Al-Qaida's deputy issues new videotape  —  CAIRO, Egypt - An American thought to be an al-Qaida activist appeared in a videotape with the terror group's deputy leader Saturday and called on his countrymen to convert to Islam and for U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars.

Mr. Bush's Nuclear Legacy  —  Unless something changes soon, by the end of President Bush's second term North Korea will have produced enough plutonium for 10 or more nuclear weapons while Iran's scientists will be close to mastering the skills needed to build their own.

Palestinian group to target non-Muslims  —  CAIRO, Egypt - Palestinian militants who held two Fox News journalists hostage for nearly two weeks threatened in a statement posted online Saturday to abduct non-Muslims visiting the Palestinian territories and kill them unless their demands were met.

EU gives Iran two more weeks in nuclear standoff  —  LAPPEENRANTA, Finland (Reuters) - The European Union agreed on Saturday to try to clarify Iran's stance on halting uranium enrichment within two weeks and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan held talks in Tehran to try and settle the standoff.

Attacks on Jews soar since Lebanon  —  Synagogues and citizens have been targeted  —  BRITISH Jews are facing a wave of anti-Semitic attacks prompted by Israel's conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.  Synagogues have been daubed with graffiti, Jewish leaders have had hate-mail and ordinary people …

The ambulance hoax - why no missile could have done this  —  A military source I know, who cannot be identified, has checked to see if Israel has any missile that would pop a neat hole in the roof of an ambulance and explode, causing no scorch marks, no shrapnel damage and no fatalities to the people inside.

Iraqi Casualties Are Up Sharply, Study Finds  —  A girl checked her parrots Friday in her Baghdad home, which was damaged by rocket attacks.  Attacks on civilians have risen sharply.  —  Iraqi casualties soared by more than 50 percent in recent months, the product of spiraling sectarian clashes …

14 terror suspects arrested in London  —  Police have arrested 14 men following anti-terror raids in south and east London.  —  The men were arrested late last night and in the early hours of today on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

I Know This Little Boy In New Orleans  —  I get a lot of e-mail.  Most of it is very nice, some funny and some from right-wingers who — go figure — I seem to have made very angry.  But the most gratifying I've ever received has been over the last week or so when a large number of people …

Accommodating Genocide in Darfur  —  In the face of ongoing genocide in Darfur, the international community's failure to accept the "responsibility to protect" (that's United Nations language, officially adopted) innocent civilian lives has taken its last, abject form.

Rove's Word Is No Longer G.O.P. Gospel  —  Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, is struggling to steer the Republican Party to victory this fall at a time when he appears to have the least political authority since he came to Washington, party officials said.

Bush's Shift of Tone on Iraq: The Grim Cost of Losing  —  President Bush's newest effort to rebuild eroding support for the war in Iraq features a distinct shift in approach: Rather than stressing the benefits of eventual victory, he and his top aides are beginning to lay out the grim consequences of failure.

FBI Role in Terror Probe Questioned  —  Lawyers Point to Fine Line Between Sting and Entrapment  —  Standing in an empty Miami warehouse on May 24 with a man he believed had ties to Osama bin Laden, a dejected Narseal Batiste talked of the setbacks to their terrorist plot and then uttered …

ORWELLIAN?....NOT QUITE....Kevin Carey is the author of "Is Our Students Learning?" our cover story this month suggesting that we have surprisingly little information about whether our universities are actually educating anyone.  Today he's back with another guest post.