive comments about other contestants, such as Carrie Underwood, who has gone on to have some success.

Hypothesis: Jessica Sierra once reached the finals of "American Idol".


Premise: 20th Century spokesman Rick Dinon said that between the time it applied for the rate increase and changed its mind, the estimated quake losses had ballooned by several hundred million dollars.

Hypothesis: Rick Dinon is the senior vice president of 20th Century Insurance Co.


Premise: Two British soldiers have been arrested in the southern Iraq city of Basra, sparking clashes outside a police station where they are being held.

Hypothesis: Two British soldiers' imprisonment prompted UK troops to storm a police station.


Premise: A Colombian airliner has crashed in a remote area of Venezuela killing all 160 people on board.

Hypothesis: A Colombian plane crashed in a remote region of Venezuela.


Premise: The World Bank has also been criticized for its role in financing projects that have been detrimental to human rights and the natural environment.

Hypothesis: The World Bank is criticized for its activities.


Premise: Qatar and Oman are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, which also groups Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Hypothesis: The members of the Gulf Cooperation Council are: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain.


Premise: Oracle had fought to keep the forms from being released

Hypothesis: Oracle released a confidential document


Premise: The ivory ban was imposed by CITES in 1989 after a wave of poaching across Africa saw elephant numbers fall from an estimated 1.3 million to a few hundred thousand.

Hypothesis: The ban on ivory trade has been effective in protecting the elephant from extinction.


Premise: A run by Mr. Feinblatt would complicate what is already a three-person race because he most likely would have the support of the powerful mayor, who is running for a third term. Such a move could also irritate the outgoing district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, because it could hurt the chances of his preferred candidate, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. The relationship between Mr. Morgenthau and Mr. Bloomberg has been strained, in part because of the district attorney's investigation into the fire at the former Deutsche Bank building, which found that lapses by the city had contributed to the deaths of two firefighters.

Hypothesis: Feinblatt works for Bloomberg.


Premise: Ashley Olsen has decided to remain with her twin sister, Mary-Kate, instead of going on a planned trip to Australia to promote the opening of the siblings' latest movie adventure "New York Minute," reports the AP.

Hypothesis: The Olsen twins star in "New York Minute."


Premise: Still, the storm surge was both stronger and earlier than expected, apparently coming through waterways southeast of the city, said Col. Richard Wagenaar, the Army Corps of Engineers' district chief in New Orleans.

Hypothesis: Col. Richard Wagenaar said the problems would set back repairs at least three weeks, but June was still the target for having the levees back to pre-Katrina strength.


Premise: On Thursday, Syria said that it supports Iran's nuclear stance and said it "has a right to atomic technology," and said Western objections to Tehran's nuclear ambitions were "not persuasive." It comes in the wake of demands by US and European countries for Iran to halt its nuclear fuel enrichment activities. Iran notes that its nuclear program is civilian and consistent with Article IV of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which establishes the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and that it in line with Article IV, it will not abandon its enrichment efforts.

Hypothesis: Iran is backed up by Syria.


Premise: Guggenheim Museum, officially Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, was founded in 1939 as the Museum of Non-Objective Art.

Hypothesis: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was opened in 1939.


Premise: State Police issued bulletins via teletype requesting patrols to be on the lookout for Robert Senacal, 35, of Cortlandt Manor.

Hypothesis: Robert Senacal was arrested by police.


Premise: Neil Armstrong was an aviator in the Navy and was chosen with the second group of astronauts in 1962. Made seven flights in the X-15 program (1960 photo), reaching an altitude of 207,500 feet. Was backup command pilot for Gemini 5, command pilot for Gemini 8, backup command pilot for Gemini 11, backup commander for Apollo 8, and commander for Apollo 11: successfully completing the first moonwalk.

Hypothesis: Neil Armstrong was the first man who landed on the Moon.


Premise: So far Sony BMG has not released a list of how many of its CDs are protected or how many have been sold.

Hypothesis: Sony BMG sells protected CDs.


Premise: At the time, neither "USA Today" nor "The Observer" was able to verify which of the sixty-plus candidates it was.

Hypothesis: "USA Today" is a subsidiary of "The Observer."


