“Israeli bulldozers began work today on a controversial project to erect a fence and sophisticated security system along the entire length of the West Bank in an attempt to seal off the Palestinian-controlled territory from Israel following a series of suicide bomb attacks,” The Washington Post reports. The project, which has been discussed for years, has come under fire from both Israelis and Palestinians for a variety of political, religious,

The New York Times’ William Safire weighs in on Colin Powell’s idea (with props to Hosni M.) for a provisional Palestinian state, calling the Secretary of State’s suggestion a “trial balloon” and a “lose-lose” idea. Writes Safire, 1. Statehood, even if qualified as provisional or interim, confers a degree of sovereignty. That means control of borders, the ability to make treaties, and to import arms from Iraq and by sea

The New York Times’ William Safire weighs in on Colin Powell’s idea (with props to Hosni M.) for a provisional Palestinian state, calling the Secretary of State’s suggestion a “trial balloon” and a “lose-lose” idea. Writes Safire, 1. Statehood, even if qualified as provisional or interim, confers a degree of sovereignty. That means control of borders, the ability to make treaties, and to import arms from Iraq and by sea

“As the 30th anniversary of Watergate nears, student investigators at the University of Illinois have concluded that Deep Throat, the White House source who helped journalists unravel the greatest political scandal in American history, was most likely conservative commentator Pat Buchanan,” The Chicago Tribune reports. Since 1999, journalism professor William Gaines and his students have set about unmasking the elusive informant. Building on the work of their predecessors — and

“At least 24 people were killed and 13 injured when a fire swept through a packed Internet cafe in a university district of China’s capital, Beijing, on Sunday in the city’s worst fire in 50 years. “The blaze drew a swift response from government leaders — Mayor Liu Qi ordered the immediate closure of all Internet cafes in the city and fire inspections for all buildings over the next three