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When an 85-year-old woman interrupted a robbery in progress at her home, she didn't back down from confrontation. Instead, Leda Smith confronted the 17-year-old thief with her handgun and forced him to call police. Smith returned home from church Sunday afternoon to find a burglar had broken her door. Realizing someone was still inside her home, Smith entered to find her .22-caliber revolver, Pittsburgh's WPXI-TV reported. "I saw him move by my keyboard near the wall, but I just walked right on past him to the bedroom and got my gun," she said...

An impromptu daily Savage thread.

Anyone else catch this last night?

I received a particularly thoughtful and uplifting message from the former Constitution Party presidential candidate Mike Peroutka's site recently, and thought that I'd share it. Dear Friends of the Constitutional Republic, During this Christmas Season, as we buy gifts and trim trees and greet relatives and friends, we hear much about the circumstances of the birth of Christ. As we prepare for the celebration of Christmas, we rehearse the Gospel stories of the coming of our Savior by remembering the wise men, the star they followed (as a child I was always fascinated by the camels they rode), the manger,...

It's no secret that momentum is a powerful force in the stock market. It can drive real estate prices too, and may even account for all those color-coded rubber wristbands everyone is wearing today. Problem is, momentum is often irrational, and advertisers know it. In a new study, people were asked to buy and sell virtual stocks that had long histories of either increasing or decreasing earnings. For the most part, folks bought winners and sold losers. If that result doesn't surprise you, then you're just the sort of investor that Joseph Johnson University of Miami wants to warn.

LONDON (AP) -- Experts at London's National Gallery said on Friday they had discovered a new Leonardo Da Vinci picture, hidden underneath another painting by the Italian master. This is the first time a new Da Vinci has been discovered since the 1930s, when the "Ginevra de' Benci'' and "The Madonna of the Carnation'' were attributed to him. Experts using infrared techniques found the sketch hidden beneath the delicate brushstrokes of Da Vinci's "The Virgin on the Rocks,'' a powerful study of Christ's mother in a rather gloomy cavern that hangs in the National Gallery. The sketch shows a woman...

LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC could announce a 500,000 barrels per day output hike within two weeks if oil prices stay above $55 for at least the next 10 days to 14 days, Nigerian Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Edmund Daukoru said on Sunday. "I think we will take the decision shortly if the price stays above $55 for 10 days or two weeks," Daukoru told Reuters in an interview. "I think the decision can be announced within two weeks." OPEC chief Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said on Saturday he was likely to start telephone consultations with the group's oil ministers on...

BEIJING, Apr. 3 -- Taipei's popular mayor Ma Ying-jeou announced his bid for the leadership of Nationalist Party on Sunday. Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou cheers the audience as he formally announces his bid for the leadership of Nationalist Party on Sunday. Ma Ying-jeou was cheered by about 3,000 supporters as he promised to reform the 109-year-old Nationalist Party. The opposition hopes the handsome, articulate and savvy Ma will pump new life into the Nationalists. "We need to stabilize relations with the Chinese Mainland because they affect our economy, our foreign and domestic policies," the 54-year-old Ma told supporters.

03.04.2005, 09.22 JAKARTA, April 3 (Itar-Tass) - Two sections of a Russian hospital of the Ministry for Emergencies were set up on Sunday right in the soccer field of Gunungsitoli city on Nias Island, North Sumatra province. Russian doctors started receiving first patients, injured by the strong earthquake on March 28, Tass learnt on Sunday from UN senior coordinator Vladimir Boreiko, working in the quake-stricken area. He heads the first detachment of Russian rescuers, sent to help Indonesia. Components and equipment of the hospital, along with the medical personal, are airlifted from Medan by a Mi-8 transport helicopter of the...

Human rights group accuses Ethiopian military of attacking civilians NAIROBI, Kenya: Ethiopian troops have committed widespread killings, rapes and torture of the Anuak population in the southwestern corner of the country since late 2003, Human Rights Watch said Thursday. Numerous attacks by soldiers and civilians from other ethnic groups have killed more than 500 people and driven several thousand Anuaks from their homes in the Gambella region, the New York-based group said in a 64-page report released in Nairobi. The most serious attack took place in December 2003 when civilians attacked several Anuak villages, killing more than 400 people, the...

Kyrgyz minister threatens force amid stepped-up opposition protests BISHKEK (AFP) - Kyrgyzstan's new interior minister warned that authorities could resort to the use of force to restore order, as the government tried to keep opposition-led protests over a contested election from spreading to the capital. Just hours after his appointment, Keneshbek Dyushbayev said that law enforcement forces could legally use "physical methods, special means and issued arms in order to restore constitutional order". "If their actions exceed the framework of the law, then we intend to use the whole arsenal" of measures, he added. The former Bishkek police chief also...

Rare praise for Israel in UN report By HERB KEINON The report on the territories commissioned by the UN Commission on Human Rights and presented in Geneva this week again slammed Israel for alleged human rights violations, while nary wagging a finger at the Palestinians. But there was a slight change in the tone of the report this year, Israeli diplomatic officials noted, saying that while this was not anything to cheer about, it was worth a mention. For instance, the author of the report, South African jurist John Dugard, the commission's "Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights...