Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Morning Papers - It's Origins

Morning Papers

Rooster "Cock - A - Doodle - When - Do"

"Oak - He - Doe - $he"

History …


July 12 …

100 B.C., Roman dictator Julius Caesar was born.

1817,
Henry David Thoreau, writer and naturalist

1854, George Eastman (1854-1932), who developed film processing techniques and started the Eastman Kodak Company.

1864,
George Washington Carver, scientist and educator

1895,
Buckminster Fuller, engineer and inventor

1904, Pablo Neruda, pseudonym of Neftali Ricardo Reyes y Basoalto, Chilean poet, whose verse helped shape 20th-century Latin American literary and political consciousness. He won the 1971
Nobel Prize for literature.

1937,
Bill Cosby, comedian and actor

1908,
Milton Berle, comedian

1971,
Kristi Yamaguchi, figure skater

1543, England's King Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr.

1690, Protestant forces led by William of Orange defeated the Roman Catholic army of James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.

1817, naturalist-author Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Mass.

1862, Congress authorized the Medal of Honor.

1906, French army officer Alfred Dreyfus, found guilty of treason in a case that divided French society at the turn of the century, is cleared of the charges. Soon after, he is awarded the Legion of Honor.

1972, George McGovern won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Miami Beach, Fla.

1974, Former Nixon White House adviser John D. Ehrlichman is convicted of a charge connected with his supervision of the "plumbers," a covert group aimed at stopping press leaks.

1984, Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman on a major-party presidential ticket in the U.S. when Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale chooses the New York congresswoman to be his running mate.

1985, doctors discovered what turned out to be a cancerous growth in President Reagan's large intestine, prompting surgery the following day.

1990, Boris Yeltsin, chairman of the Russian congress of deputies, announces to a meeting of the Soviet Communist Party that he is resigning from the party.

1993, 196 people were killed when an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7.8 struck northern Japan.

1998, Led by two goals by midfielder Zinedine Zidane, host country France wins the soccer World Cup 3-0 over Brazil, the defending champion.

Missing in Action

1967
ALMENDARIZ SAMUEL MC ALLEN TX
1967
DOVE JACK PARIS SR. BLUEFIELD VA REMAINS RETURNED/IDENTIFIED 07/25/95
1967
FRANK MARTIN S. 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE IN 98
1967
HENRY NATHAN B. FRANKLIN NC 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED ALIVE IN 98
1967
MC MURRAY CORDINE DETROIT MI 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE IN 00
1967
NEWELL STANLEY A. PEKIN IL 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE & WELL 12/95-98
1967
PERRICONE RICHARD R. UNIONDALE NY 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE IN 98
1967
SCHIELE JAMES F. GRANGER UT
1967
SQUIRE BOYD EDWIN SACRAMENTO CA REMAINS RETURNED/IDENTIFIED 07/25/95
1967
SULLIVAN ROBERT J. EAST ALSTEAD NH
1967
VAN BENDEGOM JAMES L. KENOSHA WI WOUNDED DIED SEVERAL DAYS AFTER CAPTURE
1969
BANNON PAUL W. HUEYTOWN AL
1969
PIKE PETER X. NEW YORK NY
1972 SHIMKIN ALEX
1972
HUARD JAMES L. DEARBORN MI REMAINS IDENTIFIED THROUGH DNA 01/27/97
1972
O'DONNELL SAMUEL JR. DEARBORN MI

July 11 …

1979, Skylab tumbles back to Earth
The US space laboratory, Skylab I, plunged to Earth this evening scattering debris across the southern Indian Ocean and sparsely populated Western Australia.
All week there has been mounting speculation over where the spacecraft would come down. It has been in orbit six years - for the past five of those it has been unoccupied.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/11/newsid_3867000/3867739.stm

