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TUUSULA, Finland (Reuters) - At least seven people died when a gunman opened fire at a school in southern Finland on Wednesday, hours after a video was posted on YouTube predicting a school massacre. A teacher at Jokela High School told Reuters the gunman was one of its pupils. "At this moment its seven (deaths) or more, higher," Dr Eero Hirvensalo, the head of the medical response team, told Reuters. The YouTube video, set to hard-driving music, shows a still photo of a school that appears to be Jokela High School. The photo then fragments to reveal a red-tinted picture...

Is there any method to bin Laden’s madness? After years of not being seen in public, he is apparently surfacing on the eve of the 6th anniversary of his Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Intelligence agencies have stated that Islamic terrorists like to mark anniversaries with attacks. As religious fundamentalists, they may even be motivated by Islam’s interest in numbers or numerology. While the number 6 has little religious significance for Islamics, this Sept. 11 will mark an important number: 72. That’s 72 months since the 9/11 strikes of 2001. Could there be significance in that number? We did some research...

It turns out that anybody can tune in to the world's top spy agencies talking to operatives. All you need is a cheap shortwave-radio receiver, the kind available at any drugstore. Tune it to 6855 or 8010 kHz. On the hour, you might hear a girlish voice repeating strings of numbers monotonously in Spanish. "Nueve, uno, nueve, tres, cinco-cinco, cuatro, cinco, tres, dos . . .," went one seemingly harmless message heard last month on a Grundig radio. It was the Cuban Intelligence Directorate or Russian FSB broadcasting coded instructions from Havana to spies inside the United States. Turn the...

Brussels, Belgium (AHN) - Running out of ideas to name their 15th child, a Belgian couple submitted an ad in a local newspaper to get help from the public with ideas. The couple, Brigitte Dillen and Ivo Driessens, from Merksem, have given all their children names ending with 'y' but cannot think of yet another one for their latest addition. The new baby will be a brother or sister for Wendy (20), Cindy (18), Jimmy (17), Brendy (16), Sonny (15), Sandy (14), Purdy (13), Chardy (9), Yorry (8), Yony (6), Britney (5), Yenty (3), Ruby (2) and Xanty (1). According...

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2006 – Coalition forces killed seven terrorists and wounded three during a raid in the vicinity of Baqubah, Iraq, today. One terrorist was captured during a cordon-and-search operation in Kirkuk yesterday. Upon arriving at the scene of today's raid, coalition forces took enemy machine-gun fire from a rooftop. Two individuals with AK-47 assault rifles had been seen fleeing that area just prior to the assault. Coalition aircraft supporting the ground force immediately suppressed the enemy fire, killing seven terrorists and wounding three. All of the wounded terrorists were evacuated to a nearby military medical center, U.S. officials...

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2006 – Coalition forces killed seven terrorists and captured two others in Iraq yesterday, U.S. military officials said. During a raid east of Lake Thar Thar, coalition forces killed four terrorists and detained two others. One of detainees is Sudanese. The other detainee, of unknown citizenship, was wounded in the initial raid, treated on site, and medically evacuated to the 10th Combat Support Hospital, military officials said. Coalition forces found Yemeni, Saudi, Tunisian, Sudanese and Iraqi passports at the site of the raid. In a separate incident yesterday, coalition forces located and killed three suspected al-Qaida terrorists...

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2006 – Coalition forces in Iraq killed seven terrorists today, five in a safe-house raid in Yusifiya and two who were planting a roadside bomb in Kirkuk province, military officials reported. Early this morning, coalition troops killed five terrorists and detained five suspects while searching for a wanted al Qaeda associate. Upon arrival at the Yusifiyah hideout, the troops received small-arms fire. They returned fire, assaulted the building and ultimately neutralized the threat, officials said. During the assault, five terrorists, three of them wearing suicide vests, were killed; five others, one of whom was wounded, were detained....

CAMP AL QA’IM, Iraq (March 22, 2006) -- After spending seven months of routing out insurgents and stabilizing the Al Qa’im region in western Al Anbar Province, Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment say they’re leaving the region in better shape then when they arrived last year. The Twentynine Palms, Calif.-based 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment will replace the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based unit, commonly referred to as “three, six,” in the region as part of a regularly scheduled rotation of U.S. forces in Al Anbar Province. Known as the “Teufelhunden Battalion,” 3rd Bn, 6th Marines have spent more than...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, March 1, 2006 – A U.S. servicemember was killed and two were wounded in offensive operations in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province yesterday, military officials reported. Seven suspected Taliban fighters were captured in the engagement, in which coalition forces attacked the enemy with small-arms fire. An improvised explosive device damaged one coalition vehicle during the engagement, which took place near Tarin Kowt. The wounded servicemembers were evacuated for medical treatment at a nearby facility. Officials reported they were in stable condition. Names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin. "We are deeply saddened by the loss...