Premise: Every year, about a quarter of all children sustain an injury serious enough to require medical attention, school absences, and/or bed rest.

Hypothesis: Fireworks may cause serious injuries.


Premise: Pop star Madonna has suffered "minor injuries" and bruises after falling from a startled horse on New York's Long Island on Saturday. According to her spokeswoman, the 50-year-old singer fell when her horse was "startled by paparazzi who jumped out of the bushes" to photograph her. Madonna was treated at a hospital in Southampton and was later released. A previous horse-riding accident in 2005 left her with three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken hand. She got back on a horse a couple of months later for an appearance on David Letterman's US talk show.

Hypothesis: Madonna is 50 years old.


Premise: King Tut Tomb Fetuses May Reveal Pharaoh's Mother - Egypt Mummies Moved for DNA Tests; Pharaoh Among Them? - March 30, 2009—Researchers may have finally come face-to-face with the real—and wrinkled—Nefertiti, thanks to sophisticated CT scanning technology. A carefully carved limestone face in the inner core of the Egyptian queen's famous bust (above, right) has emerged in new images, a new study says. The object, currently on display in Berlin's Altes Museum, was discovered in 1912 during an excavation of the studio of Egyptian royal sculptor Thutmose. The artist had sculpted Nefertiti—wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten—more than 3,300 years ago.

Hypothesis: Nefertiti was the stepmother of King Tutankhamen.


Premise: Orhan Pamuk, a prominent, post-modern writer whose work is translated into more than 40 languages, received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. Pamuk was an admired writer in Turkey until the events in 2005, when lawyers of two Turkish professional associations brought criminal charges against him for "insulting Turkishness" after the author's controversial statements regarding the disputed Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917. He claimed, and repeated his claim, that  ... one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in Turkey.

Hypothesis: Pamuk won a Nobel Prize.


Premise: Based on a worldwide study of smoking-related fire and disaster data, UC Davis epidemiologists show smoking is a leading cause of fires and death from fires globally.

Hypothesis: Domestic fires are the major cause of fire death.


Premise: "Cooper has never lost sight of these goals," Redford continued. "He brings to the position an infectious enthusiasm as well as a deep understanding of the Sundance brand and culture... He is a natural choice of succession to lead the festival into the 21st century." Among his other accomplishments for Sundance are helping foster the development of New Frontier on Main program, a multimedia conjunction of film, music and other art forms, and helping boost the festival's Internet presence — through its official Web site (www.sundance.org/festival), an online version of the festival, as well as the Sundance Institute's agreements with iTunes and Netflix to showcase and distribute short films.

Hypothesis: Robert Redford is the founder of Sundance Film Festival.


Premise: Two new Les Paul books arrive in stores this year: The Les Paul Legacy by Rob Lawrence is due from Hal Leonard Publishing on October 27.

Hypothesis: Rob Lawrence works for The Les Paul Legacy.


Premise: The New-York based company said, Tuesday, that profits totaled a record $946 million, or 75 cents a share, in the January-March period, up from $794 million, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier.

Hypothesis: Net income grew to $369 million, or 83 cents per share, in the January-March period from $291 million, or 65 cents per share, a year ago.


Premise: The Santa Barbara Airlines plane took off just before dusk from the city of Mérida en route to Simón Bolívar International Airport outside the capital city of Caracas. Noel Marquez, director of Venezuela's emergency management agency in Mérida, said the plane has failed to contact control towers. Civil Defense chief General Antonio Rivero told reporters that it is unknown whether or not the plane crashed or is simply missing.

Hypothesis: A plane with 46 passengers has not contacted control towers.


Premise: In an interview on a television show called the No Drug Show, hosted by Larry Byrnes, the Church of Scientology blamed both the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and the attack on Pearl Harbor on psychiatrists and the drugs they prescribe their patients. Scientology considers psychiatry to be barbaric and a violation of human rights. The video was posted on the video sharing website YouTube, but was later removed "due to a copyright claim by Axiom 10 Productions, Inc." Mark Bunker of XenuTV questioned why Axiom 10 would utilize the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to remove the video from YouTube, as it was promoting their ideology about psychiatrists. It was later re-added to another site called Vimeo.com.

Hypothesis: Scientology is against psychiatry.


