Secret discussions between the Roman Catholic Church and Michael Jackson to put the prayers of Pope John Paul II to music appeared to be in disarray last night after the singer fled members of the press who had got wind of the project.

Yesterday, Father Giuseppe Moscati, of the Millennium Music Society, which specialises in church music and organises musical events at the Vatican, reluctantly confirmed the details. "We had hoped the fact that we have been in contact with Michael Jackson would remain a secret. But sadly it has leaked out ahead of time. We are in discussions and trying to sort it out."

Wow! Hasn't the church made fools of themselves enough? Not even counting the ridiculous story about the invisible man in the sky who watches everything we do ...Or the close relationship between some priests and young members of the congregation ...But now this?

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez: "It would be easy for us to shut all our refineries in the USA"

'We would see then how much the price of fuel (in the US) would rise,' he said, despite adding that he did not wish to reach such an extreme situation. CITGO, the US subsidiary of the Venezuelan state oil concern Petrobras, has eight refineries and around 14,000 fuel stations in the US.

...How long would it take before every one of the refineries here were burned to the ground? ...or until people put a full scale boycott on Citgo? ...Sorry, I just don't see Venezuela being able to try this manuever...

A defiant Iran on Sunday ended snap U.N. checks of its nuclear sites and said it was resuming uranium enrichment, a day after being reported to the Security Council over suspicions it is building nuclear weapons.

"Iran has stopped all voluntary measures that it undertook in the past two-and-a-half to three years," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference. "We have no commitment to the Additional Protocol any more."

"Our enemies cannot do a damn thing. We do not need you at all. But you are in need of the Iranian nation," he told a crowd in Tehran earlier on Sunday.

Abdolrahim Moussavi, head of Iran's joint chiefs of staff, warned that any military strike against Iran's atomic facilities would be useless.

"We are not seeking a military confrontation, but if that happens we will give the enemy a lesson that will be remembered throughout history,"

I love hearing the bravado of these guys... ya notice they always say these things to their own audiences or to student groups? OK, peacniks, how long will you stop us from drilling for oil in Alaska? Scaredy cats, how long must we go without developing more nuclear power plants? Not in my backyard douchebags, how much longer will you fight to stop the windmill farms that could supply a lot of energy for us?

Also on Sunday, King's four children talked about her last days, saying she had appeared to be making steps toward recovery before she died the day she was supposed to begin treatment at an alternative medical clinic in Mexico.

"It came as a tremendous shock to us. We had no idea," eldest daughter Yolanda King said at a news conference. "She was walking with a cane, she was speaking more words ... there was clearly progress happening."

Yolanda King said the family had thoroughly researched the clinic and "were stunned when we found out there were problems and challenges there."

Yolanda King said their mother was recovering from a stroke and heart attack she suffered in August when she was diagnosed with cancer.

Jeez, what part of this suprised them? That she died? She was 78, recovering from a stroke and heart attack and had cancer... Or was it the fact that they found there really was no miracle cure in a Mexican clinic? ...Obviously the research they did was, to say the least, deficient...

These are just some things I heard thing week that made me say "Uh, what?"