By the way, if the communique issued by Qaeda al-Jihad in Europe is authentic, then this attack cannot be linked to Zarqawi. They say they are taking revenge for British troops' "massacres" of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq. But Zarqawi's Salafi group would never celebrate "Arabism" or speak of "heroes" (abtal) when referring to the "holy warriors" or mujahidin. Urubah and batal, Arabism and hero, are typical of the vocabulary of secular Arab nationalism-- in, say, the tradition of Gamal Abdel Nasser. That message is coming from a group of terrorists that is much more comfortable with this language than are typically the extremist Salafis like Zarqawi. "Hero" would sem a term of humanistic pride to them, and Arabism would seem narrow and idolatrous as a competitor with Islam. There are Muslim thinkers who meld political Islam and Arabism-- this is common in Egypt, e.g. But they belong to a different religious and intellectual tradition than Zarqawi.

The editor of The Cleveland Plain Dealer said last night that the newspaper, acting on the advice of its lawyers, was withholding publication of two major investigative articles because they were based on illegally leaked documents and could lead to penalties against the paper and the jailing of reporters.

The editor, Doug Clifton, said lawyers for The Plain Dealer had concluded that the newspaper, Ohio's largest daily, would probably be found culpable if the authorities were to investigate the leaks and that reporters might be forced to identify confidential sources to a grand jury or go to jail.

"Take away a reporter's ability to protect a tipster's anonymity and you deny the public vital information," Mr. Clifton wrote. And to dramatize the point, he concluded his column by telling readers that The Plain Dealer was itself obliged to withhold stories based on illegal disclosures for fear of the legal consequences.

"As I write this, two stories of profound importance languish in our hands," Mr. Clifton wrote. "The public would be well-served to know them, but both are based on documents leaked to us by people who would face deep trouble for having leaked them. Publishing the stories would almost certainly lead to a leak investigation and the ultimate choice: talk or go to jail. Because talking isn't an option and jail is too high a price to pay, these two stories will go untold for now. How many more are out there?"

Mr. Clifton said he was surprised that there had been so little public reaction to his disclosure of "something that newspapers typically don't reveal - that real live news had been stifled."

"I hoped the public would be bothered by that," he said.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have "“mostly eliminated”" the ability of insurgents to conduct sustained, high-intensity attacks in Baghdad, the top U.S. commander in the Iraqi capital said Friday.

Speaking about Thursday's blasts in London that killed more than 50 people, Laith Kubba said "we don't know exactly who carried out these acts but it is clear that these networks used to be in Afghanistan and now they work in Iraq."

The spokesman said that insurgents in Iraq and those who carried out the London attacks "are from the same network. There are different groups in the world, but they all follow the same school."

A White House spokesman long ago asserted that Rove was "not involved" in disclosing Plame's identity. Rove, who has testified before a grand jury investigating the case, likewise has maintained that he did not break the law, saying in a television interview, "I didn't know her name, and I didn't leak her name."

But Fitzgerald still appears to want more answers about Rove's role. The prosecutor is apparently focused on Rove's conversations with Cooper.

The U.S. government Tuesday increased its 2004 estimate of terrorist attacks worldwide to 3,192 from 651 after changing to a broader definition of terrorism.

A new U.S. government Web site set up to track terrorism incidents says the 2004 incidents left 28,433 people killed, wounded or kidnapped.

A preliminary report in April said there were 651 terrorist attacks in 2004 classified as "significant," with 1,907 people killed.

The four occasions where an al-Zawahri statement was most closely followed by an attack were:

* On Aug. 6, 1998, Zawahri sent a statement to a London-based Arabic newspaper saying: "We are interested in briefly telling the Americans that their messages have been received and that the response, which we hope they will read carefully, is being readied." The next day, suicide bombers blew up U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, killing more than 220 people. Al-Qaida took responsibility for the attacks.

* On Oct. 9, 2002, a Zawahri tape threatened attacks on the United States, its economy and allies. "I promise you that the Islamic youth are preparing for you what will fill your hearts with horror..." Three days later, bombs destroyed a Bali nightclub leaving more than 200 people, mostly westerners, dead. Officials in the U.S., Australia and Indonesia later said al-Qaida financed the attack.