1995, Serbs overrun UN 'safe haven'
The Bosnian Serb army has seized control of the United Nations "safe area" of Srebrenica after Dutch peacekeepers were forced to withdraw.
Some 1,500 Serb troops overran the lightly-armed Dutch troops, despite two Nato air strikes on Serbian tanks inside the enclave.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/11/newsid_4080000/4080690.stm

2000, Britain pioneers HIV vaccine
The World Aids Conference in South Africa has announced trials for a new HIV vaccine will begin in Britain.
Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris will be one of 18 healthy volunteers who will take part in the first toxicity tests.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/11/newsid_2499000/2499925.stm

Missing in Action

1966
SHATTUCK LEWIS W. VAN COUVER WA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1966
WILKINS GEORGE H. GOLDSBORO NC REMAINS RETURNED 10/30/96
1972
CRODY KENNETH L. GRIFFITH IN
1972
HENDRIX JERRY W. WICHITA KS
1972
LESESNE HENRY D. FLORENCE SC 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972
MASTERSON FREDERICK J. OAKLAND CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972
RANDALL ROBERT I. NEPTUNE NJ 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98

Michael Moore Today

Play the news conference and film loop to understand the content alone but it gets real interesting when you play both the McClellan news conference at the same time as the film loop.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/scotty_rove_71105.mov

http://www.ericblumrich.com/right.html


"
...if anyone in this administration was responsible for the leaking of classified information, they would no longer work in this administration." (VIDEO)

--Scott McClellan, October 6, 2003

Q Is there any plans for the administration to follow up and talk to Syrian officials or even the leadership about what has occurred?
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, we continue to make our views known. And they know that we take these issues very seriously, and they know what they need to do.

Q Scott, the President just expressed his desire to get to the bottom of this CIA leak issue. And he said he wanted to hold accountable whoever was responsible --

MR. McCLELLAN: Absolutely.

Q -- responsible for this. But can you confirm that the President would fire anyone on his staff found to have leaked classified information?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think I made that very clear last week. The topic came up, and I said that if anyone in this administration was responsible for the leaking of classified information, they would no longer work in this administration. This is a very serious matter. The President made it very clear just a short time ago in the East Room, and he has always said that leaking of classified information is a serious matter. And that's why he wants to get to the bottom of this. And the sooner we get to the bottom of it, the better.

Q Scott, can I ask you a separate question?

MR. McCLELLAN: You may ask me a separate question.

Q On Kibaki. Did he specifically ask the President for help in resuming IMF loans, and what was the President's response?

Loose Lips

Matt Cooper's Source
What Karl Rove told Time magazine's reporter
By Michael Isikoff /
Newsweek
July 18 issue - It was 11:07 on a Friday morning, July 11, 2003, and Time magazine correspondent Matt Cooper was tapping out an e-mail to his bureau chief, Michael Duffy. "Subject: Rove/P&C," (for personal and confidential), Cooper began. "Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two mins before he went on vacation..." Cooper proceeded to spell out some guidance on a story that was beginning to roil Washington. He finished, "please don't source this to rove or even WH [White House]" and suggested another reporter check with the CIA.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3275

Sink Ships

Democrats urge Bush to fire Rove in leak scandal
By Adam Entous /
Reuters
WASHINGTON - The White House faced mounting Democratic calls for President Bush to sideline or fire his top political aide Karl Rove on Monday over his involvement in a CIA leak scandal.
After publicly defending Rove two years ago, the White House responded to the barrage by saying it would not comment at the request of the prosecutors investigating who leaked the identify of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3290

Press Corps Finally Grills Scott McClellan on Rove

Press Batters McClellan on Rove/Plame Link
By E&P Staff /
Editor & Publisher
NEW YORK - At numerous press briefings last week, not a single reporter asked White House Press Secretary about emerging allegations that top presidential aide Karl Rove was a source, or the source, for Time magazine's Matthew Cooper in the Valerie Plame case. Then on Sunday, Newsweek revealed a Cooper e-mail from July 2003 that showed that Rove indeed had talked to him about Plame and her CIA employment, although he apparently did not mention that she worked under cover.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3285

(VIDEO!:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/scotty_rove_71105.mov

Box Score)

Scott McClellan Needs A Thesaurus
Finally! The White House press corps at long last woke up today and started asking questions about Karl Rove. They wanted to know if White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan stood by his previous statement that anyone involved in leaking undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity to the media should be fired. But when the going tough, McClellan fell back on his handy list of Phrases To Use To Dodge Questions. Here’s Scott McClellan, by the numbers:

23: Number of times McClellan could’t answer a question because the Rove investigation is “ongoing.”

