German Suitcase Bombs Were Primed to Go Off, Kill (Update2)  —  Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) — Two suitcases containing bottles of gasoline, propane gas and a detonating device that were found abandoned in German regional trains last month were bombs primed to go off and kill a ``high number'' of people, police said.

Bush Vows to Fight Wiretapping Ruling  —  President Bush said today that he is confident that a federal court ruling against his administration's electronic surveillance program will be overturned, and he described those who hailed the ruling as naïve.  —  "I would say that those who herald …

Israel alarm at UN force members  —  Israel says it would be "difficult if not inconceivable" to accept nations which do not recognise its right to exist as part of a UN force in Lebanon.  —  Israeli UN envoy Dan Gillerman was speaking after Indonesia and Malaysia, which do not recognise Israel, pledged troops for the UN deployment.

TV News Vultures Circling JonBenet's Corpse — Again  —  The top story on TV news last night was not the Iraq war or tentative Lebanon peace, or major court rulings on tobacco and warrantless wiretapping, or oil prices or pension "reform" or any of a dozen stories that affect millions of citizens.

Photojournalism in Crisis  —  The Israeli-Hezbollah war has left many dead bodies, ruined towns, and wobbling politicians in its wake, but the media historian of the future may also count as one more victim the profession of photojournalism.  In twenty years of researching and teaching …

Wal-Mart Image-Builder Resigns  —  The civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired by Wal-Mart to improve its public image, resigned from that post last night after telling an African-American newspaper that Jewish, Arab and Korean shop owners had "ripped off" urban communities for years …

Flight passengers describe hours of bizarre behavior  —  A self-described peace activist responsible for the diversion of a London-to-Washington flight Wednesday acted bizarrely for hours, made references to al Qaeda and hijack training flights, and was restrained by two passengers after she urinated in the aisle.

Would Party Forgive Joe?  —  Lieberman Says Democrats Can Count On Him If He Wins; Vice Versa Is Iffy  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman says he'll stick with the Democrats if he wins his third-party re-election bid - but will the Democrats stick with him?

Katherine Harris sees endorsements fizzle  —  ORLANDO, Fla. - Katherine Harris' attempt to boost her campaign with a series of high-profile endorsements wilted Thursday when none of the officials appeared at her campaign rally and one of them said Harris wrongly included him on her list of supporters.

New Limits Set Over Marketing for Cigarettes  —  A federal judge ordered strict new limitations on tobacco marketing on Thursday after finding that cigarette makers deserved to be punished for a decades-old conspiracy to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking.

President Bush Meets with Economic Advisors  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming.  We've just finished a really informative meeting with my economic team.  I want to thank them for their service to the country.  I'm really proud to be serving the American people alongside them.

Terror police find 'martyr tapes'  —  Police investigating an alleged plot to bring down airliners have found several martyrdom videos in the course of their searches, the BBC has learned.  —  Unofficial police sources said the recordings - discovered on laptop computers …

'Cane Mutiny  —  What a difference one year makes.  With the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall (August 29, 2005) rapidly approaching, who would have predicted that we would now be in the middle of a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season?  Weren't the global warming pundits' predictions …

Video provokes questions of Lebanese army  —  Lebanese forces move southward; Beirut airport reopens  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) — A video showing Lebanese soldiers cordially offering Israeli troops glasses of tea during the military offensive earlier this month has hit Israeli and Hezbollah airwaves.

Lieberman's New Consultants: 1 R, 1D  —  Joe Lieberman's indie CT SEN campaign sent out a release to announce the hiring of two new consultants: media/direct mail consultant Josh Isay and pollster Neil Newhouse.  Isay mostly works with Dems, with his most prominent former employer being Sen. Chuck Schumer …

John Bolton Won't Talk to Me  —  updated— … Okay, so let me get this straight.  —  John Bolton will give several interviews to drunken wingnut blogger of Atlas Shrugged, Pam Geller Oshry.  Her web bio states that "her publishing career at The New York Daily News and subsequently took …