The AP is reporting that “The United States is allocating $100 million in aid for Uzbekistan for its support of the U.S.-led military operation in neighboring Afghanistan, a U.S. congressman said Saturday. The aid to the Central Asian nation so far has been targeted at military training and ensuring security, but will eventually expand to other sectors, U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., told reporters in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent.” Kolbe

“The United States has led Western support for a major speech by the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, aimed at defusing tensions with India and curbing Islamic extremism within Pakistan. The White House said President George Bush welcomed what he saw as the Pakistani leader’s firm decision to stand against terrorism and extremism,” BBC News reports. The United States welcomes President Musharraf’s explicit statements against terrorism and particularly notes his pledge

“U.S. Senator Joseph Biden said Western nations should immediately release frozen Taliban assets to provide the government with about $100 million for its six-month term replacing the hard-line Islamic rulers. “‘For a government to maintain any credibility with the people, it has to have the ability to pay people’s salaries, turn on the lights, be able to have desks, stationery, telephones, fax machines, et cetera,’” the chairman of the Senate

The Washington Times’ Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough report that al Qaeda Islamopuds are fleeing by sea. A recent search of a foreign freighter by the U.S. Navy revealed that a group of al Qaeda fighters had been hiding inside a shipping container, officials told us. Inside the container, searchers found materials and equipment linked to the terrorist group, but not the terrorists themselves. The group apparently escaped from the

The Weekly Standard

U2

In Manchester, Connecticut, a 9-year old girl

From the current issue of Reason (print edition): “Washington, D.C., joins the list of cities using photo radar to catch speeders. The cameras are triggered when drivers go even 2 mph over the limit. Some consolation: Officers themselves have had to pay fines for tickets received while speeding to emergencies.” Were Dante alive today, he’d surely add another ring in Hell for those local politicians who insist on using photo