Hyukkyu/superglue huggingface dataset:
Premise: On the 35th anniversary of the first lunar landing, NASA struggled with money problems as it aimed to return to human space flight after the Columbia disaster and ultimately put people back on the moon.
Hypothesis: NASA has economic problems.
Premise: Tests on animals showed they could get through the stomach wall and the thin membrane surrounding the stomach called the peritoneum to repair the intestines, liver, pancreas, gall bladder and uterus.
Hypothesis: The stomach wall is called the peritoneum.
Premise: Napster, which started as an unauthorized song-swapping Web site, has transformed into a legal service offering music downloads for a monthly fee.
Hypothesis: Napster began as an illegal Web site.
Premise: The organizers of the 15th International AIDS Conference, scheduled for next month in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday responded to press reports that a prominent hotel in Bangkok discriminated against HIV-positive visitors attending a different conference this month.
Hypothesis: A famous hotel in Bangkok is accused of discrimination against HIV-positive customers
Premise: The U.S. ambassador to Manila Francis Ricciardone threw his support behind Arroyo in an interview with local television on Monday.
Hypothesis: Francis Ricciardone is the U.S. ambassador to Manila.
Premise: Every year 40,000 babies are born with disorders related to prenatal drinking.
Hypothesis: Prenatal drinking can be connected to disorders in babies.
Premise: A former petty thief who converted and founded his own church, Silva is a devoted jailhouse preacher who claims to have ended 11 prison rebellions in recent years.
Hypothesis: Silva used to be a petty thief.
Premise: One of Michigan's largest newspaper chains agreed to be sold to the Journal Register Co. of Trenton, N.J., on Tuesday for $415 million in an auction.
Hypothesis: The Journal Register Co. of Trenton, N.J. is Michigan's largest newspaper chain.
Premise: The new arrivals followed a similar number that reached South Korea on Tuesday, the biggest single batch ever among the thousands that have fled famine and repression in their isolated homeland since the late 1990s.
Hypothesis: Thousands have fled South Korea's famine and repression since the late 1990's.
Premise: Fighters loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr shot down a U.S. helicopter Thursday in the holy city of Najaf.
Hypothesis: Fighters loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr shot down Najaf.
Premise: Continuing its buying spree, IBM said Wednesday that it plans to acquire Alphablox, a Mountain View, Calif.-based analytics software company.
Hypothesis: Alphablox is based in California.
Premise: LOSAIL, Qatar (AFP) - Torrential rain caused the season-opening Qatar MotoGP to be cancelled on Sunday, leaving officials and teams in a frenzy before deciding to race on Monday instead at this floodlit desert venue. Monsoon-like conditions, accompanied by swirling winds, arrived just moments before Australia's Casey Stoner, on pole position, was due to lead defending world champion Valentino Rossi and the other riders away on the warm-up lap. "It's just unlucky with the weather," said Australian Ducati rider Stoner, the 2007 world champion, who was bidding for a third successive win here.
Hypothesis: Valentino Rossi won the season-opening Qatar MotoGP.
Premise: Euro MPs have voted overwhelmingly to cut the cost of texting and using the internet on mobiles abroad. The cap for a "roaming" text will fall to 11 euro cents (10p; 14 US cents), from about 29 cents on average today. The EU-wide caps, excluding VAT, will take effect in July. They cover text messages and data roaming services, such as checking e-mails while abroad. The current price cap of 46 euro cents per minute for an outgoing voice call will also fall to 43 cents in July.
Hypothesis: A roaming text cost 46 euro cents.
Premise: However Mr Johnson said it was likely there would still be more cases and there was the possibility of a second wave in the autumn or winter. The advice was followed by news that the number of confirmed cases of swine flu in the UK has risen to 18. Health officials are trying to trace those on the same flight as a Scottish man diagnosed with swine flu on Sunday. The man, from Ayrshire - Scotland's fourth confirmed case - flew from Birmingham International to Glasgow Airport on Thursday. He is thought to have picked up the virus while in Texas, but the authorities said no other flights were affected.
Hypothesis: Mr. Johnson is a health official.
Premise: A Spanish man who has admitted killing a Welsh couple, has expressed remorse for his actions and apologised to their son in his murder trial. Brian and Tina Johnson were bludgeoned to death with a hammer on Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands in July 2006. Juan Carmelo Santana told the jury at Las Palmas criminal court that he blamed the drink and drugs he had taken for the attacks. The jury is expected to begin its deliberations later.
Hypothesis: Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were killed by Santana.
Premise: There is a rational basis to distinguish between people driving cars and semi trucks, Jambois said. "All I would say is I think he has an uphill battle." The lawsuit says the truckers' Fifth and Fourteenth amendment rights are being violated because there is no way for them to apply for an occupational license. Mutschler said the state is taking away the truckers' right to drive a truck for a living. He said he will argue that while driving is a privilege, once a person has a license for work, it becomes a right.
Hypothesis: Fifth Amendment right is about driving license.
