When the White House announced that President George W. Bush would be paying a visit to Canada in early December 2004, a variety of critics opposed to the U.S. President's foreign policy began musing about whether — while he was on Canadian soil — he could be arrested and prosecuted under Canada's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
This musing was merely an exercise in political philosophy, but several pundits ran with the idea, going so far as to fabricate articles describing President Bush's arrest at the hands of Canadian authorities. One such article, despite being clearly satirical in nature, was actually listed (after it was republished on another site) as the top story on Google News.
Another site, tricked up to look like the official CNN web site (and using a misleadingly similar domain name, www.world-cnn.com), ran a faux Associated Press story with the same premise, this one reported straightforwardly with no trace of humor. It too was fictional, although its serious tone fooled more than a few unsuspecting web surfers.
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