News round up...

Warfare

• Zarqawi Killed --AP
  
  
• Bush: Zarqawi death may "turn the tide" --Reuters
  
  
• Bombings kill at least 40 in Baghdad --AP
  
  
• Gunmen seize 50 in Iraq bus station raids --AP
  
  
• Nigeria's oil delta faces escalation of violence --Reuters
  
  
• 'Five killed' in Nigeria oil raid --BBC
  
  
• Efforts by C.I.A. Fail in Somalia, Officials Charge --The New York Times
  
  
• Thousands demonstrate against US in Somalia --Reuters
  

Geopolitics

• US bypasses Russia with BP pipeline --The Daily Telegraph
  
  
  
  
  
• USA out-flanked in Eurasia Energy Politics? --Global Research
  
  
• Iran warns of oil disruption if attacked --AP

Declining Dollar

• RTS launches ruble-contracts in oil, oil products and gold --RIA Novosti
  
  
• Russia Shifts Part of Its Forex Reserves from Dollars to Euros --MosNews
  
  
• Iranian Oil Bourse nearly ready to open --UPI
  
  
• How much longer can the dollar reign supreme? --The Guardian
  

Diplomacy

• Iranian President Warms to Dialogue --The Washington Post
  
  
• UN comments trigger row with US --BBC (Is Bolton threatening the UN?)
  
  
  
  Remember this?
  
  
  
• Apologize or we'll cut your funding US envoy tells UN --The Times
  
  
  
  Crooks & Liars has the CNN segment
  

Energy Vulnerability & Sustainability

• Greenspan sees a threat --Knight Ridder
  
  
• Dutch Giants Told Gas Has Run Out --The Daily Telegraph
  
  "Of course consumers will be affected. We need industrial, high-calorie gas to generate our electricity supplies. ... If gas supplies are unavailable our electricity is obviously threatened."
  
  
• AUDIO: Julian Darley speaks to Congress for New Urbanism --Global Public Media
  
  
• The Peak Oil Crisis, One Year in Review --Falls Church News-Press
  
  
• AUDIO: Roger Blanchard on the Future of Global Oil Production --Global Public Media
  

Corporatism

• States looking to cash in assets --USA Today

Corruption

• Congressmen took free trips worth $50m --The Guardian
  
  
• Powerful Lawmaker's Relative Linked Financially to Contractor --LA Times
  
  
• Ex-Ohio Official Pleads Guilty to Charges --AP

Post-Katrina

• Katrina Displaced 400,000 Study Says, New Orleans Becomes Whiter, Mississippi Coast More Diverse --The Washington Post

Constitutional Rights

• Cheney's Office Declares Excemption from Secrecy Oversight --The New Standard
  
  
• Specter's Uneasy Relationship With White House Is Revealed in a Letter to Cheney --NY Times
  
  
  
  Cafferty: Arlen Specter: a gutless Republican worm
  --Crooks & Liars
  
  
• Specter Caves, Proposes Blanket Amnesty For Illegal Government Surveillance --Think Progress
  

Media Watch

• Ann Coulter Calls 9/11 Widows 'Witches' --LA Times
  
  
  
  Think Progress has the video
  
  
• Widows lash back at poison tongue --The Herald Sun (Full statement here)
  
  
• VIDEO - FOX ATTACK: Neil Cavuto's Turn to Bash RFK Jr., Legitimate Democracy --Brad Blog
  
  
• Key Fact in National Review's Global Warming Article is 'Completely Wrong' --Think Progress
  
  Update: Steorts Dismisses Factual Errors as 'Irrelevancies,' Demands Corrections
  

Unnoticed Stories of the Week:

• 'Cocaine One' DC9 Owner Still a Mystery, Problems Emerge with "former" Owner's Story --Mad Cow Morning News
  
  
• FBI confidential informant also said to be provocateur --Raw Story (Professional FBI informant specializing in seduction trains activist 'lovers' in the United States to make bombs while encouraging them to carry out attacks and break the law!)

Quote of the Week:

"I’m really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we’ve never had a divorce or any kind of homosexual relationship."