Premise: Rain is pelting down on Doña Porcela's treatment room in Puerto Cabezas, the main town on Nicaragua's Northern Caribbean coast. The room is barren except for a few plastic chairs, a wooden table and some old plastic bottles balanced precariously on timber beams. Doña Porcela is a respected traditional healer here and the bottles are filled with her secret medicinal potions. Her patient today is a teenage girl asleep on a piece of cardboard, serving as a mattress on the dirt floor.
Hypothesis: Doña Porcela is a healer.
Premise: Global technology giant IBM is in talks to buy Sun Microsystems in a deal that would expand its server market share, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. IBM may pay as much as US$6.5 billion in cash for Sun, the newspaper reported on its Web site, without naming its sources. That amount of money would be nearly double Sun's closing share price on Tuesday of $4.97 per share. The report cautioned that while the two companies are holding discussions, a transaction may not occur.
Hypothesis: The price of Sun Microsystems is $4.97.
Premise: DEFENDER Zdenek Grygera scored on a header in added time to earn 10-man Juventus a 1-1 draw with Inter Milan on Saturday, although it may have not been enough to prevent Inter from clinching its fourth successive Serie A title. Teenager Mario Balotelli scored in the 64th minute for Inter and Juventus midfielder Tiago Mendes was shown a red card in the 76th. "To go down a goal, lose a man, and then be able to draw, satisfies me," Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri said. Inter remained 10 points ahead of Juventus with six rounds remaining.
Hypothesis: Claudio Ranieri is the Juventus' coach.
Premise: India's economy has grown by more than 8 per cent annually since 2003 and hit $4 trillion (based on purchasing power parity) by the end of last year - more than double that of the whole of Africa. The country now has the sort of budget, foreign exchange reserves, transport infrastructure, human resources and stable political environment that are the envy of most sub-Saharan countries. Yet its child malnourishment levels are worse than Ethiopia's and on a par with those of Eritrea and Burkina Faso.
Hypothesis: India, Eritrea and Burkina Faso have the same rate of child malnourishment.
Premise: A teenager who bashed a tourist to death with a baseball bat could be out of jail by his mid-20s. Jahche Broughton, who was just 14 when he murdered Karen Aim in Taupo, will spend a minimum non-parole period of 12 and a half years in prison. It seemed almost incomprehensible, a boy of just 15 standing in the dock after pleading guilty to murdering one woman and 12 days earlier smashing another to within inches of her life with a rock.
Hypothesis: Jahche Broughton was a baseball player.
Premise: A Soyuz capsule carrying a Russian cosmonaut, an American astronaut and U.S. billionaire tourist Charles Simonyi has docked at the international space station. Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka manually guided the capsule to a stop ahead of schedule Saturday two days after blasting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crews of the capsule and the station will spend around three hours checking seals before opening the air locks and meeting up face-to-face.
Hypothesis: Charles Simonyi is a Russian cosmonaut.
Premise: WASHINGTON - Russell Dunham, a World War II Army veteran who received the Medal of Honor, the military's highest decoration for valor, after he assaulted three German machine gun emplacements, killed nine German soldiers, and took two prisoners on a snowy morning in 1945, died Monday at his home in Godfrey, Ill., of congestive heart failure. He was 89. On Jan. 8, 1945, Technical Sergeant Dunham's company, part of the Third Infantry Division, was facing a formidable German force at the small town of Kayserberg, France, near the German border. The men were issued white mattress covers as camouflage in the deep snow.
Hypothesis: Russell Dunham was killed by nine German soldiers.
Premise: HONOLULU, Hawaii (CNN) — Battered by the current economic recession, Hawaii's economy could get a strong boost from two key sporting events. The National Football League's Pro Bowl Game will return to Honolulu in 2011 — an event that is expected to bring millions of dollars in revenue. Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann is also hoping to lure the 31st Summer Olympic Games — but not to his city. He's actively supporting Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Games.
Hypothesis: Mufi Hannemann is the coach of The National Football League.
Premise: Three major bombings in less than a week will be causing some anxiety among political leaders in Baghdad and Washington. Last Thursday 10 people were killed by a car bomb at a crowded cattle market in Babel province, south of Baghdad. On Sunday more than 30 died when a suicide bomber riding a motorbike blew himself up at a police academy in the capital. Tuesday's bombing in Abu Ghraib also killed and wounded a large number of people - including journalists and local officials.
Hypothesis: In less than a week there were 3 major bombings in Iraq, killing more than 40 people.
Premise: A spokesperson for Britain's The Islamic Cultural Centre & The London Central Mosque has commented on the episode, telling U.K. newspaper the Daily Star, "I hope Muslims take no notice of the show." But Groening has come out in defense of the plot, saying, "Cartoons deal in stereotypes. We try to be sensitive." It is not the first time the show has been mired in controversy, with Simpsons bosses recently being criticized for a storyline which implied America's Republican party was involved in a vote-rigging scandal at the 2008 presidential election.
Hypothesis: Groening is the creator of "The Simpsons".
