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