KIRKUK, Iraq (Army News Service, Feb. 23, 2006) – Iraqi police captured seven insurgents for their involvement in a roadside bomb discovered by the Iraqi Highway Patrol in Kirkuk. Feb. 23 Though not involved in the arrest, Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division arrived at the scene to help secure the area around the bomb located in the eastern edge of the city. “This was a 100% Iraqi Police operation,” said Maj. Greg Bishop, 1st BCT. “This is one of many recent successes that Iraqi police have had in the past few weeks. They...

SIERRA VISTA — It was in December 1941 when Benjamin Franklin Williams was a private first class, serving with a New Mexico National Guard unit in the Philippines. Japan struck what was then a U.S. territory. A few months later, Williams found himself a prisoner of war. Like many captured in the Philippines, he would spend World War II in Japanese POW camps, where he was forced to work on starvation rations and abused. Some of his teeth were knocked out by a Japanese guard who used the butt of his rifle on Williams after knocking him to the ground...

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) - Sen. Lindsey Graham's role in a compromise on filibusters against President Bush (website - news - bio) 's judicial picks did not go over well with some GOP regulars in this Republican state. The first-term Republican, who in 2002 succeeded Strom Thurmond, was among 14 lawmakers - seven from each party - who abandoned their leaders and reached a deal among themselves. They agreed to confirm some of Bush's stalled federal court nominees while leaving the door open for rejecting others. "It's one of the hottest issues I've seen since I've been chairman," said...

On the day John McCain engineered the "deal" that undercut Bill Frist and apparently sacrificed fine nominees to his own ambition for reputation, The New Yorker hit the stands with a lengthy profile of Arizona's senior senator. The magazine confidently predicted the senator's 2008 presidential run and quoted him as saying, "When people are in close races, I am the first Republican who is asked to come and appear for that person. I am the most sought-after of all Republicans. In this last campaign, I was the one asked by the president to travel and campaign with him. . ....

Terrorist fears over laser attacks on seven planes By Tom Leonard in New York (Filed: 01/01/2005) The FBI is investigating reports that laser beams have been directed into the cockpits of seven aircraft flying over America since Christmas, amid fears that terrorists could use them to blind or disorientate pilots. Crews have reported two incidents in Colorado Springs and one each in Cleveland, Washington, Houston, Teterboro, New Jersey, and Medford, Oregon. All the planes landed safely. Pilots are not convinced by reports that federal investigators have found no evidence of terrorist involvement. "It's not some kid, it's too organised," said...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

NEW YORK - John Kerry's $50 million post-Labor Day advertising effort will start in seven states before expanding to an additional 13, creating a coast-to-coast presidential battleground map by Nov. 2. The Democrat's commercials begin airing Friday in Ohio, then next week in Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, according to Democratic officials familiar with the buy. In an unusual strategy, the campaign was reserving airtime over the entire two-month period until the election. The rest of the states — Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Maine, Michigan, Arizona, Louisiana, Colorado, Arkansas and North Carolina and West Virginia...

Magnificent seven that keep mere mortals wondering By Christopher Howse (Filed: 03/04/2004) Only one person out of more than 600 polled could name all Seven Wonders of the World, according to a survey published today. That person's identity is unknown, since the survey was done scientifically by ICM, guaranteeing anonymity. Perhaps it was you. If not, and you want to try getting all seven, look away from this page now. How did you score? If you could name three, you were doing well. Only one person in 10 managed that. Four or more Wonders were named by only a tiny...

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) welcomed seven former Soviet-dominated nations into NATO (news - web sites) on Monday, saying the 55-year old Western alliance would be strengthened because "tyranny for them is still a fresh memory." The expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to 26 members was celebrated as NATO signaled a willingness to play a military role in Iraq (news - web sites) if authorized by a new U.N. Security Council resolution. Standing with prime ministers in a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, Bush said the new members "earned their freedom...

Seven children die as mystery virus hits Nam January 08 2004 at 01:39PM Hanoi - Seven children aged between nine months and 12 have died from a mysterious respiratory disease in the Vietnamese capital, but health officials have ruled out Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome as the cause, state media said on Thursday. Since mid-October, twelve children have been admitted to Hanoi's Central Paediatric Hospital with a high fever and a chesty cough. Their symptoms have not reacted to antibiotics. Hospital doctors refused to comment Thursday on the illness, but the Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper quoted Professor Hoang Thuy Long, director...