10: Number of times McClellan couldn’t answer a question because it was “related” to the investigation or in the “context” of the investigation.

16: Number of times McClellan said he just wouldn’t “comment” on a question.

5: Number of times McClellan assured reporters he “appreciates the questions” about Rove’s involvement in the Plame case.

8: Number of times McClellan told reporters he and the president were “helping” the investigation with their silence.

8: Number of times McClellan said he and President Bush want to “get to the bottom of this.”

3: Number of times McClellan said he and the president planned to “cooperate fully” with the investigation by not answering questions.

10: Number of times McClellan claimed he’d already “responded” to a reporter’s question.

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/07/11/scott-mcclellan-needs-a-thesaurus/

Scotty Says So Much by Saying Nothing At All

White House Won't Comment on Rove, Leak
By Pete Yost /
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - For the better part of two years, the word coming out of the Bush White House was that presidential adviser Karl Rove had nothing to do with the leak of a female CIA officer's identity and that whoever did would be fired.
But Bush spokesman Scott McClellan wouldn't repeat those claims Monday in the face of Rove's own lawyer, Robert Luskin, acknowledging the political operative spoke to Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, one of the reporters who disclosed Valerie Plame's name.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3288

Prisoners escape US Afghan base
BBC
Four "dangerous enemy combatants" have escaped from the main US base in Afghanistan, the US military has said. A huge manhunt was launched around the Bagram air base north of the capital Kabul, after the men, said to be Arabs, escaped at about 0500 (0030 GMT).
The US says it is the first time any prisoner has escaped from Bagram.
Hundreds of detainees, most of them Afghan nationals but a number of senior foreign al-Qaeda suspects, are held at the detention centre.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3279

Iraq Shiites in campaign for foreign troop pullout
BAGHDAD (
AFP) - Radicals within Iraq's Shiite majority community launched a petition for the withdrawal of US-led troops, which they said was drawing support from across the sectarian divide.
Supporters of firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr, who led a bloody six-month uprising against the coalition last year, said they were aiming to secure one million signatures inside four days.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3287

Nat'l Guard Misses Recruiting Goal Again
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Army National Guard, a cornerstone of the U.S. force in Iraq, missed its recruiting goal for at least the ninth straight month in June and is nearly 19,000 soldiers below its authorized strength, military officials said Monday.
The Army Guard was seeking 5,032 new soldiers in June but signed up only 4,337, a 14 percent shortfall, according to statistics released Monday by the Pentagon. It is more than 10,000 soldiers behind its year-to-date goal of almost 45,000 recruits, and has missed its recruiting target during at least 17 of the last 18 months.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3289

President Discusses War on Terror at FBI Academy
WhiteHouse.gov
FBI Academy
Quantico, Virginia
10:37 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for the warm welcome. It's my pleasure to be back here at Quantico, at the FBI Academy. I'm honored to be with so many courageous men and women who have stepped forward to protect our nation.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3284

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Pennsylvania ruling favors Santorum
By Carrie Budoff
Inquirer Staff Writer
A Pittsburgh-area school district lost its bid yesterday to recover tuition it paid to a Pennsylvania cyber school to educate U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's children, who live primarily in Virginia.
In a case that evolved into a political controversy for the two-term senator, a state hearing officer recommended that the state education secretary dismiss the Penn Hills School District's request for a refund - estimated to be from $34,000 to $67,000 - because it took too long to raise its objections.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12109774.htm

Major-league mud
A Delran man digs up the muck to be rubbed onto new baseballs.
By Joel Bewley
Inquirer Staff Writer
Jim Bintliff has pretended to be a scientist, a college professor and a government geologist - all for the sake of baseball.
"I don't like to lie to people," the Delran, Burlington County, resident said recently as he shoveled runny, brown muck from a creek into five-gallon buckets. "But if they see me out here, I have to make up something. I can't have people knowing this is where I get the mud."

