North America

The group of online users known as "Anonymous", who previously crashed various Church of Scientology websites named February 10 an international day of protest against the church in an on-going effort to "destroy" the religion.

Anonymous first declared war on the controversial religion several weeks ago when a Scientology recruitment video featuring Tom Cruise circulated throughout the web. After YouTube removed the video from their site, Anonymous organized and posted their own video declaring war on the religion.

Since declaring war on Scientology, and promising to "expel you from the internet and systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form," several major Scientology websites in the U.S. and the United Kingdom crashed. The FBI was also called into investigate after envelopes filled with white powder were sent to 19 Scientology churches in the Los Angeles area.

Michael Klein, owner and founder of California hedge fund Pacificor LLC, was killed in a plane crash over the weekend, along with his daughter, Talia, and the plane's pilot. The three were found dead after their plane crashed in Panama.

Francesca Lewis, a 12-year-old friend of Talia, 13, was the lone survivor in the crash. She is currently in the hospital with multiple injuries. The pilot, Edwin Lasso, was from Panama and did not survive.

The group's plane had been missing since December 23, and was found in the jungle-covered mountains of Chiriqui province in western Panama. The plane had taken off from Islas Secas, which is just off the Pacific coast of Panama, where they were on vacation at a resort owned by Klein.

They were headed towards Chiriqui volcano, about 385 miles west of Panama City, when their plane crashed.

On Wednesday, the Lakota Indians declared their independence form the United States of America. The tribe of such legendary warriors including Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, delivered a message to the U.S. State Department earlier this week, announcing that they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties signed with the U.S. Government.

The Native American tribe has territory spanning five midwestern states, and have said that the treaties have been repeatedly violated by the U.S. Government. In all, the Lakota tribe feels that a total of 33 treaties have been broken.

Roughly half of the Lakota nation is within the state of South Dakota, while the rest resides in portions of Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming.

Representatives from the newly self-proclaimed Lakota country said that they plan to issue their own passports and driving licenses. Residents living there would free of taxes as long as they renounce their U.S. citizenship.

Former Vice President Al Gore jointly won a Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, along with a UN panel on climate change, in recognition of their work in combating global warming.

The Nobel committee said that Gore's "strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change. He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted."

Al Gore was with his wife Tipper in San Francisco when he received the news, and said that he plans to give his portion of the $1.5 million prize to the Alliance for Climate Protection. Gore founded the Alliance for Climate Protection to encourage people to curb emissions that contribute to climate change.

Tuesday evening it was revealed that Saddam Hussein had offered to go peacefully into exile just one month before the invasion of Iraq for a staggering $1 billion. The offer was revealed in a transcript of talks from February 2003 between George Bush and the then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Azna at the President's ranch in Texas.

If the transcripts are legitimate, the President appeared to have been convinced that Hussein was serious about going into exile. The transcripts of the conversation were published this week in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais.

"The Eqyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein. It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if he's allowed to take $1 billion and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction," said President Bush.

And then, when Prime Minister Azna asked him if he could really leave, Bush said: "Yes that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated." However, he added that whatever happened, "We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March."