Premise: Looking drawn and moving stiffly after three days in the hospital this week, Cardinal Edward M. Egan returned to the pulpit of St. Patrick's Cathedral on Thursday to participate in Holy Week services for the last time as archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. A little more than a week before his retirement, Cardinal Egan, 77, was stricken with severe stomach pains on Saturday night and driven to St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan in Greenwich Village. He was released on Tuesday after treatment for a gastrointestinal virus, with an unspecified appointment to come back for pacemaker implantation surgery, and with instructions from doctors to rest.
Hypothesis: Edward M. Egan is the New York Catholic Archbishop.
Premise: Although it won't discuss it, the Chinese government frequently blocks foreign Web sites that it deems to have objectionable content. Access to YouTube was also blocked in 2007, and 2008 during high-profile government meetings and following last year's unrest in Tibet. YouTube has been blocked at least twice in the last month, according to Herdict Web, a censorship tracking system run by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The first block came on March 4, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising on March 10. The current block began on March 23.
Hypothesis: The ban is not the first ban for YouTube in China.
Premise: Ken Lewis has now become the lightning rod of controversy, and that is highly distracting, said Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management, who believes Mr. Lewis should resign. "Even if everything he did was appropriate, it has hampered his legitimacy to lead." It was not long ago that Mr. Lewis was celebrated for his vision. His daring takeover of Merrill Lynch was the latest in a series of high-profile acquisitions that helped transform Bank of America into a national powerhouse. His conquests included the Countrywide Financial Group, the giant mortgage lender which, for many, came to symbolize the excesses of the subprime era. In December, the American Banker, the daily chronicle of the banking industry, named him 2008 Banker of the Year.
Hypothesis: Ken Lewis studied at the Yale School of Management.
Premise: THE Black Saturday bushfires royal commission, which sits for the first time today, will initially focus on the lack of warnings to communities of approaching firestorms and the Brumby Government's "stay or go" policy. But the commission, which will have only four months to produce an interim report, has already come under criticism for refusing permission for scores of survivors and the families of victims to appear before it. Individuals applying for leave to appear at the hearings have been refused permission, and told instead to lodge written submissions to the inquiry.
Hypothesis: Only 2 people were killed during the Black Saturday bushfires.
Premise: Ian Tomlinson, 47, died last Wednesday after encountering riot police near the Bank of England as he returned home from his work as a newsagent. The footage, released yesterday by The Guardian, reveals a docile-looking Mr Tomlinson walking with his back to police officers at about 7.20pm. One Metropolitan Police officer appears to lunge at him with a baton from behind and he falls to the ground. A bystander had to help him to his feet. Mr Tomlinson is understood to have then walked on to Cornhill where he collapsed. A New York fund manager visiting London shot the footage.
Hypothesis: Ian Tomlinson was a newspaper vendor.
Premise: I was nearly charged with petty theft for pilfering coffee at the illustrious Hippodrome Building. But lest I be judged too quickly, I must convey the sublimity of the fourth floor's coffee machine. Harry Houdini performed at the Hippodrome, at 1120 Avenue of the Americas near 44th Street. Many of the best and most famous performers of the time appeared there. It was one of the biggest and most successful theaters of its time, capable of accommodating 5,200 people.
Hypothesis: Harry Houdini was a magician.
Premise: The Grapes of Wrath, published exactly 70 years ago, can be seen as a prophetic novel, rooted in the tragedies of the Great Depression, but speaking directly to the harsh realities of 2009, writes Steinbeck scholar Robert DeMott. Steinbeck's epic novel, which traces harrowing exodus of Tom Joad and his family from blighted Oklahoma (where they are evicted from their farm), across the rugged American south-west via Highway 66, and on to what they mistakenly hope will be a more promising future in California, is considered by many readers to be the quintessential Depression-era story, and an ironic reversal of the rags-to-riches tale favoured by many optimistic Americans.
Hypothesis: The Grapes of Wrath was written by Steinbeck.
Premise: When a mosquito drinks the blood an infected person, the insect also swallows the malaria parasite, which then must incubate and multiply before migrating into the insect's saliva. The process can take weeks. And because mosquitoes are small-bodied and cold-blooded, outside temperatures make a big difference in how long it takes before they can transmit the disease. If it happens too slowly, the insects die before they can infect anyone. In general, the malaria parasite does better at warmer temperatures, which is why the disease occurs most often in tropical environments. But with mathematical models, Thomas has found that, even when conditions are warm, highly fluctuating temperatures over the course of a day slow down the rate of parasite incubation and larval development in the mosquito.
Hypothesis: Warm weather facilitates the spreading of malaria.
Premise: At home in New Hampshire, V. Gene Robinson is by his own description "just the bishop." As the head of an Episcopal diocese of 16,000, he spends his days counseling priests and their families, visiting parishes, performing baptisms, attending confirmations and coordinating such projects as overseas missions and a campaign against the death penalty. What he does is important, he says, but not "anything particularly special." But when he leaves the diocese, Robinson becomes what he calls "this bigger-than-life thing." His mere appearance inspires misty eyes and standing ovations from some. To others, he is a pariah whose very identity makes him too tainted to share a pew or theological discussion. One person looks at him and sees the future of the church; another, its demise.
Hypothesis: Nearly six years ago, Robinson became the first openly gay Episcopal bishop.
