The Yes Men have struck again.

Thousands of New Yorkers were reportedly greeted this morning with a free


New York Times

that, while it looked like the usual paper,

. "Iraq War Ends" was the main headline. Beneath it, everything from the corrections to the advertisements ("Exxon, Finding decent ways to deliver the energy you need") was a sham and a falsehood.

The Yes Men, who put out the fake papers, are an international band of left-wing pranksters who for the past 10 years have impersonated corporate and international trade officials at somber conferences worldwide. Acting as "representatives" of the World Trade Organization, Yes Men have made the economic case for slavery--the present sweatshop-based system is more efficient, they conclude--and presented a one-piece suit featuring a two-foot-long inflatable phallus that purportedly would allow managers to monitor and physically shock underlings from miles away. In 2003 they produced a

of their own exploits.

They posted a


In a press release the Yes Men claim the prank put 1.2 million copies of the fake newspaper on the street and that planning the hoax took six months.

Other headlines in what the

calls "the spurious 14-page papers" include:

"Maximum Wage Law Succeeds"

"Health Insurance Act Clears House"

"Nationalized Oil to Fund Climate Control Efforts"

"Court Indicts Bush on High Treason Charge"


"United Nations Unanimously Passes Weapons Ban"

"All Public Universities to be Free"

and "Bicycle Lanes Inaugurated."