DRUDGE REPORT 2004�

That Was Fast:

From Xinhua wires:

Chief of PLO executive committee Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen escaped on Sunday night an assassination attempt as he was attacked by unknown militants at the mourning tent erected to receive condolences for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who died on Thursday.

The run-on sentence is characteristic of Chinese-to-English translation. In this case, however, it neatly captures the pace of events: Death -> Mourning -> Succession -> Assassination Attempt -> Civil War.