Premise: At least 14 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in southern Sri Lanka, police say. The telecoms minister was among about 35 people injured in the blast at the town of Akuressa, 160km (100 miles) south of the capital, Colombo. Government officials were attending a function at a mosque to celebrate an Islamic holiday at the time. The defence ministry said the blast was carried out by Tamil Tiger rebels but no-one has yet admitted responsibility. The Sri Lankan government has strongly condemned the attack. It urged people to remain calm and not to be provoked.
Hypothesis: 49 people were hit by a suicide bomber in Akuressa.
Premise: A U.S. judge ordered el Gharani released in January, dismissing as unreliable the military's allegations that he was part of al-Qaida and had worked for the Taliban in Afghanistan. He is held in a section of Guantanamo where prisoners are permitted more privileges while he awaits release. El Gharani was arrested in Pakistan in 2001 at a mosque by local police and turned over to U.S. forces in 2002. He was one of the first Guantanamo Bay detainees and one of the youngest. The U.S. holds about 240 men at the U.S. base in Cuba, most on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Hypothesis: About 240 people are detained in Guantanamo.
Premise: The word most often associated with West Papua is remote. An area of thick jungle and mountains, roughly the size of Spain, Papua is the eastern-most outpost of the Indonesian archipelago, some 3,200km (2,000 miles) from the government in Jakarta. Culturally it feels even further. Papua became part of Indonesia in 1969 after a controversial and very limited vote. Ever since there have been calls from some Papuans for independence and for decades a low-level armed resistance has been rumbling on, largely unnoticed by the outside.
Hypothesis: In 1969 Papua became part of Indonesia.
Premise: The BBC has seen documents alleging that a former rebel leader indicted for war crimes is playing a leading role in a mission involving the UN in DR Congo. The documents appear to prove that Gen Bosco Ntaganda is taking an active part in the mission's chain of command, a BBC correspondent in the country says. The UN-Congolese force is fighting Hutu rebels in the eastern DR Congo. The force says Congolese authorities have given assurances that Gen Ntaganda was not involved in joint operations.
Hypothesis: Bosco Ntaganda was a rebel leader.
Premise: Bout - who is generally believed to be a model for the arms dealer portrayed by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 movie 'Lord of War' - has repeatedly denied any involvement in illicit activities. At a hearing earlier this month, he angrily accused the United States of framing him and pressuring Thailand to extradite him. He has long been linked to some of the world's most notorious conflicts, allegedly supplying arms to former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor and Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi.
Hypothesis: Gaddafi is the Liberian dictator.
Premise: A man has hijacked a passenger plane in the Jamaican resort of Montego Bay, and is still holding five crew members hostage, reports say. More than 150 passengers were on board when the man forced his way on board the Canada-bound charter plane but all have now been released. The man breached security and boarded as the plane was about to take off at around 2230 local time (0330 GMT). Negotiations for the release of the hostages are said to be taking place.
Hypothesis: A plane crashed in the Jamaican resort of Montego Bay.
Premise: When it comes to the recession, tactful New Yorkers may refrain from complaining too loudly about their misfortunes, knowing that the chances are, there is someone else out there who has it worse. But try explaining to a 6-year-old, no matter how worldly and well mannered, that budget cuts may prevent him from spending quality time with a penguin. The Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the city's zoos and the New York Aquarium in Coney Island, is among the many organizations in the city facing steep budget cuts.
Hypothesis: The New York Aquarium is located in Coney Island.
Premise: The Czech Republic has allowed at least 94 prisoners over the past decade to be surgically castrated. It is the only country in Europe that uses the procedure for sex offenders. Czech psychiatrists supervising the treatment - a one-hour operation that involves removal of the tissue that produces testosterone - insist that it is the most foolproof way to tame sexual urges in dangerous predators suffering from extreme sexual disorders. Surgical castration has been a means of social control for centuries. In ancient China, eunuchs were trusted to serve the imperial family inside the palace grounds; in Italy several centuries ago, youthful male choir members were castrated to preserve their high singing voices.
Hypothesis: In China sex offenders have to be treated with surgical castration.
Premise: North Adams - A seven-minute film written and directed by a MCLA freshman will make its debut next week at the Boston International Film Festival, which features a line-up of independent films starring the likes of Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett and Ethan Hawke. "Initially when I shot the film, it was not my intention to enter it in any festivals, so I'm very excited and honored," Cody Romano, 18, of Cambridge, said Friday. "The film was made because of my personal interest in the poetry of Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet, and it was a tribute to his work. I wasn't sure anyone else would like it. My concern was that it would only appeal to literary people and people who were fans of the poetry, but I'm happy that it apparently appeals to a broader audience as well."
Hypothesis: Pablo Neruda came from Chile.
Premise: Speaking after he discovered that he would not face criminal charges, Mr Green disclosed that the officers who arrested him last November warned him that he could be given the longest possible sentence. "They said, 'Do you realise that this offence could lead to life imprisonment?'," Mr Green told BBC Newsnight. I just thought this was absurd. "I assume it's because it's a common law offence therefore because there is no law on the statute book which I was alleged to have broken, then presumably there is no set sentence for it."
