Aljazeera's Iraq correspondents speak out Iraqi officials want neutral coverage from their point of view. They blame us for not presenting the after-Saddam era achievements. But when we ask them what their achievements are, we do not get clear answers. Aljazeera (English)

Dozens killed in Iraq as violence surges Dozens of Iraqis have been killed and scores wounded in attacks in northern Iraq and Baghdad. Three Iraqi policemen were killed on Saturday afternoon south of Baghdad, an interior ministry spokesman said. World Press Review

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Iraq extends ban on al-Jazeera TV Iraq's interim government has indefinitely extended a month-long ban on Arabic TV news channel al-Jazeera. BBC Newsm UK edition

Three Days of Terror for Russian Child Hostages At first, they treated us okay and gave us water," Azamat Ktsoyev, 14, said of the Chechen separatists who stormed into the building on Wednesday during festivities marking the first day of school. But after that they started to treat us like dogs, shooting above our heads and beating people. Yahoo News

Bush puts Country on World Trade Center Alert in 2004 or If Paul Revere had been in the Bush administation we would all still be British The Bush administration was forced into the embarrassing admission yesterday that "new" intelligence about al-Qa'ida's plans to attack US financial institutions - information that led to an official alert and a slew of fresh security measures - was up to four years old and predated the 11 September attacks. The Independent

NEWSWEEK POLL: DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION 2004 -- Kerry/Edwards Leads Bush/Cheney 52 to 44 Percent Looking at crossover voters from the 2000 election, 92 percent of Gore voters in 2000 support Kerry (5 percent say they will vote for Bush and 3 percent is undecided); 84 percent of Bush voters say they plan to vote for the president again (four percent of Bush 2000 voters are undecided, 10 percent say they will vote for Kerry and 2 percent for Nader). Yahoo Finance

Bush is put on the spot as growth falls to 3% U.S. economic growth slowed more abruptly than expected in the second quarter, as higher energy prices prompted consumers to slow their spending. The news appeared to undermine President George W. Bush's efforts to show solid economic growth as a validation of his administration's policies. International Herald Tribune

Kerry pledges to fight for America
In a clear swipe at President Bush, he said he would bring back what he called the country's time-honoured tradition of never going to war because it wanted to but only "if it had to". BBC News UK Edition

The race to catch the iPod Apple has come up with a product of beauty and, at the same time, changed an entire industry. It has also rejuvenated its own financial fortunes�a more-than-doubling in year-on-year sales of the iPod has contributed to a 30% jump in revenue in the latest quarter, to $2 billion. But Apple-watchers, even its most loyal fans, have been here before. It did the same to personal computing, with the Apple Mac. But Microsoft came along, copied it, and squashed it. Apple will have to fight hard to ensure that doesn�t happen again. The Economist

Africa intervenes to stop Darfur�s slaughter As its observers report further atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan, the African Union says it may send troops to disarm the Arab militiamen there, in what would be the AU�s first military intervention in a member state. The United Nations is expected shortly to discuss possible sanctions against Sudan The Economist

Bush Insists He Has Made America Safer (and the Nazi's made the trains run on time) Faced with polls that show many believe the terror threat against them has increased due to the Iraq war, Bush argued that wars against Iraq, Afghanistan (news - web sites) and al Qaeda have made them safer, as has diplomacy that led Libya to surrender its weapons of mass destruction programs. Yahoo News

I write badly, therefore I am a would-be terroristSuddenly a light went on in my head. I remembered the passenger on my left leaning forward in his seat as I scribbled while we waited for takeoff. Seconds later, he'd clambered hastily over me without apology to make his way to the front of the plane. I'd assumed intestinal complications, but now that I thought about it, he hadn't used the bathroom. He'd spoken briefly with the flight attendants and returned to his seat. As the security woman looked at me, I now realized the passenger had been about as interested in my puzzling prowess as she was. Houston Chronicle

Bush Insists He Has Made America Safer (and the Nazi's made the trains run on time) Faced with polls that show many believe the terror threat against them has increased due to the Iraq war, Bush argued that wars against Iraq, Afghanistan (news - web sites) and al Qaeda have made them safer, as has diplomacy that led Libya to surrender its weapons of mass destruction programs. Yahoo News

America's Chechnya....it has something of Vietnam in its asymmetric nature, something of Algeria in its tactical quality, and there are probably some lessons to be learned from all sorts of comparisons with other wars from history. To make a contemporary comparison, in its domestic political dynamic, and to a degree in its expeditionary, overwhelming-force military technique, U.S. President George W. Bush's venture in Iraq can be compared with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin's war in Chechnya. World Press Review

U.S. Elections 2004 Comment and analysis from the world's press on the upcoming U.S. elections World Press Review

Philippines to pull out of Iraq Philippines to pull out of Iraq World Press Review

Congo uranium mine collapses Part of a uranium mine has collapsed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least nine people. BBC News

