Mr Drace-Francis said in his telegram that the crumpled Mr Ashcroft had threatened over breakfast to stir up trouble for Britain in the Turks and Caicos Islands (thank goodness this foreign-policy calamity was averted) unless he was helped to break into the islands' banking business.

ECONOMIST: Living on his wits

Republicans accused Democrats of trying to stir up political trouble over the cuts, which they promised would not affect FEMA's ability to respond to natural disasters, in part, because the money is being diverted to other agencies -- such as the Forest Service -- to be spent on disaster response.

CNN: House overwhelmingly passes supplemental spending bill

One Shia official said the prime suspects for the attack were Saddam loyalists hoping to stir up trouble between Shia and Sunni Muslims, but others think the attack may be linked to a power struggle within the Shia community.

ECONOMIST: Iraq's security void

You must leave something of value to the folks you expect to stir up trouble to make it work.

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