Premise: George H.W. Bush served this country not only as President but also as Vice President, Member of Congress, United Nations Ambassador, chief of the U.S. Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and also, as a naval aviator in World War II. Coming back from the war, he married his sweetheart, Barbara Pierce of Rye, New York, and later that year made his first civilian adult decision when he made the appropriate choice of moving to Texas, where he lived the rest of his life.

Hypothesis: The name of George H.W. Bush's wife is Barbara.


Premise: He had been hand-picked by John Sculley to take over Steve Jobs' position as head of the Macintosh group.

Hypothesis: John Sculley was an executive of the Macintosh group.


Premise: In a statement to reporters, Parker called the spilt with Gap a mutual decision, and walks away $38 million richer and recently signed a 2-year deal with former employer HBO to develop future programming for the network. Parker is also scheduled to appear in two upcoming comedy films, a movie adaptation of the Comedy Central series, Strangers with Candy, as well as The Family Stone, costarring Diane Keaton and Claire Danes.

Hypothesis: Claire Danes is an actress who played in "Stardust".


Premise: The 500,000 eligible, Muslim voters are likely to reward Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD) in the September 18 parliamentary election, for its anti-Iraq war position and pro-Muslim policies.

Hypothesis: The parliamentary election takes place on September 18.


Premise: "Bless Me, Ultima" has survived a challenge in New York without being banned, or indeed, burned. It came in 75th on the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000. By comparison, the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh positions are occupied by Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, respectively.

Hypothesis: J.K. Rowling is the author of "Harry Potter".


Premise: But these are only first hazards. "If the rain continues at the same magnitude and according to the forecast, then some of the rivers could reach flood stage either later [Tuesday] or Wednesday morning," said Allan Chapman, a hydrologist with the River Forecast Centre in Victoria.

Hypothesis: Allan Chapman is employed at the River Forecast Centre.


Premise: Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has left the Church of England and joined the Roman Catholic Church. Blair, currently the special envoy for Quartet on the Middle East, has long been attending mass with his wife and four children, who are all Catholic. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor received Blair into full communion with the Catholic Church during Mass at Archbishop's House, Westminster, on Friday.

Hypothesis: Blair belongs to the Church of England.


Premise: Vegetables help to preserve your bones, and help fight the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.

Hypothesis: Fruits and vegetables prevent osteoporosis.


Premise: A brain-dead teenager was removed from life-support equipment after giving birth to a premature daughter.

Hypothesis: Pregnant women are allowed to die after they deliver their babies.


Premise: Both of these attacks, attributed to the drug trafficking cartels, took place after 10 bombs, placed in nine political offices of the Liberal and Social Conservative parties and in another bank office, exploded early this morning in downtown Bogota.

Hypothesis: Nine political offices of the Liberal and Social Conservative parties were attacked by the drug trafficking cartels.


Premise: The media always talk about the Dow being up or down a certain number of points.

Hypothesis: Dow Jones is down.


Premise: Cyanide is also used by Muru-ami fishermen in the Philippines to drive fish from the coral reefs.

Hypothesis: Philippine fishermen use cyanide in fishing.


Premise: Camacho is a Mexican version of Japan's Morihiro Hosokawa -- a pragmatic tactician using a crisis and the attendant outcry for reform to further his political standing.

Hypothesis: The Japanese Prime Minister is Morihiro Hosokawa.


Premise: In a move reminiscent for some of another actor, Ronald Reagan, who was twice elected governor of California, Schwarzenegger said he would be putting his movie career on hold so he can devote his time to running for governor.

Hypothesis: Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California.


Premise: Ramadan told reporters at the opening ceremony of the Baghdad International Exposition, "No cooperation and no inspection or monitoring by the American Zionist espionage commission (the Special Commission for disarming Iraq's banned weapons - UNSCOM) before Iraq's demands are met."

Hypothesis: Ramadan announced that Iraq will not cooperate with the inspectors.


Premise: The latest file-sharing service trying to go legit in a bid to avoid an expensive and dragged-out court battle is Grokster Ltd., according to a report published in The Wall Street Journal on Monday.

Hypothesis: File-sharing service, Grokster, is in talks to be acquired by Mashboxx, which is attempting to establish a legal peer-to-peer music company.


