As Lebanese president Emile Lahoud, emboldened by a massive pro-Syria demonstration, reinstates Omar Karami as prime minister just 10 days after the Syrian-backed leader resigned under popular and international pressure, the Times Online (UK) notes British and Arab anger over the reinstatement, and UPI rounds up reaction in the Arab press: The political crisis in Lebanon continued to be a favorite commentary issue in Arab newspapers Thursday, with the London-based

From ABC News: Top commanders in Iraq put intense pressure on interrogators to extract useful intelligence information from prisoners, yet that does not explain the sexual humiliation and other abuse of prisoners under U.S. control, an investigation has concluded. The report by Navy Vice Adm. Albert T. Church said the pressure was not excessive. The investigation could find no “single, overarching reason” why prisoners under U.S. control were abused at

From the BBC: Pakistan has confirmed that the former head of its nuclear weapons programme, AQ Khan, gave centrifuges for enriching uranium to Iran. It is the first time Pakistani officials have publicised details of what nuclear materials the disgraced scientist passed on to Iran. Information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told the BBC’s Urdu service that “a few” centrifuges were involved. Iran is under international pressure over its nuclear ambitions.

I think I’m coming down with the same sort of ferocious bug that plagued my wife this week— one that begins as a mild scratch in the throat before working its way into the chest and lungs, where it quickly settles in and makes itself right at home, running around shoeless, misusing the appliances, charging Thai takeout on your credit cards and throwing keggers at which a clatch of sluttly

Are you a budding Tom Daschle-inspired poet?  If so, submit your work here.

Q: what do you get when you cross anti-business Greenpeace zealots with London International Petroleum Exchange oil traders? A: equal parts pain and humiliation, evidently.*

From the AP: Eastman Kodak Co. is rolling out a higher-speed X-ray film that can halve a patient’s exposure to radiation without blurring image quality – and might provide a financial cushion as the world’s biggest film manufacturer refocuses on digital technology. The Hyper Speed G medical film is the first X-ray film in a generation to offer a 50 percent or better drop in radiation dosage, according to company

Sgrena: “Yes, I’d like to return these slacks, please.” Sales clerk:  “Sure.  Anything wrong with them –?” Sgrena:  “– ‘Wrong’?  Why, no—unless you think it ‘wrong’ that they TRIED TO HAVE ME ASSASSINATED FOR SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER!” Sales clerk: Sgrena: Sales clerk: Sgrena:  “Okay, so they bunch a little bit in the ass, too.  But still.”