Friday, December 14 in the news.....
- Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov, the former World Chess Champion, said Thursday the Kremlin has stopped him from running for president by preventing his supporters from meeting to nominate him. Kasparov refused to speculate whether the Russian government had employed the same IBM computer that beat him at chess.
- A southern Shiite city hit by three synchronized car bombs buried its dead Thursday, while provincial officials lowered the death toll from 41 to at least 25, with scores wounded, in one of the worst attacks against Iraqi civilians in months. With 11 days to go, things in this city are not looking very Christmassy.