High prices for gas, milk push struggling families to brink Last month, the Consumer Price Index, the government's most closely watched inflation barometer, posted its largest increase in more than three years, the Labor Department said. The main culprits were gasoline--which has dipped in recent days but still remains about 30 percent higher than a year ago--and galloping food costs, especially dairy products, which jumped at the most rapid pace since World War II. Chicago Tribune

Will U.S. Foreign Policy Increase Terrorism? As long as American foreign policy remains the same and the Palestinian issue is left unresolved, the U.S. war on terror will increase terrorism by 100 percent, said Lebanese Shiite Muslim leader Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah World Press Review

Polls show a growing progressive electorateNobody thinks it will happen without incredibly hard work against an ugly and well-financed Republican campaign of fear, and victory may still depend on tight votes in swing states. But voters are expressing deepening awareness that America is on the wrong track and growing disapproval of Bush�s performance on the war and the economy. In These Times

Joyce letter smashes sale record
An erotic letter sent by author James Joyce to his wife has fetched a record �240,800 at auction in London. BBC News

Brando's last role: an evil old lady Marlon Brando fulfilled a lifelong ambition in his final film: to play an old lady. True to his Method training, the actor donned a blond wig and full drag for the part, even though the film was animated. Guardian

Bush's helping hands: Media scrubs president from Ken Lay coverage a review of mainstream press coverage since news of the Lay indictment first broke Wednesday afternoon indicates most news outlets, minus the San Francisco Chronicle and a handful of others, have completely downplayed the Bush connection, or simply ignored it all together. That, of course, is good news for the White House, which now wants nothing to do with the disgraced energy executive, once on the short list to be in Bush's cabinet. Salon

Big brother in the bookstore Many legislators on Capitol Hill will own up to supporting the Patriot Act, even with some of its more noxious provisions, in a 9/11-induced haze. But there are a few politicians in Washington -- especially those surrounding President Bush -- who continue to insist that, somehow, keeping track of what books ordinary Americans check out of the library will stop the next al-Qaida plot. Bush himself seems intent on keeping every part of the law on the books, a fact underscored yesterday when the White House threatened to veto a spending bill if it contained amendments weakening the government's power to spy on Americans' reading habits. Salon

Ultimate dot-com survivor faces new challenges WebMD, a health care company forged by two high-profile entrepreneurs at the height of the dot-com boom, is fabulously successful by one important measure: It's still here. CNET News

Turbulent skies Innovative and bold low-cost carriers have transformed the airline industry on both sides of the Atlantic. But are they now doomed to lose their momentum?
The Economist

The big one After more than two years of investigation, prosecutors have filed charges against Kenneth Lay, the former chairman of Enron. But though the bankrupt energy-trading company has become a synonym for corporate fraud, �Kenny Boy� may yet wriggle off the hook. The Economist

American shame; Islamist snuff movies It's a tough call whether Abu Musab al-Zarqawi�the Jordanian "militant" who is reportedly responsible for the videotaped butchery of Nicholas Berg�is more stupid than he is brutal, or whether he is a bigger monster than he is a fool. Zarqawi's own nauseating videotape makes the case for his indescribable brutality. Reason

So much for the moral president Pentagon Admits Iraq Methods Violated Geneva Rules Yahoo News

A failure of leadership at the highest levels Around the halls of the Pentagon, a term of caustic derision has emerged for the enlisted soldiers at the heart of the furor over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal: the six morons who lost the war. The Army Times

Connect music store an 'embarrassment' to Sony Rob Pegoraro of The Washington Post says that Sony's Connect music store, which was launched on Tuesday, is "an embarrassment to the company that gave the world the Walkman." Pegoraro calls Sony's Sonic Stage, the software you must use to download and manage your purchases, "a bloated, bug-ridden beast of a program. Mac Minute

(Bush continues errors of his way) and backs 'superb' defence chief Mr Bush's praise of Mr Rumsfeld came amid growing calls for the defence secretary to resign over the scandal. BBC News

Newspapers See Danger in Text Messaging International editors and publishers warned Friday that nontraditional communications � such as cell phone text messages � are rapidly outflanking radio, television, and print media because of their immediacy and proximity to the public.
Yahoo News

Where has time gone. I have spent all my efforts at my other sties and have not been back here since November. (Imagine all the nonsense W has done in the ensuing five months) Hopefully parties interested in news and admitted fiction (as opposed to W's pre-ported truths) have followed some of the links. Wildmagic7 or Now Just One Minute

Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity put to the Space test The idea of the mission was first proposed in 1959, but the project has been aborted and delayed many times due to budget reviews. BBC News

The Salon Interview: Neal Stephenson The rivalries between the various scientists you write about are so bitter, it's surprising even to someone who already knows that science isn't this Olympian, rational activity totally removed from human pettiness. ( By Laura Miller} Salon

Schwarzenegger promises California 'Hydrogen Highway' by 2010 Schwarzenegger signed the order after driving around a university campus in a Toyota Highlander propelled by a clean-burning hydrogen engine. The University of California at Davis is the site for one of America's most advanced centers for the study of alternative transportation systems. Salon