* In an Oct. 1, 2004, radio address, Zawahri called on Muslims worldwide to help in the Palestinian struggle. Six days later, al-Qaida attacked three Egyptian tourist resorts frequented by Israelis on the Sinai Peninsula, killing 34 people, about half of them Israelis.

* On Nov. 29, 2004, Zawahri issued a video statement promising Americans that Muslims will continue to attack them unless the United States changes its policies against Islam. He said that the U.S. invasion of Baghdad is only the beginning of the American occupation, and warned that it would spread to other countries. On the morning of Dec. 6, armed Jihadists attacked the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing eight and wounding 15 others.

There are an awful lot of people moving about on foot, much more than normal. There are groups of tourists hanging around bus stops in packs, looking pretty lost. It must be pretty bewildering to be in a strange city and country when something like this happens.
Landlines are mostly OK, mobile service is patchy but goes sometimes.
People are pretty calm, even the tourists.
The casualty figure is going to be very, very large, it hasn't been released only because they are still doing triage.
There are still lots of sirens about and lots of rumours, but on days like this rumours take hold easily.
It seems there were at least three bus bombs. The bastards put bombs on the buses deliberately because they knew people would be forced off the tube and the buses would be like sardine tins. Scum.
I live in an area with a large Arab population. Things are going to be extremely tense.

"I am also pleased that President Bush announced a $1.7 billion Five-year research initiatives on hydrogen fuel in his January 2004 State of the Union Address. As the founder of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Caucus in the United States Senate, I recognize that hydrogen holds promise as energy for the future. I believe research into its use as commercial fuel is important to the energy security of our nation."

You speak of future but do nothing for the present? While hydrogen may be a part of our distant future, you know as well as I do that the problem with hydrogen is that there is no economically or environmentally friendly way to produce this gas at an amount even close to that of what the President envisions. Energy for unbound hydrogen production would presumably come from fossil fuels (domestic and international) or the Sun; the first of which solves no problem but continues the process, but adding another step.

You speak of security, yet nothing is to be done now? Are we not at war? The capacity and ability to considerably reduce our dependence to oil is currently available and would involve our farmers, engineers, and our scientists all on our own soil. The reduction of oil consumption would help deal with our environmental problems, aid in job production in our country, and end an addiction that we fight wars over and causes the resentment that led to 11 September 2001 (if your president can use 9/11 to push his agenda then so can I!).

[T]he Valerie Plame-CIA case that threatens jail time for reporters from Time and The New York Times this week is the exception that shatters the rule. In this case, journalists as a community have been played for patsies by the president's chief strategist, Karl Rove, and are enabling him to abuse the First Amendment, by their invoking it.

For in this case, Rove, improving on Macchiavelli, has bet that reporters won’t rat their relationship with the administration’s most important political source. How better for him to operate without constraint, or to camouflage breaking the law, than under the cover of journalists and journalism, protected by the First Amendment?

Evangelical Christians form a crucial plank in Mr Bush's formidable political base (he is an evangelical himself) and care for the environment is becoming an important part of their agenda.

Green evangelicals first hit the headlines in 2002, when Reverend Jim Ball launched a campaign called "What would Jesus drive?", claiming that gas-guzzlers are ungodly.

His call for the US government to take action to protect the environment has since been taken up by powerful leaders of the evangelical community.

But the political irony that few on either side readily acknowledge — but many are pondering — is that Roe's demise could transform American elections by crippling the conservative political majority that opposes abortion and by giving new life to hobbled liberals who support the ruling's preservation.

"If this looks like Kyoto, the answer is no," he said in an interview with ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald programme.

"The Kyoto treaty would have wrecked our economy, if I can be blunt."

After crude surged through $60 a barrel last week, nervous investors were pinning their hopes on a build-up in US oil-stocks to depress prices in the coming months.

But Simmons believes surging demand will keep prices bubbling well above $50. 'We could be at $100 by this winter. We have the biggest risk we have ever had of demand exceeding supply. We are now just about to face up to the biggest crisis we have ever had,' he said.

Democrats' hopes of blocking a staunchly conservative Supreme Court nominee on ideological grounds could be seriously undermined by a six-week-old bipartisan deal on judicial nominees, key senators said Sunday...