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/12109777.htm

Risky paths for getting out of Iraq
Whether quick, timed, or with extra might, leaving, analysts say, will be hard.
By Ron Hutcheson
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - In the swirling debate over Iraq, all sides agree on one thing: There is no easy way out.
Every approach to ending U.S. involvement carries the risk that President Bush's ambitious effort to transplant democracy will end in chaos and create an oil-rich haven for extremists.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12109773.htm

State sues Pentagon to save Willow Grove
By Marc Schogol
Inquirer Staff Writer
In a novel attempt to keep Willow Grove air base open, Pennsylvania sued the Pentagon yesterday to prevent it from deactivating an Air National Guard unit at the base, claiming it's illegal without state consent.
The Pentagon in May recommended closing Willow Grove Naval Air Station and Joint Reserve Base and reassigning nine of the 15 planes attached to the 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard to Maryland, Idaho and Michigan. The remaining six would be taken out of service.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12109776.htm

Editorial G-8 now must act
The two main agenda items at the Group of Eight industrialized nations' summit were obscured by terrorists who aimed their bombs at London commuters. Decent citizens of the world - and that's the majority - still shed tears for the hundreds of injured, for the families of the dead, and for the missing.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Bush and other G-8 leaders showed strong leadership by carrying on with their important discussions on helping Africa out of poverty and combatting global climate change.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12109805.htm

All eyes on Rove in leak probe
He says he never said the CIA officer's name. Some say fire him. The White House has gone quiet.
By Steven Thomma
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The White House refused yesterday to repeat earlier assertions that any administration official who leaked classified information would be fired, days after Karl Rove, one of President Bush's top aides, was identified as the source of a news leak that exposed a CIA undercover officer in 2003.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12109775.htm

Haaretz

At least two killed in suicide bombing in Netanya
By
Roni Singer, Haartetz Correspondent, Haaretz Service, and Agencies
At least two women were killed and 24 others were wounded Tuesday evening when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Hasharon mall at the entrance to the coastal town of Netanya.
Six people were seriously wounded in the attack, and 18 others sustained light injuries. The wounded were taken to Laniado Hospital in Netanya, Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava and Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera.
Miriam Feinberg, the mayor of Netanya, where much of the Maccabiah Games is taking place, told Israel Radio that she witnessed the attack.
Click here to request or provide information on family and friends in Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/599195.html

Police, Gaza settlers clash over arrest of far-rightist
By
Nir Hasson and Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents
Settlers and police clashed in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, following the arrest of a Jewish extremist at the settlement of Shirat Hayam in the Gush Katif bloc.
Noam Livnat, the brother of Education Minister Limor Livnat, has been staying at the settlement in recent weeks. He was detained for violating a restraining order keeping him away from Gaza.
Ahead of the arrest, police closed off the road leading to the settlement, in order to prevent right-wing activists hindering Livnat?s arrest. Settlers who were at the scene crowded around the vehicle in which Livnat was sitting, in a bid to prevent his arrest.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/599174.html

PM: No opposition to MK approval for Egypt's Gaza deployment
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday that he has no opposition to seeking Knesset approval for the deployment of Egyptian troops along the Philadelphi Route, which runs the length of the Gaza Strip border, once Israel has withdrawn from Gaza this summer.
In the wake of a High Court of Justice petition demanding a Knesset debate on the issue, Sharon said Knesset agreement on the matter is important to him.
Nevertheless, Sharon did not specifically say he would bring the matter before the Knesset plenum for a vote.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/599171.html

