For several months now, political analysts from both major parties and the media have pushed the argument that President Bush and the Republicans achieved an unprecedented victory in this November's Congressional elections.  Only hours after the polls closed, for example, Bush's press secretary Ari Fleischer announced, "It is a big victory."  Tony Coelho, Al Gore's 2000 campaign chairman, agreed.  "The White took a huge gamble; they rolled the dice, and it worked," Coelho said with apparent admiration.  Bush "got his mandate, he got his victory and now he can govern for two years."  

Republicans attributed their victories to President Bush's "personal popularity."  Of the twenty-three Congressional districts Bush visited to support Republican candidates, 21 of them won.  Out of 16 Senate candidates Bush campaigned with, twelve won.  

PRESIDENT BUSH:  GOOD MORNING, GENTLEMEN.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY:  GOOD MORNING, GEORGE.

SECRETARY OF STATE POWELL:  REPORTING FOR DUTY, SIR.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL ASHCROFT:  GOOD MORNING.

PRESIDENT BUSH:  Well, boys, I've gotta tell you I'm pretty steamed this morning.  Why haven't we found those weapons of mass destruction yet?  Colin?

SECRETARY OF STATE POWELL:  They're not in Iraq, Sir.  They're in Korea. 

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY:  George, we've been through this before.  We all knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  Saddam isn't stupid. 

PRESIDENT BUSH:  I don't need to hear about whether Saddam Hussein is stupid or he isn't stupid, Dick.  I'm not stupid, that's all that counts.  We set to attack Iraq long before I ran for president.  And where the hell is the evidence we need to sell this damn thing. 

SECRETARY POWELL:  Seems like we've been outfoxed.

KARL ROVE:  Sorry I'm late, gentlemen.  I just got the latest wire from North Korea.  They've told us to take a hike.

New York, Jan 1 (GIN) -- Under pressure from aid agencies and mounting bad publicity, Swiss-based multinational Nestle has dropped its demand for $6 million from the famine-stricken Ethiopian government.

   Nestle claimed the $6 million was owed by Ethiopia since the former regime lead by Haile Mengistu nationalized a livestock company owned by a Nestle subsidiary.

   Ethiopia, in the middle of a ravaging famine that threatens millions of lives, had offered $1.5 million to cover the debt based on the assessed value of the company in 1975, the time of the nationalization. But Nestle rejected that amount, pushing for the value at the current rate of exchange between the dollar and the Ethiopian birr.

   The World Bank, which had been negotiating on behalf of the Ethiopian government, reportedly expressed surprise at the hard line taken by the multinational which owns Nestle. "This $1m in our opinion is justifiable. But this is not the point of view of Nestle. They are trying to get as much as they can," said a World Bank spokesman in a published report.

   Nestle had just about wriggled free from years of bad

NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (GIN) - More than 20 years after he was toppled from power and forced into exile in Saudi Arabia, Idi Amin wants to return to Uganda - the country where, during his eight-year dictatorship, at least 300,000 people were massacred.

   According to news group Sapa-DPA, Amin - who was once known as the "Butcher of Uganda" - wants to leave Mecca, return to live in his home town of Arua, Uganda, and build up his former house. Amin wants to live there "not as a dictator, but as a retiree," says his son, Hajji Ali.

   Amin's family, many of whom have returned from exile to Uganda, have been calling for Amin to be allowed back.  In April, Ali said "My father is completely innocent. We should talk about something where there is evidence, but the evidence is just not there."

   The evidence, however, is stark, solid and brutal.

   In addition to the 300,000 people that Amnesty International say were killed there during his rule, Amin expelled some 50,000 people of Asian decent - giving them just weeks to leave - and distributed their businesses to his friends.

LAGOS, Jan. 1 (GIN) - At a meeting of local Christian groups, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo publicly apologised for the killing of more than 200 unarmed civilians by the army in Benue State in October 2001.

   The army has been accused of several mass killings since civilian rule was restored in Nigeria in 1999. Mr Obasanjo is seeking re-election in April and this Sunday faces a former minister from Benue State in primaries for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).

   The killing of ethnic Tivs was apparently in retaliation for the abduction and murder of 19 soldiers sent to quash fighting between Tivs and Jukuns, the biggest group in neighbouring Taraba State.

   Human Rights Watch, a New York based rights group, has strongly condemned the Nigerian government for first encouraging, then failing to condemn, the military action.

   "I am sorry, it should never have happened," Mr Obasanjo said.

   Over a three-day period, soldiers entered a series of towns and villages, including Zaki Bam, in Benue State and opened fire on unarmed residents.