Hypothesis: Mr. Green is the shadow immigration minister of the UK.
Premise: In San Sebastián, in the Basque country, dozens of supporters celebrated De Juana's release. He has never expressed any remorse. In a letter written after one Eta killing, he said of the victims: "Their tears are our smiles, and in the end we will roar with laughter." He now faces a bill for €8m in compensation for his victims, and an investigation into his assets. The release came 40 years to the day after Eta carried out its first deadly attack, killing a civil guard officer. The organisation, which is fighting for an independent Basque country in north-west Spain and south-west France, has killed more than 800 people since 1968.
Hypothesis: ETA started their activities in the 60s.
Premise: The U.S. State Department said Thursday that the United States is working to dissuade North Korea from going ahead with its plan to launch a satellite next month. U.S. officials say the launch is a disguised long-range missile test and would be destabilizing. State Department officials give no credence to the notion that the launch would be for scientific purposes and they say the United States is working diplomatically to try to prevent a North Korean action that they say would be provocative, destabilizing and unhelpful.
Hypothesis: The U.S. fears that the North Korean satellite is a ruse to hide the testing of a missile.
Premise: Governments around the world have been hurrying to contain the spread of a new swine flu virus after outbreaks were reported in Mexico, the US and Canada. At least 100 people are now suspected to have died of the disease in Mexico. The UN has warned the virus has the potential to become a pandemic, but said the world was better prepared than ever to deal with the threat. Stocks of anti-viral medicines are being readied and travellers are being screened at some airports for symptoms.
Hypothesis: At least 100 people are thought to have died of swine flu in Mexico.
Premise: The hurricane caused severe destruction across the entire Mississippi coast and into Alabama, as far as 100 miles (160 km) from the storm's center. Katrina was the eleventh tropical storm, fifth hurricane, third major hurricane, and second Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic season. It formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there, before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico and becoming one of the strongest hurricanes on record while at sea.
Hypothesis: Hurricane Katrina formed in August 2005 in the Gulf of Mexico.
Premise: International adoption can actually exacerbate the problem it hopes to solve, said Dominic Nutt, Save the Children's UK spokesman. "The very existence of orphanages encourages poor parents to abandon children in the hope that they will have a better life." While no one accuses Madonna of doing anything illegal in adopting the 4-year-old girl, reportedly named Mercy, there are questions nonetheless about how Madonna is able to navigate Malawi's 18-to-24 month vetting period in just a matter of days or weeks. But the larger issue, child-rights advocates say, is whether international adoptions are in the best interests of the child.
Hypothesis: Madonna is 50 years old.
Premise: North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament has re-elected Kim Jong-il as chairman of the National Defence Commission, the country's most powerful position. Mr Kim's re-election comes days after a rocket launch that was lauded at home but criticised at the UN. Analysts say the move will help cement Mr Kim's position, after rumours he lost some of his grip on power after suffering a stroke in August. Observers have expressed concern about the apparent lack of a succession plan.
Hypothesis: Kim Jong-il is the chairman of the UN.
Premise: Varun and his estranged cousins are the grandchildren of Indira Gandhi, the former prime minister who was assassinated in 1984. Her two sons - Rajiv Gandhi, who became premier after Indira's assassination and Sanjay Gandhi who died in an aircraft crash while doing aerobatics - married women with very different personalities. Varun's mother, Maneka, widow of Sanjay Gandhi, is headstrong, voluble, and strident. Rahul and Priyanka's mother is the Italian-born Roman Catholic, Sonia Gandhi, who was widowed by Rajiv's assassination, was more demure as a daughter-in-law.
Hypothesis: Indira Gandhi died doing aerobatics.
Premise: On a mundane morning in late summer in Paris, the impossible happened. The Mona Lisa vanished. On Sunday evening, August 20, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci's best-known painting was hanging in her usual place on the wall of the Salon Carré, between Correggio's Mystical Marriage and Titian's Allegory of Alfonso d'Avalos. On Tuesday morning, when the Louvre reopened to the public, she was gone. Within hours of the discovery of the empty frame, stashed behind a radiator, the story broke in an extra edition of Le Temps, the leading morning newspaper. Incredulous reporters from local papers and international news services converged on the museum. Georges Bénédite, the acting director, and his curators were speculating freely to the press.
Hypothesis: Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa.
Premise: Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, a defender of Roman Catholic orthodoxy who led the elite seminary for U.S. priests, becoming known for his energy, wit and warmth, was named archbishop of New York on Monday. The Vatican said Dolan would succeed Cardinal Edward Egan, 76, who is retiring as archbishop after nearly nine years. The post is the most prominent in the American Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II called the job "archbishop of the capital of the world."
Hypothesis: The 76-year-old Timothy M. Dolan is the new archbishop of New York.
Premise: SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament appointed Kim Jong Il to a third term Thursday as leader of one of the world's most reclusive nations, buoyed by a rocket launch heralded in state media as "historic" but assailed elsewhere as provocative. State media said lawmakers re-elected Kim chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission at the opening session of the new parliament, an appointment that under the constitution makes him the nation's top leader.