ADL Survey: Americans stand firm behind Israel
By Haaretz Service
Americans continue to stand solidly behind Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and overwhelmingly support Israel's disengagement from Gaza as "a bold step for peace," according to an Anti-Defamation League survey of American attitudes toward Israel and the Middle East released Tuesday.
According to the survey, 71 percent of those polled expressed support for the disengagement plan; 52 percent believe Israel is working harder towards peace than the Palestinians and 43 percent said they sympathize with Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/599204.html

The Miami Herald

Dennis not as dangerous as past Panhandle storms
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD, PHIL LONG AND MARTIN MERZER
mmerzer@herald.com
PENSACOLA - Shingles flew through the air. Sea invaded land. Power lines didn't stand a chance. It seemed so familiar, except for this: Hurricane Dennis may not have been costly in lives and damage, at least by Florida's recent standards.
''We need to say a little prayer tonight,'' said Escambia County Sheriff Ron McNesby, ``because the good Lord took care of us.''

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12102938.htm

2 deaths apparently storm-related
Two mysterious deaths in Broward County appeared to be related to Hurricane Dennis.
By ROBERT L. STEINBACK AND KEVIN DEUTSCH
rsteinback@herald.com
Hurricane Dennis appears to have caused at least two deaths in South Florida -- a drowned swimmer and a man electrocuted by a downed streetlight line -- though the eye of the powerful storm missed a direct hit on Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12102969.htm

DNA can't tie Lionel Tate to robbery
By WANDA J. DEMARZO
mailto:wdemarzo@herald.comcom
Tests on DNA samples from the armed robbery of a pizza delivery man outside a Pembroke Park apartment complex do not positively identify Lionel Tate as the masked man.
In fact, the tests results say the DNA found on a mask used by the bandit in the May 23 robbery could belong to five other men.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12106623.htm

Body of U.S. commando found in Afghanistan
DANIEL COONEY
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan - The body of a missing U.S. commando has been located in eastern Afghanistan, the military said Monday, bringing an end to the desperate search for the last member of an ill-fated, four-man special forces unit that disappeared last month.
One of the four men was rescued July 3; the other two were found dead the next day.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12103828.htm

Cycling continues to be unmonitored
OUR OPINION: UCI SHOULD AGGRESSIVELY TEST TO CURB DOPING
Since January 2003, the cycling world has lost nine competitors, all under the age of 35, to unexplained heart failures. What should have been treated as nothing short of an epidemic was instead cautiously swept out of the spotlight by the International Cycling Union. The secrecy surrounding these cases has highlighted suspicions about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in cycling. With attention now focused on the Tour de France, it's time for the UCI to get serious about curbing this harmful practice.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12105194.htm

For storm weary, another big test
Residents of the Panhandle are thankful Hurricane Dennis wasn't so bad - but wonder how much more they can take
BY MARC CAPUTO, PHIL LONG AND ERIKA BOLSTAD
mcaputo@herald.com
BAGDAD - Robert Daw navigated his electric wheelchair through the fallen oak tree branches and roof debris outside his beat-up house and stopped at the corner when the man in the car hit the brakes to offer bags of ice.
''Taco Bell ice, free. God bless,'' said neighbor Thomas Fisbeck, a cleaning captain at the chain restaurant on U.S. Highway 90. ``We gotta look out for each other, because not a lot of people from the outside do.''
The little acts of generosity -- the bags of ice, a loaned chain saw or electrical cord from a generator -- are a necessity in the storm-wracked and little-known Panhandle towns such as this one, where many like Daw and his family found it tough to make ends meet long before cleaning up the mess Monday from Hurricane Dennis. It was the second blow in a crippling one-two punch after Hurricane Ivan struck 10 months ago.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12110116.htm