Premise: The main race track in Qatar is located in Shahaniya, on the Dukhan Road.

Hypothesis: Qatar is located in Shahaniya.


Premise: The university server containing the information relating to Mason's ID cards was illegally entered by computer hackers.

Hypothesis: Non-authorized personnel illegally entered into computer networks.


Premise: Following the assassination attempt in 1981, Reagan said he felt God had spared him for a purpose, and he intended to devote the rest of his life in dedication to his God and to that purpose.

Hypothesis: Regan was almost assassinated in 1981.


Premise: According to Professor Matthias Egger, from the University of Berne, and Swiss colleagues from Zurich University and a UK team at the University of Bristol, homeopathy has no such evidence.

Hypothesis: Matthias Egger, MD, director of the department of social and preventive medicine (ISPM) at the University of Berne, Switzerland, led the study.


Premise: The dam covering what used to be its football pitch fill up with millions of tons of poisonous mining waste.

Hypothesis: Mine waste-water poses an environmental hazard.


Premise: Kevin Vincent, 44, of Arlington, Va., said his wife buys store brand acetaminophen and he wanted to find out more about the problem.

Hypothesis: Kevin Vincent buys store brand acetaminophen.


Premise: Joe Friday wore badge No. 714-in honor of the number of home runs Ruth hit in his career.

Hypothesis: Ruth hit 714 home runs in his lifetime.


Premise: Nevertheless, 58 percent of Americans expressed their satisfaction with the President's job performance. 44 percent supported Nixon at the very beginning of the investigation into Watergate.

Hypothesis: 58% of Americans are unsatisfied with Clinton's job performance.


Premise: Valero Energy Corp., on Monday, said it found "extensive" additional damage at its 250,000-barrel-per-day Port Arthur refinery.

Hypothesis: Valero Energy Corp. caused damages to Port Arthur refinery.


Premise: Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp., on Monday, threw their weight behind the next-generation, HD DVD format being promoted by Toshiba Corp., in a blow to Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray format.

Hypothesis: Microsoft Corp. is a partner of Intel Corp.


Premise: Mr Carstens left his job as IMF's deputy managing director last month to work with Mr Calderon, and will now lead efforts to push through market reforms and create more jobs.

Hypothesis: Mr Carstens lost his job as IMF's deputy managing director last month.


Premise: G & H Restaurant Specialties has not released a statement regarding the violations, but the corporate offices in Louisville, Kentucky for KFC said, "our franchisee has finalized a plan for some structural repairs... The units will be temporarily closed while these building maintenance issues are addressed. [They will be] re-opened as soon as the repairs are complete." The health department also gave violations out to the East Delevan store for failing to maintain a clean floor throughout the restaurant and for not stopping food from becoming contaminated. Several rat traps were also found inside the storage cooler and around the kitchen area, but the establishment was "not free of rodents," said Commissioner of the Erie County Health Department, Dr. Anthony Billittier.

Hypothesis: Louisville is in Kentucky.


Premise: A team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control boarded the ship when it docked in St. Maarten to oversee the cleaning operation and try to determine what caused the outbreak, Carnival said.

Hypothesis: The causes of the outbreak were searched for by a team from the U.S. CDC.


Premise: The Russian government announced the termination of its "counterterrorism operation" in Chechnya effective April 16. According to the leader of the Russian secret service, Alexander Bortnikov, 20,000 soldiers will leave Chechnya in order to normalise the situation in the autonomous republic of Russia. This happened on behalf of the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev who had already announced a possible withdrawal of the Russian troops at the G20 summit in the beginning of April this year. But some forces, the special forces of Moscow's ministry of the interior, will still stay in Chechnya.  Human rights activist Lew Ponomarjov welcomed the situation, saying that the counterterrorism situation in Chechnya had been a severe violation of human rights.

Hypothesis: Alexander Bortnikov lives in Chechnya.


Premise: An American journalist of Russian descent, Klebnikov was shot four times by at least one assassin in a passing car as he stepped outside his office that evening in Moscow. He died shortly after arriving at City Hospital No. 20 in Moscow.

Hypothesis: Vladislav Listyev was murdered in Moscow.


