First Lady Laura Bush has said that the attempt by an Iraqi journalist to hit her husband with his shoes was "an assault," though she did admit the guy had a strong arm and wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees offered him a contract.

The Federal Reserve has granted GMAC's request to become a bank holding company, giving it access to new sources of funding including a potential infusion of taxpayer funds from the Treasury Department. The auto lender needs the money to survive continuing losses on its portfolios of car loans. No word yet as to whether a Federal Reserve salesperson made GMAC sit in a room for 20 minutes while they went back to talk to their manager about the GMAC request, but here's hoping that they did.

India says the sole surviving gunman from last month's Mumbai (Bombay) attacks has sought help from Pakistan.  Pakistani officials say they are studying the contents of the letter. Islamabad has so far refused to acknowledge the gunmen were Pakistani. Pakistan has also refused to acknowledge that there is no Santa Claus and that their daughter is having premarital sex.

The ruins of an entire city have been discovered in northern Peru, researchers say.   Land developers immediately began buying up the property and pushing the researchers out so that they could replace the ruins with upscale condos.

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In a work published on the British Medical Journal website it was found that women could halve their risk of premature death by adopting a healthier lifestyle.  The study also concluded that jumping from high places could result in serious injury or possibly even death.

The Italian team Premiata Montegranaro announced on Sunday that 38-year-old Shawn Kemp has agreed to play for the team starting in November. Shawn doesn't know how to speak Italian, but his agent doesn't see this as a problem, as listening to his coach or teammates has never been one of his strong points.