Major New York Times piece on the state of play. Al Qaeda has now built a new chain of smaller training camps and may have as many as 2,000 local and foreign militants in them. Argues that resources were diverted to Iraq and there were arguments within the administration about the use of Special forces. … AMID POLICY DISPUTES AL QAEDA GROWS IN PAKISTAN

Different spin on yesterday’s story. This one claims the attacks were not on the Taliban but on Mandal Bagh’s Lashkar-e-Islam movement. Surprise, surprise!

This story was in some of the Sundays. Here is the EU Observer version. I think it contains the bare facts and a statement about the privacy issue as well as the rights of foreigners to sue in US courts if data is mishandled. Some of the Sunday papers in the UK couldnt decide whether … EU AND US NEAR DEAL ON CONFIDENTIAL DATA SHARING

Interesting that this article is one of the most read in the Independent today. Is it because their readers are nationalists? Concerned with human rights? Or just tax evaders? Perhaps we should have a blog competition to decide. There has been a previous post about DARTTS. Cant remember if it was the good system that … HMRC GOES CAP IN HAND TO AMERICANS FOR HELP WITH FRAUD

Another of our occasional pieces in a non-English language. Le Monde appears to be saying that Condi has been trying to get the House of Representatives and Senate to lift the ban on Nelson Mandela and the ANC imposed by the Reagan administration. I suppose this will eventually be mentioned by the Anglo-Saxons somewhere. Bit … NELSON MANDELA AND THE ANC ARE ABOUT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE US TERRORISM BLACKLIST

Even the Sunday Telegraph travel pages have a touch of the apocalypse about them. Marijuana growing in the olive groves. Now that’s how to deal with the munchies! A heady mix of hippies, Albanians and corruption [all alleged]. A village called Zoniana…would that be in the Zone then?

Scandal? These are allegations of criminality. But made by individuals trying to avoid prosecution. Now, how do I get my money off-planet?

I kept seeing this story over the past few days and now have a chance to post it as reported by CNN. Basically the story is that the Dutch have become one of the last countries in Europe to ban smoking in public places, which gives the “coffee shops” of Amsterdam a bit of a … DUTCH RELAXED ABOUT POT SMOKING BAN

There is a link to the UN Report in this Washington Post article, which notes that the Taliban had almost eradicated drug production in Afghanistan prior to the US-led invasion.

Peshawar apparently under threat from Taliban. Analysis by New York Times staff here: http://tinyurl.com/63o3xo Claims that the rich have already fled the area and that the whole North West is under threat. Why are we only just being told?