Oddities that make unfortunate sense:
The Pentagon reportedly bought 313 million rounds of 5.56mm, 7.62mm and 50-calibre ammunition last year and paid $10m (about 5.5m pounds) more than it would have cost for it to produce the ammunition at its own facilities.Independent UK
-Cold weather has killed 30 people in isolated, wind-swept Mongolia where temperatures plummeted from a warm 23 degrees Celsius on Friday to below zero, local media said.Reuters/Alternet
Most of the victims in the capital, Ulan Bator, were found over the weekend on the streets and at bus stops, the Daily News said.
Ulan Bator is notorious for its street children, many of them living under manholes to keep warm near the Soviet-era water pipes through the bitter winters.
Alcohol abuse among the homeless in the city and across the vast steppe is also widespread and may have been a factor in the deaths, the newspaper said, adding that the victims were aged between 25 and 45.
-The seizure of the surveillance team outside the station lit the touchpaper.Independent UK
-Senior aides of Sadr, who twice led bloody uprisings against American forces in the south last year, sought to capitalise on a rumour that has gained widespread acceptance in Basra that the two men were Israeli spies caught trying to plant bombs.Telegraph UK
Abdel Hadi al-Daraji, the cleric's top official in his main bastion, the sprawling Sadr City slums of Baghdad, told The Daily Telegraph that Britain was plotting to start an ethnic war by carrying out mass-casualty bombings targeting Shia civilians and then blaming the attacks on Sunni Arab groups.
"Everyone knows the occupiers' agenda," insisted Mr Daraji, who is currently the only Mahdi army official authorised to speak directly on Sadr's behalf.
-In a debate, hosted by former US President Bill Clinton in New York, Blair said he was not hopeful of another major agreement on targets to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for climate change.Observer UK
Instead, he talked enthusiastically about focusing on technology-led solutions, the process favoured by America, Japan, China and India, but rejected by environmental campaigners and other leaders, including Britain's own minister responsible for climate change.
He also back-tracked on his previous insistence that tackling climate change would not damage economic growth, warning 'no country is going to cut its growth or consumption substantially' - a phrase that echoes anti-Kyoto arguments of President George Bush.
-Mr Blair always keeps a grey velvet pouch in his breast pocket. It contains a small piece of red ribbon and a piece of rolled-up paper. Even his closest advisers do not know its significance, but he cannot operate without it.Telegraph UK
