Overnight - A roundup of news items that you might have missed

Mugabe loses control of Parliament The opposition party in Zimbabwe declared today that the opposition had won control of the parliament and that their candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, had won the presidential race with 50.3% of the vote, so no run-off would be necessary, and Mugabe should concede. Whether he concedes or not, Zimbabwe has been loosed from his grip.

Who is parenting these kids??? That job doesn't fall to the schools, after all. Schools are supposed to educate and make literate. Parents are supposed to teach right from wrong, and respect for authority, and proper, civilized ways to object when you can't muster respect. Those lessons weren't imparted to nine third graders in Waycross, Georgia, who plotted to harm their teacher for scolding one of them for standing on a chair. They planned to cover the windows, knock her unconscious, restrain her with handcuffs and duct tape, and stab or cut her with a steak knife. Because she scolded one of them. I am frightened for the future when we are raising - no, make that failing to raise - kids like this.

Rwanda's president takes offense at Spanish warrants Paul Kagame said Spanish Judge Fernando Andreau could "go to hell" and dismissed him as arrogant after Andreau issued warrants for Rwandan military officers on charges of terrorism, genocide and crimes against humanity. Kagame is indignant because the Spanish judge does not distinguish between the forces that perpetrated the genocide and those that stopped it - who were, and remain, loyal to him.

Obama picked up a key endorsement today Lee Hamilton, former Congressman and member of both the 9/11 Commission and the Iraq Study Group endorsed the Illinois Senator today, significantly strengthening Senator Obama's foreign policy hand.

Sarkozy to try to secure release of FARC hostages in Colombia He rang up Colombian president Alvaro Uribe told him that France intends to embark on "a humanitarian mission without delay to make contact with the FARC and obtain access to our compatriot." French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt has been held by the FARC for six years and is thought to be near death after going on a hunger strike on February 23. Betancourt holds dual citizenship in both countries and was abducted in 2002 as she campaigned for the presidency of Colombia. Uribe responded by saying that military operations would be suspended in areas that the humanitarian mission travels into.

Virginia Suspends Executions Governor Tim Kaine announced today that the state would suspend carrying out executions while the Supreme Court decides on the constitutionality of execution by lethal injection.

Faux Noise Flounders Market share continues to shrink for the Murdoch Propaganda Network. CNN beat them out in the coveted 25-54 age group, with CNN viewership among that demographic increasing by a whopping 90%.

11-year-old catches 27-year-old mistake at the Smithsonian Over the winter holidays, Kenton Stufflebeam, a fifth-grade student at Alamo Elementary School near Kalamazoo, Michigan went to the Smithsonian with his family. As they viewed the "Tower of Time" Kenton noticed a mistake...The Precambrian was listed as an "Era" and it is not - it is an undefined unit of time that spans time from the nebulous beginnings of Earth to the advent of the Cambrian Era. Kenton's father took him to the information desk to bring it to their attention. This week he got a letter from the museum telling him he was "spot on."

No link between global warming and the sun Scientists at Lancaster University in England have further debunked the Svensmark Hypothesis, finding there has been no significant link between solar activity and the intensity of cosmic rays and rising temperatures globally. Put bluntly, Svensmark's if-thens don't bear out.

And while we are paying homage to Helios The source of the solar winds have been debated since about fifteen minutes after they were discovered. Today, researchers from University College London revealed the answer at a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society. Solar winds are the result of colliding magnetic fields. When the fields collide, charged gases fly out in every direction.