Hypothesis: Kim Jong Il is the ex-chairman of the National Defense Commission.
Premise: The Pope courted further controversy on his first trip to Africa today by declaring that condoms were not a solution to the Aids epidemic - but were instead part of the problem. In his first public comments on condom use, the pontiff told reporters en route to Cameroon that Aids "is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems". Pope Benedict has previously stressed that the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against Aids. The Vatican encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease.
Hypothesis: The Pope thinks condoms cause AIDS.
Premise: When UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon's special representative for Nepal Ian Martin completed his tenure in Nepal, it was at the Reporters' Club that he held his last press conference. It was the same organisation that gave Bollywood stars Manisha Koirala and Govinda to the media when they were passing through Nepal. However, on Wednesday, the well-connected Dhamala, whose contacts included Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, deputy premier and home minister Bam Dev Gautam and other ministers, industrialists, politicians and foreign envoys, hit the headlines for a different reason. The Metropolitan Police said the high-flying journalist has been arrested Tuesday for being involved with an underground organisation and is likely to be charged with violating the Arms Act and even treason.
Hypothesis: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is Maoist.
Premise: China yesterday threw down a challenge to America's 50-year dominance of the global economy as it proposed replacing the dollar as the world's main reserve currency with a new global system under the control of the International Monetary Fund. In a muscle-flexing move that will be seen as an attempt to exploit the big shifts in economic power created by the recession sweeping the West, Beijing said that the dollar's role could eventually be taken over by the IMF's so-called Special Drawing Right (SDR), a quasi-currency that was created in 1969.
Hypothesis: The SDR is the world's main reserve currency.
Premise: CAIRO — Even in old age the imposingly tall, athletic German known to locals as Tarek Hussein Farid maintained the discipline to walk some 15 miles each day through the busy streets of Egypt's capital. He walked to the world-renowned Al Azhar mosque here, where he converted to Islam, and to the ornate J. Groppi Cafe downtown, where he ordered the chocolate cakes he sent to friends and bought the bonbons he gave to their children, who called him Uncle Tarek. Friends and acquaintances here in Egypt also remember him as an avid amateur photographer who almost always wore a camera around his neck, but never allowed himself to be photographed. And with good reason: Uncle Tarek was born Aribert Ferdinand Heim, a member of Hitler's elite Waffen-SS and a medical doctor at the Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen concentration camps.
Hypothesis: The real name of Tarek Hussein Farid was Aribert Ferdinand Heim.
Premise: The earthquake happened at 0332 (0132 GMT), hours after a 4.6-magnitude tremor shook the area but caused no reported damage. Thousands of the city's 70,000 residents ran into the streets in panic during the 30 second tremor. A student dormitory was said to be one of the buildings badly damaged. It was not clear if anyone remained trapped inside. One student told Rai state TV that he managed to escape the building before the roof collapsed.
Hypothesis: A powerful earthquake strikes central Italy.
Premise: ContourGlobal's $325 million Kivuwatt project will be the first large scale facility to extract methane from the depths of Lake Kivu, a deep water lake located on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lake Kivu possesses a unique source of energy, methane gas held in solution deep within the lake water. This gas can be harvested for power generation. Extracting the gas also greatly mitigates the environmental hazards associated with a natural release of the lake gasses and provides an environmentally friendly and sustainable source of power generation.
Hypothesis: Lake Kivu separates Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Premise: Hundreds of Climate Camp demonstrators - behind direct action protests at Heathrow Airport and power stations in North Yorkshire and Kent - have pitched tents in protest against carbon markets. Several hundred anti-war demonstrators are marching to a rally in Trafalgar Square from the US Embassy in central London. On Wednesday morning, protest groups under the G20 Meltdown banner had marched from Tube stations to the Bank of England urging those who had lost their homes, jobs, savings or pensions to join them in following four "horsemen of the apocalypse" to "lay siege" to financial institutions.
Hypothesis: Trafalgar Square is in London.
Premise: The Porsche driver, identified as Jeffrey David Kirby, 51, of Costa Mesa, was arrested after allegedly abandoning his car on a side street near the collision and taking off on foot with his female passenger. Kirby is being held on suspicion of felony drunk driving and driving under the influence. Bail is set at $2 million. Kirby's passenger, Lynn Marie Nabozny, 32, of Newport Beach, was arrested for public intoxication and later released. The motion picture database imdb.com lists a Lynn Marie Nabozny as having acted in the 1997 television series "The Heartbreak Cafe."
Hypothesis: Lynn Marie Nabozny was arrested for public intoxication.
Premise: MADAGASCAR'S constitutional court declared Andry Rajoelina as the new president of the vast Indian Ocean island today, a day after his arch rival was swept from office by the army. Mr Rajoelina, who was expected to address his supporters in the capital later in the day, moved swiftly to assert his authority in the wake of Marc Ravalomanana's ouster at the end of a months-long deadly power struggle. "You can call me president," the 34-year-old former disc jockey told French television.
Hypothesis: Andry Rajoelina was proclaimed president of Madagascar.
