Etc...

Am I getting through to ewe?

Already uncomfortable at the center of controversy over what it knew about Iraq's military capabilities, British intelligence found itself with yet another challenge recently. For days, no one could decipher a mysterious high-frequency transmission that seemed to be coming from one of its monitoring stations. The signal could only be heard during daylight hours, and only at Scarborough in northeastern England. Was it spies? Space aliens? Ah, no, as it turned out. Investigators finally discovered a local ram using one of the station's antennae as a rubbing post for his horns.

Illegal motorbike racers are an increasing hazard in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, often zipping into traffic to elude police. But that won't be so easy anymore. This week, some officers began carrying a new weapon: paintball guns. The devices splatter suspected wrongdoers with red, yellow, and green dyes, marking them for later pickup.

Allowed to count some online subscribers for the first time, The Wall Street Journal logged a 16.1 percent circulation jump from last year, gaining ground on the nation's No. 1 daily, USA Today, according to a recent report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The editorially conservative New York Post also scored a double-digit increase, while circulations edged up 0.2 percent overall, the Newspaper Association of America said. The top 10 US papers by average weekday circulation:

1. USA Today 2.25 million
2. The Wall Street Journal 2.09 million
3. The New York Times 1.12 million
4. Los Angeles Times 955,211
5. The Washington Post 732,872
6. New York Daily News 729,124
7. New York Post 652,426
8. Chicago Tribune 613,509
9. Newsday of New York's Long Island 580,069
10. Houston Chronicle 553,018 - Associated Press