Premise: Today in the city of Sao Paulo (from May 1 to May 30) we have a display on Ayrton Senna.

Hypothesis: Ayrton Senna was from Sao Paulo.


Premise: A decision to allow the exiled Italian royal family to return to Italy may be granted amid the discovery that the head of the family, Prince Vittorio Emmanuele, addressed the president of Italy properly. He has called President Ciampi "our president, the president of all Italians".

Hypothesis: Italian royal family returns home.


Premise: While the House has been extremely active in passing bills addressing the key priorities of entrepreneurs, most of the legislation has hit a brick wall over in the Senate.

Hypothesis: The House quickly passes bills addressing the priorities of entrepreneurs.


Premise: There can be no doubt that the Administration already is weary of Aristide, a populist Roman Catholic priest who in December, 1990, won an overwhelming victory in Haiti's only democratic presidential election

Hypothesis: Haiti's only democratic presidential election took place in 1990.


Premise: The controversy became more desperate, this summer, when astronomers discovered a new object, larger than Pluto, orbiting in the Kuiper Belt at a distance of nine billion miles from the Sun.

Hypothesis: The Kuiper Belt is nine billion miles from the Sun.


Premise: For one, Israel can comfortably subtract Gaza's 1.5m inhabitants from its demographic nightmare, maintaining, for a while longer perhaps, the Jewish majority.

Hypothesis: Israel has 1.5m Jewish inhabitants.


Premise: Basque separatist party Batasuna is widely regarded as the political wing of the Basque paramilitary group, ETA - a linkage it denies.

Hypothesis: Batasuna denies it is the political wing of ETA.


Premise: IBM is now at the top of my list of where I want to work. Ivy alone had nine interviews when the team visited the company's headquarters in Armonk last week.

Hypothesis: IBM's has its headquarters in Armonk.


Premise: Samantha Orobator was arrested at Wattay Airport in Laos in August last year after she was allegedly caught with 680g of heroin. In Laos, smuggling more than 500g carries a mandatory death sentence. Reprieve lawyer Anna Morris flew into the country today fearing the trial would start before they were allowed to meet on Tuesday. According to the charity, Orobator was able to make contact with their office in London today and said she had been told the trial would start tomorrow morning. Reprieve said the Laotian authorities brought the trial forward in an apparent attempt to stop lawyers from intervening. Up until now the 20-year-old from south London has had no legal representation.

Hypothesis: Samantha Orobator is a heroin addicted.


Premise: About 50 percent of all British party members are female (in contrast to only about 25 percent in Germany) but only 9.2 percent are represented in parliament.

Hypothesis: Women are poorly represented in parliament.


Premise: Two women from two counties are dead and police have some clues as to who murdered them.

Hypothesis: Police gather clues in double assassination.


Premise: Tom Online revenues for the three months ended June 30, 2005 were US$42.78 mn, an increase of 38.5% over the same period in 2004.

Hypothesis: Tom Online earned US$42.78 mn in three months.


Premise: Prosecutors, who stated their intent on Sunday to seize bonds and cash from Madoff, filed another notice on Tuesday listing assets that they intend to seize, among them "various pieces of jewelry owned or held in the name of Ruth Madoff valued at approximately $2,624,340," and "approximately 35 sets of watches and cufflinks owned by Bernard Madoff," as well as $31.5 million in loans made to Madoff's sons.

Hypothesis: Ruth Madoff is Bernard Madoff's daughter.


Premise: Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in the Olympic Range, rises to a height of 7,965 feet (2,428 meters) and is less than 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Hypothesis: Mount Olympus is in the Olympic Range.


Premise: UNSCOM employs about 120 persons in Iraq, including 40 inspectors.

Hypothesis: Wilson uses some 120 persons in Iraq, 40 of whom are inspectors.


Premise: That prompted Clinton, wife Hillary Rodham Clinton and daughter Chelsea to spend a cold and dreary Saturday in Minsk.

Hypothesis: Clinton's wife is called Hillary Rodham Clinton.


Premise: Traditionally, 60 percent of the tickets sold for a stop on the Vans Warped Tour, for example, occur six days prior to the show.

Hypothesis: Most tours only sell 60 percent of the tickets.