Premise: Washington, DC — Josh Schwartz, creator of the hit series Chuck, Gossip Girl, The O.C. and the new web series Rockville, CA will address NAB Show attendees during a Super Session titled "Josh Schwartz: Creating in the New Media Landscape," held Wednesday, April 22 in Las Vegas. Schwartz will be interviewed by media industry veteran Joe Flint, director of industry programs at The Paley Center for Media. During the Session, Flint will ask Schwartz about the future of the entertainment industry and the impact that new digital technologies have on the creative side of content production. Schwartz will discuss his many projects including Rockville, CA, a new web based series comprised of four-minute episodes and performances by indie bands.
Hypothesis: Josh Schwartz is the creator of "Gossip Girl".
Premise: The terror attacks, it was clear, had blasted a hole in the dam holding back Mumbai's reservoir of woes. While the protesters seemed to be reacting to a tragedy that had left at least 164 people dead and 308 injured, they were really venting the frustrations of having to cope with life in a city with an infrastructure so stretched that simply getting to work and back is an ordeal. At peak hour, the commuter trains - which carry six million people each day - are packed with up to 5,000 commuters, even though they're built for 1,800. Every day, an average of 11 people die on the railway system, either because they fall off the trains or because they're hit by passing locomotives as they cross the tracks.
Hypothesis: Every day in Mumbai about 164 people die.
Premise: (CNN) — Nadya Suleman, the Southern California woman who gave birth to octuplets in January, has fired a nonprofit group of nurses charged with helping care for her children, CNN affiliate KTLA has reported. Suleman accused the nurses, from a group called Angels in Waiting, of spying on her to report her to child-welfare authorities, the affiliate reported Monday. The group was working for free, the affiliate said. Suleman instead will rely on nurses whom she is paying, Suleman's attorney said. She now has four of the octuplets at home, along with her six other children. The other octuplets remain in a hospital, which is discharging them two at a time to ease the adjustment.
Hypothesis: Nadya Suleman has 14 children.
Premise: It is the country's aging nuclear facility that currently concerns Armenian environmental groups as well as those in neighboring countries. Twenty miles west of the capital Yerevan, Armenia's Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant was built in 1970s and houses two VVER-440 Model V230 nuclear reactors. Metsamor, which currently produces about 40 percent of the country's electricity, is located in a seismically active zone and was closed even before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union because of the devastating Dec. 7, 1988, earthquake in Spitak.
Hypothesis: Metsamor nuclear reactor was shut down on Dec. 7, 1988.
Premise: BUJUMBURA, Apr 9 (Reuters) - An anti-corruption activist was murdered in a knife attack in Burundi on Thursday, police in the central African nation said on Thursday. Ernest Manirumva, who suffered stab wounds to the head, was the deputy chairman of a Burundi corruption watchdog known as OLUCOME. His body was found on Thursday morning inside his house in the capital Bujumbura, witnesses told Reuters. 'Manirumva was assassinated after midnight,' said a police spokesman. 'We don't yet know the people who committed the crime but investigations have started.'
Hypothesis: Ernest Manirumva was an anti-corruption campaigner.
Premise: (CNN) — Numerous wildfires were roaring Thursday through parts of Oklahoma and Texas, engulfing one entire town and searing neighborhoods including one in Oklahoma City. Hurricane-force winds continued to kick the flames higher. The fires had engulfed so many miles of turf, and flying embers had sparked in so many different places, that hours after the first blazes were reported Thursday morning, safety officials still weren't sure how many fires they were facing. In Texas, the 100-person town of Stoneburg was "burned over," by a 25,000-acre fire said Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Misty Wilburn. The town, northwest of Dallas near the Oklahoma state line, had been evacuated, she said. At least 100 homes were believed burned down in Midwest City, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City.
Hypothesis: A hurricane has caused vast damages in Oklahoma City.
Premise: Apple shrugged off the economic downturn to report a 15% jump in profits for the first three months of the year. Sales of its iPhone more than doubled from the same quarter one year ago, while iPod sales also grew. However, demand for Macintosh computers dipped. Net profit rose to $1.21bn (£0.84bn) from $1.05bn in the same quarter a year ago, on sales up 8.7% to $8.16bn. The results sent the company's shares 2.5% higher in after-hours trading.
Hypothesis: iPhone is a product of Apple's.
Premise: (CNN) — Children were among the victims of a plane crash that killed as many as 17 people Sunday in Butte, Montana, according to authorities in Oroville, California, where the aircraft stopped for fuel. The single-engine plane stopped at the Oroville airport at about 11 a.m. PT, refueled and departed about half an hour later, Police Chief Kirk Trostle said. "There were some adults and children on board," he told reporters Sunday evening, adding the passengers got out briefly to stretch while the pilot refueled the plane.
Hypothesis: 17 adults died in a plane crash in Montana.
Premise: Stanford, the chief executive officer of Stanford Financial Group and the Stanford Investment Bank at the heart of the SEC fraud charges, followed the lead of his Memphis-based chief financial officer, James Davis, who asserted his Fifth Amendment rights in court filings nearly two weeks ago. Stanford's signature is dated Monday. Memphis-based chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt is accused of helping facilitate the scheme by misleading investors. The only criminal charges filed so far are against Pendergest-Holt — for obstruction of justice — related to the government's belief that she lied about her knowledge of assets involved with the uninsured Caribbean-based certificates of deposit that are at the center of the investigation.
