the lone custodian

We had Israeli TV, unnamed French officials and a French radio station stating that he was dead. And the Prime Minister of Luxembourg even announced that Mr Arafat had passed away."

ill? alive? brain dead? I thought this was news, but it seems everyone's already thinking about the dead body.

"...the main concern of Israeli security officials is that the Palestinians will try to bury their leader on what the Jews call the temple mount and what Muslims know as the Haram al-Sharif or noble sanctuary in the old city of Jerusalem. And this is arguably the most disputed site in the whole Israeli Palestinian conflict...Israel has said it will not allow Yasser Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem, but Israeli security chiefs fear that thousands of Palestinians could actually march on Jerusalem in an attempt to take Mr Arafat's body to the temple mount, or Haram al-Sharif as it's called. That would inevitably lead to serious clashes."

The world's a complete mess.

---

and here's another example:
A United States National Guard F-16 fighter plane has mistakenly fired 25rounds of ammunition at the Little Egg Harbour Intermediate School in SouthNew Jersey...

A lone custodian was inside the building at the time, but was not hurt.

Damage is minimal as the non-exploding, 20 millimetre bullets left onlypuncture marks in the school's roof and the asphalt outside the building...An investigation is being conducted into how the pilot mistook the schoolfor a target range.