] A man disguised with an Osama Bin Laden face mask robbed
] an Auckland petrol station attendant at knifepoint early
] yesterday before running off with a small amount of cash.
]
] The robbery happened at 4.55am at a Shell service station
] in Auckland City.
]
] Auckland City police say the robber was a slim European
] man, about 1.85m tall, wearing dark clothing.
]
] They are appealing for information.

'Osama Bin Laden' robs petrol station

] BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and President
] Bush (news - web sites) have declared that Iraq (news -
] web sites) is on the road to stability, with the Iraqi
] leader saying elections would be possible in all but
] three or four of Iraq's 18 provinces. But the map of Iraq
] is scarred with violence every day. The capital is
] wracked by kidnappings and bombings. And September is
] shaping up as one of the deadliest months for American
] soldiers.
]
] Westerners are fleeing Iraq with reconstruction projects
] half-finished. Town markets sell grisly videos of
] beheadings. And U.S. troops grapple with an increasingly
] potent insurgency that appears to have little problem
] recruiting fighters.

This is one of the best articles I've seen covering the problems in Iraq, and even bringing up some good developments.

Yahoo! News - Iraq Violence Eclipses Rosy Declarations

Iraqi and American officials cite other examples. Asked by Iraqi and American commanders to nominate a list of officers for more than two dozen command posts in the Iraqi armed forces, Dr. Allawi put forward a list drawn entirely from his own political party, according to a knowledgeable Iraqi source who is an opponent of Dr. Allawi's. Senior American officers say care will be taken to see that appointments are not made by political favor.

The New York Times -- Iraqis Battle Over Control of Panel to Try Hussein

] BAGHDAD -- Large swaths of Iraq remain outside the
] control of the interim government, major highways are
] fraught with attackers, and interim Prime Minister Iyad
] Allawi -- along with the U.S. Embassy and much of the
] international community -- must conduct business in
] fortified compounds guarded by tanks, blast walls and
] barbed wire.
]
] In Washington, Allawi gave Congress an upbeat assessment
] Thursday, but the situation in Iraq is more complicated.
]
] Widespread anxiety engulfed much of Iraq this month as a
] wave of car bombings, kidnappings and gun battles killed
] scores of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians and
] hostages.

Violence Belies Positive Picture

Hamdi's case, decided by the Supreme Court earlier this year, was supposed to represent a high-water mark for American freedoms during wartime. He had fought for and won his day in court, an opportunity to question his captors, and a chance at national vindication at the end of it all. Hamdi's name stood for the proposition that the Bush administration couldn't run roughshod over the courts and the law in its pursuit of the war on terror. It now stands for precisely the opposite: With a yawn and a shrug, the administration sidestepped the courts and the judicial process once again, abandoning this criminal prosecution altogether and erasing the episode from our national memory. Hamdi has been stripped of his citizenship and his freedom to travel, and sent packing to his family. The rights and processes guaranteed him by the Supreme Court have been yanked away one last time, by an executive branch that held him for years for no reason and smugly claims now that it was finished with him anyhow.

Nevermind - Hamdi wasn't so bad after all. By Dahlia Lithwick

] WASHINGTON - House Republicans are clouding the attempt
] to adopt the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations into
] law by bundling them with additional, more controversial
] anti-terror measures, Democrats complained Thursday.
]
] House and Senate Democrats are opposing the plan, even
] before it is introduced in the House, because it includes
] provisions on the treatment of terrorist suspects,
] illegal immigration and identity theft that go beyond
] what the Sept. 11 commissioners sought.
]
] "If we're going to maintain bipartisan spirit, provisions
] such as those could be extraordinarily
] counterproductive," said Senate Democratic leader Tom
] Daschle of South Dakota.

Yahoo! News - Dems: GOP Delays Using 9/11 Panel Ideas

Mummy hair has revealed the first direct evidence of alcohol consumption in ancient populations, according to new forensic research.

The study, still in its preliminary stage, examined hair samples from spontaneously mummified remains discovered in one of the most arid regions of the world, the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and southern Peru.

The researchers decided to look into mummy hair following previous success in demonstrating cocaine and nicotine traces in the hair of other Andean mummies.

Discovery Channel :: News :: Mummy Hair Reveals Drinking Habits

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Jurors in the murder trial of a Harvard graduate student on Thursday listened to a voice mail message in which he described being attacked by a group of people and stabbing one of them.

Pring-Wilson left a message for Jennifer Hansen, a former girlfriend he had been out with that night. In the message, Pring-Wilson tells Hansen he was attacked as he walked home from the bar they had just left.

"I just got attacked by a group. I fended them off. I stabbed him a couple of times and um, don't repeat this to the police," Pring-Wilson is heard to say on the tape.

Boston.com -- Jurors hear voicemail message in Harvard student stabbing trial

President Bush and leading Republicans are increasingly charging that Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry and others in his party are giving comfort to terrorists and undermining the war in Iraq -- a line of attack that tests the conventional bounds of political rhetoric.

Appearing in the Rose Garden yesterday with Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, Bush said Kerry's statements about Iraq "can embolden an enemy." After Kerry criticized Allawi's speech to Congress, Vice President Cheney tore into the Democratic nominee, calling him "destructive" to the effort in Iraq and the struggle against terrorism.

It was the latest instance in which prominent Republicans have said that Democrats are helping the enemy or that al Qaeda, Iraqi insurgents and other enemies of the United States are backing Kerry and the Democrats. Such accusations are not new to American politics, but the GOP's line of attack this year has been pervasive and high-level.

Tying Kerry to Terror Tests Rhetorical Limits (washingtonpost.com)

] The Republican Party acknowledged yesterday sending mass
] mailings to residents of two states warning that
] "liberals" seek to ban the Bible. It said the mailings
] were part of its effort to mobilize religious voters for
] President Bush.
]
] The mailings include images of the Bible labeled "banned"
] and of a gay marriage proposal labeled "allowed." A
] mailing to Arkansas residents warns: "This will be
] Arkansas if you don't vote." A similar mailing was sent
] to West Virginians.
]
] In an e-mail message, Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman
] for the Republican National Committee, confirmed that the
] party had sent the mailings.

That's the national party that sent these out. Not some crazy locals. Not a 527 group.

Republicans Admit Mailing Campaign Literature Saying Liberals Will Ban the Bible