Hypothesis: The Fifth Amendment right is against self-incrimination.
Premise: LOSAIL, Qatar (AFP) - Australia's Casey Stoner, riding a Ducati, was confidently eyeing a third successive Qatar MotoGP victory after taking pole position in a dominant qualifying performance under the Losail desert floodlights. World champion Valentino Rossi was second fastest with his Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who was the pole sitter in 2008, in third place. Stoner, the winner here for the last two years and the 2007 world champion, clocked 1min 55.286sec with Rossi 0.473sec behind and Lorenzo 0.497sec off the pace. Italy's Andrea Dovizioso, on a Honda, was fourth quickest.
Hypothesis: Valentino Rossi is the World Moto GP champion.
Premise: (AP) The Italian court trying an American student and her former boyfriend for the murder of a British woman inspected the apartment house in Perugia on Saturday where the victim was stabbed to death in 2007. American Amanda Knox, 21, and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, who was also studying in the university town in Umbria, are being tried for the slaying of Knox's roommate, Meredith Kercher. Both have denied all wrongdoing. The body of 21-year-old Kercher, stabbed in the neck, was found in a pool of blood in her bedroom of the rented flat in November 2007.
Hypothesis: Amanda Knox was in Italy on an exchange program for students.
Premise: US music producer Phil Spector has been convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson, after a five-month retrial. The 68-year-old, famous for the "Wall of Sound" recording technique, faces between 15 years and life in prison. He had pleaded not guilty to the second degree murder of 40-year-old Ms Clarkson, who was shot in the mouth at Spector's home in Los Angeles. Spector was remanded in custody until sentencing on 29 May. His lawyer has said he intends to appeal.
Hypothesis: Phil Spector was a music producer.
Premise: A court in Venezuela has jailed nine former police officers for their role in the deaths of 19 people during demonstrations in 2002. The violence took place hours ahead of a failed coup against President Hugo Chavez. Both supporters and opponents of the left-wing leader were shot dead in the demonstrations in the capital, Caracas. Among those convicted were three former high-ranking police chiefs for the city. They were jailed for 30 years each for complicity in the deaths of pro-government demonstrators, a lawyer for the victims said.
Hypothesis: Nine police officers have had a role in the death of 19 people.
Premise: The death was confirmed by his daughter Alexandra Holzer. Mr. Holzer — who wrote more than 140 books on ghosts, the afterlife, witchcraft, extraterrestrial beings and other phenomena associated with the realm he called "the other side" — carried out his most famous investigation with the medium Ethel Johnson-Meyers in 1977. Together they roamed the house in Amityville, in which a young man, Ronald DeFeo Jr., had murdered his parents and four siblings in 1974. The house had become notorious after its next owners claimed to have been tormented by a series of spine-chilling noises and eerie visitations, set forth in the best-selling 1977 book "The Amityville Horror: A True Story," written by Jay Anson.
Hypothesis: Alexandra Holzer has an house in Amityville.
Premise: NEW DELHI, March 31 (Bernama) — Fifty years living in India is spiritually enriching, says 74-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. In March 1959, he crossed the Indian border as young man after a 14-day harrowing escape from his homeland. "I was 24 years old when I came to India as a refugee. I feel it is a very meaningful life because of the religious experience I had, following others like Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. "I am son of India," the Dalai Lama told reporters in Delhi, in conjunction with his 50th anniversary in exile in India.
Hypothesis: The Dalai Lama is 74 years old.
Premise: The museum's co-curator, Yitzchak Mais, former director of the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem, explained its significance as filling a largely unexplored niche. "These are your neighbors from the Midwest," Mr. Mais said. "You'll realize that you walked on the street with them, shopped with them at the grocery, sat with them at the movie theater." "You've lived with the witnesses," he went on. "It removes the distance. This didn't happen a thousand miles away. It's about right here, and that's very clear."
Hypothesis: The Yad Vashem Holocaust museum is located in Israel.
Premise: London, March 17 (IANS) British actress Natasha Richardson is reportedly in a critical condition after suffering a serious head injury while skiing in Quebec, Canada. The 45-year-old was involved in an accident on the slopes on Monday and was taken to Montreal's Centre Hospitalier Laurentien. She was later transferred to another medical facility, according to US reports. Richardson, who is married to Irish actor Liam Neeson, is under constant supervision from medics after suffering a "traumatic brain injury", a hospital source tells IrishCentral.com.
Hypothesis: Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson are married.
Premise: Despite the challenges, Ford made strong progress on our transformation plan by gaining share with strong new products, slowing operating-related cash outflows, reducing outstanding debt, lowering our structural costs and reaching new agreements with the UAW (United Auto Workers). Ford said it "remains on track to meet or beat its financial targets based on current planning assumptions, including the target for its overall and North American automotive pre-tax results to be breakeven or better in 2011, excluding special items."
Hypothesis: Ford is reducing its structural costs in order to achieve its financial targets.