US, France agree on cease-fire draft; UNSC vote at 1 am  —  France and the United States reached a deal Friday on a final draft resolution that would authorize the deployment of 15,000 UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon to support a Lebanese force as it takes control of the region and Israel withdraws.

Three Middle Eastern Men Found With 1000 Cell Phones  —  (TV5) — Around 1:00am August 11th three men purchased cell phones from the Wal-Mart store on M-81 near the corner of M-24 in Caro.  Wal-Mart places a limit on the number of cell phones that can be purchased at once, that number is three.

Democrats assail GOP fundraising effort  —  WASHINGTON - Democrats assailed the Republicans Friday for e-mailing a fundraising appeal mentioning the war on terror hours after British authorities disclosed they had disrupted a plot to blow up aircraft headed to the United States.

BUSH AND CHENEY'S REIGN OF ERROR  —  VEEP SAYS CONN. VOTERS AIDING AL QAEDA.  NOW, THAT'S SCARY.  —  THESE PEOPLE have no shame.  Their contempt for democracy is so great they will stop at nothing to undermine it.  Their adherence to fundamentalist beliefs that blinds them to reality is frightening.

Pakistan: Suspected London Plane Terrorists Have Al Qaeda Connection  —  LONDON — Police arrested 40 people in cities throughout Italy in raids on Muslim gathering places in a security crackdown after Britain thwarted an alleged terror plot, the Interior Ministry said Friday …

'Green Helmet' helps rescue the wounded  —  TYRE, Lebanon - After hours of digging in the blistering heat, Salam Daher emerged from the wreckage with the body of a 9-month-old baby, a blue pacifier still pinned to its nightshirt.  —  He held the infant up and, click, an Associated Press …

The West 100  —  Our list of the most powerful people in Southern California  —  1. Donald Bren  —  Chairman, Irvine Co.; 74, Newport Beach  —  Simply put, Orange County looks like Orange County—much of it uniformly manicured and catering to the high life and high tech—because of the influence of one man.

VIDEO: Going Up Against Ann Coulter on CNBC  —  I had the chance to debate Ann Coulter today on CNBC's Kudlow and Company - and wow, for one of the GOP's top icons, she was truly unimpressive.  You can watch the video of the ensuing debate here in .mov format, and here on YouTube.

Time to profile terrorists, not grandmas  —  The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper, The Examiner  —  WASHINGTON - Thursday's foiled terrorist plot to smuggle liquid-based bombs on board nearly a dozen trans-oceanic commercial airliners flying to and from the U.S. and Britain caused near-panic …

State Still Checking Lieberman's Petitions  —  U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman is acting like he is a candidate in November's general election, but it won't be known for several days whether his petition drive to gain a spot on the ballot is successful.  —  The morning after his primary defeat to Ned Lamont …