Premise: Public health and animal health officials from the Departments of Health and Community Services and Forest Resources and Agrifoods today confirmed a rabies case involving a red fox in western Newfoundland.

Hypothesis: A case of rabies was confirmed.


Premise: While preliminary work goes on at the Geneva headquarters of the WTO, with members providing input, key decisions are taken at the ministerial meetings.

Hypothesis: The WTO headquarters are located in Geneva.


Premise: The disappearance of York University chef Claudia Lawrence is now being treated as suspected murder, North Yorkshire Police said. However detectives said they had not found any proof that the 35-year-old, who went missing on 18 March, was dead. Her father Peter Lawrence made a direct appeal to his daughter to contact him five weeks after she disappeared. His plea came at a news conference held shortly after a £10,000 reward was offered to help find Miss Lawrence. Crimestoppers said the sum they were offering was "significantly higher" than usual because of public interest in the case.

Hypothesis: Claudia Lawrence is 35 years old.


Premise: Hurricane Katrina petroleum-supply outlook improved somewhat, yesterday, as U.S. and European governments agreed to release 2 million barrels a day, of oil and refined products, from their reserves.

Hypothesis: Offers by individual European governments, involved supplies of crude or refined oil products.


Premise: According to the 2002 census Slovenia has 1,964,036 inhabitants.

Hypothesis: Slovenia has 1,964,036 inhabitants.


Premise: Pfizer has reached a broad agreement to pay millions of dollars to Nigeria's Kano state to settle a criminal case alleging that the drug company illegally tested an experimental drug on gravely ill children during a 1996 meningitis epidemic. The details remain private, but sources close to the negotiations said the total payments -- including those to the children, their families, the government and the government's attorneys -- would be about $75 million under the current settlement terms. Other details, including how the money will be distributed, are to be worked out within weeks.

Hypothesis: Pfizer is the world's largest drug company.


Premise: "Mayday! Here is Estonia! Outside Uto lighthouse. We have listed 20 to 30 degrees," the Finnish Coast Guard quoted the distress signal.

Hypothesis: The Estonia sank south of Uto island.


Premise: Fishermen using the poison sodium cyanide have helped to destroy an estimated 70% of the reefs.

Hypothesis: Cyanide fishing is linked to the destruction of area reefs.


Premise: On May 17, 2005, the National Assembly of Kuwait passed, by a majority of 35 to 23 (with 1 abstention), an amendment to its electoral law that would allow women to vote and to stand as parliamentary candidates.

Hypothesis: A pro-women amendment was rejected by the National Assembly of Kuwait.


Premise: Mars is considered the red planet because of its bright red color.

Hypothesis: Mars is called 'the red planet'.


Premise: The third, and most remote possibility, was considered to be a so-called Jamaican coalition, again based on the party colours, between the Christian Democrats, the FDP and the Greens.

Hypothesis: It seems unlikely that there will be a coalition between Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats and Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.


Premise: Verizon Communications Inc. said on Monday it would buy long-distance telephone company MCI Communications Inc. in a deal worth $6.75 billion, giving Verizon a foothold in the market for serving large corporations.

Hypothesis: Verizon Communications Inc.'s $6.7 billion takeover of long-distance provider MCI Inc. transformed the telephone industry.


Premise: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was born in London on April, 21 1926, first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, subsequently King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Five weeks later she was christened in the chapel of Buckingham Palace and was given the names Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. The Queen ascended the throne on February 6, 1952 upon the death of her father, King George VI. Her Coronation followed on June 2, 1953.

Hypothesis: Elizabeth the Second's father was George VI.


Premise: A jet, carrying French Caribbean islanders home from a Panama vacation, crashed in rural Venezuela early Tuesday, after the pilot reported trouble with the engines.

Hypothesis: A plane carrying vacationers home to the French Caribbean island of Martinique crashed, Tuesday, in western Venezuela after reporting engine problems, killing all 160 people on board, officials said.


Premise: The most surprising news story of the past week must be the 'wonderful' story that the AIDS epidemic in India is under control.

Hypothesis: Polio is under control in the world.


Premise: We believe that, with the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, visitors from Taiwan will be encouraged to stay longer in Hong Kong, to experience the magic of our theme park and of our city.

Hypothesis: Disneyland is in Hong Kong.


