A very unusual death

British Press Association headline: “Leslie Ash Breaks Rib Having Sex.” Leslie Ash was one of the stars of the sitcom...wait for it...Men Behaving Badly.

Sharon says he no longer feels obligated by his promise to Bush not to kill Arafat, and that he told Bush so last week. Even if Bush warned him against it, as the White House claims, his public silence for the last week and a half (and I’ll bet he didn’t warn Arafat either) makes him complicit.

THE GAME IS AFOOT: I probably shouldn’t, but I think this story is just plain cool: “A leading expert on Sherlock Holmes grew paranoid that people were plotting against him before being found garrotted in his bed, an inquest was told yesterday. Richard Lancelyn Green, 50, who co-edited a book about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the fictional detective Holmes, was found dead at his home in Kensington, west London, with a shoelace tightened around his neck using a wooden spoon. Dr Paul Knapman, the Westminster coroner, recorded an open verdict and said it was a "very unusual death".”

Japan: it’s those damned hostages screwing it up for the rest of us.

Dick Cheney’s last press conference was in 1991.

Here’s a headline (Sunday Times) that will appeal to Israelis’ silly musical prejudices: “Wagner's Operas Kept Me Sane, Says Vanunu”. He’d be the first.

A member of the US’s synchronized swimming team has had her 3-month sentence for multiple manslaughter postponed until after the games. Nice priorities, huh? Now if it had been a discus thrower...