The losers are on now...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A man who confessed to killing seven people in one of the worst mass murders in the city's history was sentenced Monday to seven consecutive life terms in a case in which police originally arrested the wrong men. Shihean Black pleaded guilty in February in the December 2000 bloodbath, in which four masked men burst into a row house, told people inside to lie down and then opened fire, killing seven and wounding three. Judge Benjamin Lerner praised Black for his willingness to come forward, even when police at first did not believe his confession. Police initially...

"[The Seven Myths of Gun Control] should be in every single home. The only other thing that's more important in every single home would be a loaded gun." G. Gordon Liddy September 10, 2001 "The Lost Interview" WITH THE PAPERBACK EDITION of my book The Seven Myths of Gun Control due out in August 2003 from Crown Forum, I can't think of a more appropriate time to publish my "Lost Interview" with G. Gordon Liddy. I call it "The Lost Interview" because most of my readers never heard it, never read it and never knew it took place. National...

Hollywood Video store manager Vicky McLaughlin wasn't sure what to make of the bandit pointing a silver handgun at her and declaring, "I'm going to stand this place up." His gun looked real and he was dressed in all black, with a sweat shirt hood pulled tightly around his head. But this robber was 4 feet tall and weighed 70 pounds. He was 7 years old. And the weapon turned out to be a fake. "We're still in disbelief that somebody attempted to rob us - and it was a [7-year-old]," McLaughlin said of the Monday afternoon incident. In the...

US Marines 'kill seven Iraqis after truck fails to stop' By Andrew Clennell 05 April 2003 Seven civilians, including three children, were killed by US Marines last night after they opened fire on a truck that refused to stop at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, an American television network reported. The alleged incident was reported by an ABC News correspondent travelling with a marine unit early this morning. The civilian Iraqis were in vehicles behind a military truck that refused to stop and tried to crash through the marines' roadblock. Pentagon officials said they had no immediate details of the...

Oregon voters have rejected a temporary income tax surcharge -- handing a major victory to the state Libertarian Party, which led the fight against the proposed tax hike. On January 28, in a statewide referendum, voters rejected Measure 28 by 55%-45%. Had it passed, the initiative would have raised taxes by $725 million over three years. "We are very happy tonight," said Oregon LP Executive Director Richard Burke, as the magnitude of the anti-tax vote became clear. "We were very surprised by the margin." Just eight days earlier, a statewide poll by Portland's KATU Television had said the vote was...

Seven million Koreans facing starvation By Jasper Becker in Beijing 05 January 2003 The United Nations food agency warned yesterday that supplies for some seven million people, a third of North Korea's population, will run out early next month without furtheraid. The news could worsen the crisis over North Korea's nuclear threats. "We only have firm commitments for 35,000 tons. This will be finished in early February, and then we might have to close shop," said Gerald Bourke, the spokesman for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Beijing. South Korea stopped food deliveries two months ago, after Pyongyang admitted...

Ettie G'alyah, 49, was buried in her hometown of Kokhav HaShachar this afternoon. Survived by her husband and seven children, Ettie was shot in the head by one or two Palestinian terrorists waiting in ambush as she drove home yesterday near Rimonim. MK Rabbi Benny Elon tearfully eulogized her: "Historians will yet analyze the character of the woman, the leader of this entire Yesha enterprise. This was a woman who represents the commander of this entire settlement campaign. A woman who raised seven children, all of them 'men of valor with fear of G-d,' a house, a home of faith...

Seven Charged with Murder in Chicago Mob Beatings Sat Aug 3, 3:24 PM ET By Kim Dixon CHICAGO (Reuters) - A 16-year-old boy and six men ranging in age up to 47 were charged with first-degree murder on Saturday in the Chicago mob beating and slaying of two men whose van skidded out of control and hurt three women. Authorities said they were considering seeking the death penalty against the seven, who were charged with two counts apiece of first-degree murder and several counts each of mob action. Because of the brutality of the crime and multiple victims, "this could...

Moscow - A flight from Paris to Tokyo was forced to make an emergency landing on Saturday in the Siberian city of Khabarovsk following the deaths of seven people on board, Interfax quoted airport officials as saying. The plane requested to make the emergency landing in the far-eastern Russian city following the death of one passenger, but during its descent six other people fell ill and died, the officials said. The report said the plane "has been placed in quarantine", but gave no further details.

http://baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/perspective/bal-pe.bush21apr21.story?coll=bal%2Dperspective%2Dheadlines Seven myths about George W. Bush The president has managed to refute many of the assumptions made about him before and after he entered the Oval Office. By Paul West Sun National Staff April 21, 2002 THE Democratic presidential hopefuls are already scrapping for a chance to take on George W. Bush in 2004. They all are operating on the assumption that Bush, like his father, is destined to be a one-term president. Yes, Bush's poll numbers are slowly drifting down from last fall's meteoric levels. But his vulnerability might be a mirage. If so, it will join at...