White House won't comment on Rove leak
PETE YOST
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The White House is suddenly facing damaging evidence that it misled the public by insisting for two years that presidential adviser Karl Rove wasn't involved in leaking the identity of a female CIA officer.
Rove told Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper that the woman "apparently works" for the CIA and that she had authorized her husband's trip to Africa to assess allegations that Iraq was trying to obtain yellowcake uranium for nuclear weapons, according to a July 11, 2003, e-mail by Cooper obtained by Newsweek magazine.
The e-mail is now in the hands of federal prosecutors who are hunting down the leakers inside the Bush administration who revealed the name of Valerie Plame to the news media.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12109044.htm

Space rescue plan ready -- if needed
No one wants it, but high adventure could result if a mishap strands shuttle astronauts in space.
BY MARTIN MERZER AND PHIL LONG
mmerzer@herald.com
CAPE CANAVERAL - They call the project ''Safe Haven'' and it seems like something out of a science fiction blockbuster.
If this week's blastoff of shuttle Discovery encounters a major malfunction, NASA could activate a desperate, two-stage, never-before-attempted operation to rescue astronauts marooned in space:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12109178.htm

Straight to the point
• TOO ROSY A VIEW
Where in the world does U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld get his information about the Caribbean and Latin America? This is what he wrote in an opinion column last week: As the United States continues to fight violent extremism elsewhere, ``we have been able to do so confident that our own hemisphere is a zone of peace and freedom.''
Peace and freedom? Is he unaware of Fidel Castro's totalitarian Cuba or its wannabe authoritarian neighbor, Venezuela under Hugo Chávez? Surely Mr. Rumsfeld knows about violence-wracked Haiti and Bolivia? Does he deliberately ignore the politics of democratic destruction in Nicaragua and Ecuador? Unfortunately, Mr. Rumsfeld serves an administration that has paid little attention to Latin America and the Caribbean even as anti-U.S. populism threatens peace and freedom.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12111526.htm

The Gulf News

Foreign forces can start handover in Iraq

Agencies
Baghdad:
The Iraqi Prime Minister has said that coalition forces could begin handing over security to the Iraqis in some parts of the country.
However he said he did not think there should be a set timetable for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari said he opposed such a timetable "when we are not ready" to assume responsibility for defending the country against the insurgents.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=172761

Seven Egyptians held in anti-terror raid

AP
Baghdad: Iraqi security forces have detained seven Egyptians as part of a counterinsurgency operation in the Baghdad area, the government said yesterday.
They also captured members of a terrorist cell linked to Jordanian militant Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, according to a statement from Iraq's council of ministers.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=172655

American filmmaker arrested in Iraq released

Agencies
Baghdad: An American filmmaker who was arrested by the US military and held in Iraq for two months without being charged has been released.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=172587

Thaw in frosty Syria-Palestine ties

By Sami Moubayed, Special to Gulf News
Palestine President Mahmud Abbas's visit to Damascus on July 6-8 carried messages of goodwill towards Syria. Its main objective, however, was to appease the Palestinian resistance based in Damascus.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=172601

Britain handles crisis with dignity

Shows high level of political maturity by not linking blasts to Muslims and Islam
The way the British political and security forces have dealt with the bomb blasts that tore through three underground trains and a bus in London on Thursday is admirable.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=172604

Bill can undermine Pakistan's image

The enactment of Hisba Bill in NWFP could run counter to the country’s constitution
Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province plans to introduce a bill to set up a moral police force with powers that rival the existing police and judiciary.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=172606

Non-oil trade jumps 41%

Staff Report
Dubai: Dubai's non-oil trade jumped by 41 per cent last year, reaching Dh215.72 billion compared to the previous year's Dh153.06 billion, according to Dubai Customs.
This is about 220 per cent more than the emirate's GDP which last year reached Dh97.98 billion.
In 2004, Dubai recorded trade with 210 countries almost all independent countries on earth.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/BusinessNF.asp?ArticleID=172684

continued . . .