Tearful French tennis dad asks forgiveness
Fauviau, 46, allegedly drugged children's opponents, leading to 1 fatality

BORDEAUX, France - A man accused of drugging his children’s tennis opponents, leading to one player’s accidental death, described being gripped by panic and anguish as his desire to see his son and daughter succeed spun out of control.

Judges expect to reach a verdict Thursday in the trial of Christophe Fauviau of Mont-de-Marsan in southwestern France. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of unintentionally causing a death by administering toxic substances.

In tearful testimony, Fauviau asked the parents of the victim, 25-year-old Alexandre Lagardere, for forgiveness. “It’s something that completely took me over, and I couldn’t imagine that I could be responsible for the death of your son,” Fauviau, a former military pilot, told the court last week. “I never wanted things to come out like this.”

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Was Loch Ness monster actually an elephant?
Museum curator offers novel theory in scientific journal

LONDON, March 7 - So maybe the Loch Ness monster was actually a circus elephant.

Neil Clark, curator of paleontology at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, sees striking similarities between descriptions of Nessie and what an Indian elephant looks like while swimming. And perhaps not coincidentally a traveling circus featuring elephants passed by the misty lake in the 1930s at the height of the monster sightings.

"It is quite possible that people not used to seeing a swimming elephant -- the vast bulk of the animal is submerged, with only a thick trunk and a couple of humps visible," thought they saw a monster, Clark said in an interview Tuesday.By publishing his theory in the current issue of a British scientific journal, Clark has reignited passionate discussion here about the great Scottish mystery.

Clark noted that in 1933, impresario Bertram Mills promised anyone who could capture the monster for his circus a 20,000-pound reward, which Clark reckoned would be equivalent to nearly $1.8 million today. Perhaps Mills dared offer such a huge sum because he knew it would never be claimed, Clark speculated.

As early as the 6th century, a "monster" was reported in Loch Ness in northern Scotland; Saint Columba is said to have saved a man who had been attacked by a monster in 565. Since then, and as recently as last year, there have been hundreds of reported sightings.

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Hussein court shown 'execution order'
Ex-Iraqi leader returns to trial looking subdued

Tuesday, February 28, 2006; Posted: 8:58 a.m. EST (13:58 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The trial of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants has resumed on a day of violence in Baghdad.

Prosecutors presented a document they said was signed by the former leader approving the executions of more than 140 Shiites in southern Iraq after an assassination attempt in the 1980s.

The document was among several introduced Tuesday by chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi concerning the killings of Shiites from the town of Dujail in 1982.

The trial was later adjourned until Wednesday.

Earlier attorneys for Hussein and seven co-defendants ended a month-long boycott and asked for a delay in proceedings. They argued that the chief judge and chief prosecutor were biased and should be replaced.

Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman said the request was rejected by the five-judge panel.
At that point Hussein's chief lawyer, Khalil Duleimi, said he would appeal the decision and wanted the trial delayed during the appeal process. Then he walked out of the court.
Officials said court-appointed lawyers would defend Hussein.One of Hussein's seven co-defendants, half-brother Barzan Hassan al-Tikriti, was involved in a yelling match with the chief judge. He rejects his court-appointed defense lawyer.

Hussein -- who ended his 11-day hunger strike -- was the first of the defendants to walk in. He sat down quietly, wearing the suit he is known to wear in the courtroom but appearing more subdued than usual.

The trial restarted after a two-week adjournment as a series of explosions rocked the Iraqi capital Tuesday, killing at least 33 people and wounding at least 85 others, authorities said.

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Sectarian tension boils over in Iraq after blast
Growing fears of civil war amid reprisals after Shiite shrine attacked
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 1:04 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Assailants wearing uniforms detonated two bombs inside one of Iraq’s most revered Shiite shrines Wednesday, blowing the top off its landmark golden dome and spawning mass protests and reprisal attacks against dozens of Sunni mosques as leaders pleaded for calm.

It was the third major attack against Shiite targets this week and threatened to further stoke sectarian tensions.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani addressed the nation on state television, warning Iraqis not to allow the attack to drag the country into civil war. “This new ugly crime comes as a warning that there is a conspiracy against the Iraqi people to spark a war among brothers. God willing, we will not allow this,” he said.“We face a great conspiracy against Iraq, against its unity," added the president, himself an ethnic Kurd and secular Sunni Muslim. “We must cooperate and work together against this danger, the danger of civil war. This is the fiercest danger because it threatens our unity and our country with a devastating civil war.”

The brazen assault — the third major attack against Shiite targets in as many days — threatened to enflame religious passions as talks among sectarian and ethnic parties on a new government have bogged down.

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