Premise: Mr Ferdinand Piech said that the German company did not have any confidential plans or documents about GM's ultra-low-cost factory project.

Hypothesis: Documents included secret plans for a new factory.


Premise: That request is at odds with the law signed early yesterday, by Bush, directing the federal courts to consider the case de novo without taking into account the state court's findings.

Hypothesis: President Bush authorized the federal courts to review the case.


Premise: New Zealand film director Peter Jackson is to make a 264-million-New Zealand-dollar (133 million U.S. dollars) trilogy based on Tolkien's fantasy classic "Lord of The Rings," the local TV station reported Tuesday evening.

Hypothesis: Tolkien wrote the fantasy epic called "Lord of the Rings".


Premise: Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines announced plans to cut 7,000 to 9,000 jobs by the end of 2007, approximately 17% of its employees. CEO Gerald Grinstein will take a 25% pay cut. Executives have their pay cut by 15%. Other employees will have their pay reduced by 7 to 10%. Employees that make less than $25,000 a year will not be affected by these pay cuts. Delta has already cancelled leases on 40 aircraft and they plan to reduce its fleet by at least 80 more. They plan to reduce domestic capacity by 15 to 20 percent and increase international capacity by 25 percent.

Hypothesis: European Airlines are cutting jobs.


Premise: It uses the first day of the first month of the Lunar Year as the start of the Chinese New Year.

Hypothesis: The Chinese New Year's Day falls on the first day of the first month of the Lunar Year.


Premise: 2001 Nobel economics prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, meanwhile, said the new currency could come about quickly if it was based on an expansion of the IMF's already established system of Special Drawing Rights, units of exchange used by the IMF which already have some of the features of currency. Stiglitz argued that, as the US dollar has become the standard global reserve currency, it has inadvertently created a system which hurts the world economy. "It's a net transfer, in a sense, to the United States of foreign aid," he argued, reasoning that when other countries purchase US dollars in order to use them on international markets (such as for the buying and selling of petroleum), they effectively give the US a zero-interest loan — sometimes at times when they can least afford it. Stiglitz made his comments as head of a United Nations panel of economists giving recommendations to address the global financial crisis.

Hypothesis: Joseph Stiglitz is the winner of a Nobel prize in economics.


Premise: For example, if you want to find out what the weather in your area will be like for the next five days, select the weather channel from the main multiscreen and you will find detailed forecasts and other weather news. Or if your team has been in action, you can read the top headlines for your chosen sport by keying in 300 on your handset - just as you would on Ceefax.

Hypothesis: The weather channel gives you information about the weather in the next few days.


Premise: Washington Scientists have identified a hormone that significantly extends the lifespan of mice, a discovery that could mark a crucial step toward developing drugs that boost longevity in people.

Hypothesis: Texas researchers have found a naturally occurring hormone that can extend the lifespan of mice by as much as 30%, a discovery that opens a new avenue of research into human longevity.


Premise: DENVER —  Angie Zapata was a tall woman with striking black hair and eyes who would attract the attention of men, even those who knew she was biologically male. But prosecutors say when Allen Andrade found out, he beat her to death with a fire extinguisher. Her sister discovered her battered body under a blanket in her Greeley apartment last July. Andrade, 32, of Thorton, is scheduled to go on trial Tuesday on charges including first-degree murder and a bias-motivated crime, which could add three years to his prison sentence if convicted.

Hypothesis: Angie Zapata has been killed with a fire extinguisher.


Premise: A wooden steamer of 293 ft sank on 10/13/1902, 13.5 miles North by Northwest of Fairport Harbor, Ohio. The lives of ten of the 19 persons on board were lost in the wreck.

Hypothesis: 100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.


Premise: Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih was unharmed after an assassination attempt.

Hypothesis: prime minister targeted for assassination


Premise: The murders of Galan, a high-ranking police officer, and a judge last week, were probably carried out by an Israeli mercenary paid by the Medellin cartel - the world's most powerful drug-trafficking mafia - which has set up paramilitary squads accused of hundreds of individual murders and massacres against political and labor leaders, as well as peasants and patriotic union leftist militants in different parts of the country.

Hypothesis: Galan was killed by patriotic union leftist militants.