Gerald Ford, who was President of the United States from 1974-1976, died today at the age of 93. He only stayed 2 years in office but ironically, he lived longer than any other president in US history.

"My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age," said his widow Betty Ford.

Ford was the only president to not to be elected. He succeeded Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal and pardoned him for all crimes a month later. On August 9th, 1974, Ford gave his first address to the country as President, stating his famous comment "the long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works."

Gunmen wearing Police uniforms raided and kidnapped 150 people, Sunnis and Shiites at gunpoint the Higher Education Ministry in Baghdad

Women employees were separated from the men and locked in a room after having their mobile phones confiscated by the gunmen.

Iraq's higher education minister, Abed Theyab, ordered universities to be closed until security improvements were made.

"I am not ready to see more professors get killed," he said.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced to hang after a court found him guilty of crimes against humanity for the killings of 148 people in the Iraqi Shiit city of Dujail. The killings occurred after a failed assassination attempt on his life in 1982.
Saddam yelled out, "Long live the people and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!"

Saddam had previously demanded that he be shot to death if found guilty as he said he was a military man and under Iraqi law, military men sentenced to death are shot. But apparently, the judge has striped him of his military status and sentenced him to death as any common criminal.

I thought it was just a rumor -& that was comforting- … but now it’s real! Google made their biggest deal in two years; they bought YouTube for $1.6 Billion!!!
February 2005, Hurley, Steve & Jawed Karim, founded YouTube. - Karim left YouTube to continue his studies in Stanford - Now these guys & their 65 employees will join Google.
YouTube is the largest video-sharing site on the Web, with an audience that watches more than 100 million clips a day.
This acquisition illustrates how established Internet & media companies are snapping up start-ups.
Now get this, shares of Google rose $8.50 to $429 at 4 p.m. yesterday New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They have risen 3.4 percent this year.
AAAAAAAAAH !!!

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is believed to have died from a severe disease according to a Saudi intelligence services.
This information was published in the French newspaper L'Est Republicain on its website on Saturday. The newspaper printed what it said was a copy of a report dated September 21 and said it was shown to Jacques Chirac, the president and Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister and France's interior and defense ministers.

Do you know what humanoids are? They are primates who split from apes million years ago. The skull, torso & limbs show both human & ape-like features.
The most famous humanoid fossil found until recently is Lucy! She was recovered in Ethiopia in 1974.
But now a new fossil, which astonished paleontologists around the world, has been excavated from the region of Dikika, again in Ethiopia.
The fossil is that of a 3.3 Million-year-old skeleton of a 3-year-old child, probably a girl.

Abdullah al-Amiri has been replaced as the chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein.
This move comes as Amiri was accused of being too soft on the former President. Also, protesting this sudden change of judges, the defense team walked out of court today. Defense lawyer Wadoud Fawzi said: “We don't expect this court established under the occupation authorities to be fair, so we decided to withdraw from this trial,"

Well congratulations everybody! We have proven to the world two things:
1- That we not only do not have the capability to overthrow our own dictators
2- We can’t even trial them ourselves!

Amiri is the third judge to be replaced by the court, what is this baseball or something?

A Russian-built rocket successfully launched to orbit Monday in Kazakhstan, carrying the world's first female space tourist on a flight to the international space station. Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur, was accompanied by a U.S.-Russian crew on the Soyuz TMA-9 capsule. The Iranian-born American Anousheh is the first woman to pay her way into space ($20 million dollars), and the first person of Iranian descent to get there. She will be the fourth space tourist.

Among her stated goals are "to inspire youth, and especially girls, around the world to pursue their dreams" and "to promote peace and understanding amongst nations as the world's first Space Ambassador."

Egyptian comedian actor Fouad Al Muhandis has died today in Cairo at the age of 82.
Al Muhandis passed away after a long ailment.
He will always be remembered for his comedy roles in movies, tv series & theatrical plays.
May God rest his soul.

The crisis of the Japanese royal family has ended at last. Princess Kiko, wife of Prince Akishino gave birth to a boy early today.
Kiko has provided the Japanese throne with its first male heir in more than 40 years!
The baby boy came to this world by C-Section & is third in line to the throne, after Crown Prince Naruhito and Kiko’s husband, Prince Akishino.
This baby isn't Kiko's first, she already has two daughters.
Congratulations !

A gunman opened fire on a group of foreign tourists in the Jordanian capital Amman today, killing a British man and wounding six. The attack happened near the Roman amphitheater in the downtown area of the capital.
The gunman, a Jordanian, was arrested by Jordanian police and is being questioned.
One British citizen has died as a result of his injuries and the others - three Britons, a Dutch national, a New Zealander and their Jordanian tour guide - are receiving treatment.

Egyptian Noble Literature prize winner Najib Mahfouz has died today at the age of 94 in Cairo, after suffering from ulcer bleeding.
Mahfouz will always be alive in our hearts & minds with his unforgettable writings & novels.
Najib Mahfouz was born in Gamaliya, Cairo & that provided the backdrop for his writings.
Before turning to the novel, Mahfouz wrote articles and short stories.
Some of his most famous writings are The Madaq Alley -Zuqaq Al Madaq- & The Cairo Trilogy -Al thulathia- : Bayn Al Qasrayn, Qasr Al Shoq & Sukkarya
He has made Arabs proud in 1988 by being the first Arab writer to be awarded a Noble prize.
May God rest his soul.

Officially, Pluto is no longer a planet, which means that our solar system is now composed of just eight planets—a fact that we have to get used to from now on. This was the decision arrived at in a meeting by the International Astronomical Union last Thursday.

Last week, International Astronomical Union, the one responsible for naming planets and other celestial bodies, recommended that in order for a celestial body to be considered a planet, it must be round and should orbit the sun. Astronomers present at the meeting, however rejected such definition. After thoroughly and scientifically deliberating on the issue, the astronomers agreed to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet to put a closure to the long-time debate on what a planet is. The debate was ignited last year by the discovery of the UB313, a planet-like object.

While Lebanon was under heavy bombing last month, the FIRST Miss Arab World Contest took place at the Intercontinental Hotel in Sharm el Sheikh from July 26th to July 29th!

Participation in the first Miss Arab World was surprising with 13 girls from 9 Arab countries; some of these countries are Iraq, Jordan and Palestine!

The event took place as part of the Arab Tourism Festival which started on the 20th of July and ended yesterday. Many Arab and western singers have joined the festival as guests.

Girl's ages range from 18 to 24. The winner which has the title of Miss Arab World 2006 is Nadia Bin Fadla from Tunisia, while the first runner up is Claudia Hanna from Iraq and the second runner up is Dina Adel from Egypt.

What's worth mentioning is that Miss Iraq and first runner up Claudia Hanna can't go back to Iraq after because she has gotten threatened to be killed if she comes back to Iraq that's why she will stay in England and work as a model in the Fashion industry to make her living.

Photos of the contestants