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Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has accused America's main intelligence agency of involvement in the 2002 Bali suicide bombings, which claimed the lives of 202 people, including 88 Australians. Bashir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), was released from prison in June after having served almost two years for involvement in the conspiracy which led to the attack.

Watched the Discovery Channel show on the Greatest American countdown? You get to vote who you feel is the greatest American. The votes were web paged at aol.com./greatestamerican. It only takes a few readings of the bio's to see where they are going. Matt Lauer was the host, need I say more?

PENJWIN, Iraq — Last month, six officers with the Iraqi Border Police were escorting five Iranians down a rural, unpaved road southwest of Halabjah when they stumbled across three more Iranians snooping around. The five Iranians in custody were being released from whence they came, having been cleared by As-saish, the crack Kurdish security force entrusted with intelligence and interrogations. As is often the case in Iraq, people who live in border towns frequently cross back and forth without any mischief in mind. That wasn’t the case with the other three Iranian men. They were armed and wearing uniforms. Words...

Human babies 'grown in lab' By Oliver Stallwood, Metro 5 May 2005 Human eggs which could grow into embryos have been created in a laboratory for the first time, scientists announced yesterday. They were created by scraping stem cells off the surface of ovaries and exposing them to a chemical which stimulated growth. The breakthrough suggests limitless supplies of eggs could be grown, solving the problem of the acute shortage of donor eggs for infertile women wanting IVF treatment.

Even by the chaotic standards of a new media company, Air America Radio's first two months of broadcasting have been convulsive. The fledgling talk-radio network has replaced five top executives, been taken off the air in two of its top three markets and lost several crucial producers. By late April, current and former executives said last week, the company was perilously close to running out of money. It has since received an infusion of cash, though it has not disclosed how much or from whom.

Just a note of interest

John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting, challenged the Bush administration Saturday to reimburse the families of U.S. troops "who had to buy the body armor" needed for protection in Iraq. "If I am president, I will be prepared to use military force to protect our security, our people and our vital interests," the Massachusetts senator said in the Democrats' weekly radio address. "But I will never send our troops into harm's way without enough firepower and support.

With Wesley Clark joining the Democratic presidential candidates, there are enough eager bodies pointed toward the White House to make up a rifle squad. This bunch of wannabes could make things increasingly hot for Dubya – as long as they don’t blow each other away with friendly fire. Since Clark tossed his steel pot into the inferno, I've been constantly asked, “Hack, what do you think of the general?” For the record, I never served with Clark. But after spending three hours interviewing the man for Maxim’s November issue, I’m impressed. He is insightful, he has his act together, he...

<p>WASHINGTON -- On late summer evenings, a rose-blue light falls over Congressional Cemetery's 60,000 gravestones, illuminating the dog walkers who move along its brick paths. A lot of history is buried in the country's first national cemetery -- Elbridge Gerry, a vice president who signed the Declaration of Independence, lies near the FBI's stark memorial to its first director, J. Edgar Hoover.</p>

From leaflets to the murder of two border guards, officials say the Taliban are targeting Afghan forces. By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor KHOST, AFGHANISTAN – Just after midnight March 13, Janad Gul was awakened by a sound that every Afghan border security soldier dreads. It was the battle cry of Islamic fighters against non-Muslims. The 28 Afghan guards at the Spin Khaware checkpoint knew instantly who their enemy was - the Taliban - and that this would be a battle to the death. Reporters on the Job The Monitor gives the story behind the...