Middle East” href=”http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1193108.ece”>Independent Online Edition > Middle East “Iraq as a political project is finished,” a senior government official was quoted as saying, adding: “The parties have moved to plan B.” He said that the Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parties were now looking at ways to divide Iraq between them and to decide the future of Baghdad, where there is a mixed population. “There is serious talk of Baghdad being divided into [Shia] east and [Sunni] west,” he said. … “The government is all in the Green Zone like the previous one and they have left the streets to the…

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Wear | Two killed as artwork ‘lifts off’ Two people have been killed and 12 injured after a giant, inflatable sculpture blew free from its moorings in the north-east of England. Many were inside the artwork, which consists of connected rooms, when it lifted 30ft into the air at Riverside Park, Chester-le-Street, County Durham I like modern art, and I like edgy installation pieces – when I lived in Seattle, the annual arts festival Bumbershoot was one of my favorites during the year (aside from being really expensive). But entering a large art…

It was inevitable – now the international press laughs openly at Bush as Putin gets in a “tough jab” (Quicktime video) at Bush’s expense at the G8 summit press conference. BUSH: I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world, like Iraq, where there’s a free press and free religion. And I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia will do the same thing. I fully understand, however, that there will be a Russian-style democracy. PUTIN: We certainly would not want to have same kind of democracy as…

Salt Lake Tribune – Air Force pilot vandalized pro-Bush cars DENVER – An Air Force officer with hundreds of hours of combat time pleaded guilty Friday to defacing cars with bumper stickers supporting President Bush, and was given a two-year deferred sentence and ordered to pay for the damage he caused. Lt. Col. Alexis Fecteau, a decorated officer who flew 500 combat hours in the Gulf War, Kosovo and Bosnia, pleaded guilty to felony mischief and must pay restitution to the owners of the damaged cars to clear his record. I really do have to wonder what it was that…

BBC NEWS | Africa | ‘Moonie’ archbishop rocks Vatican An African archbishop who scandalised the Catholic Church with a ‘Moonie’ marriage before returning to the fold looks set to shock the Vatican again. Emmanuel Milingo has held a surprise news conference calling on the Catholic Church to allow priests to marry. Oh, yeah. That guy. Pretty wacky, eh?

U.S. Will Give Detainees Geneva Rights | Chicago Tribune The policy, described in a memo by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, appears to reverse the administration’s earlier insistence that the detainees are not prisoners of war and thus not subject to the Geneva protections. Later on, glam White House Spokesman Tony Snow says ‘ “It’s not really a reversal of policy.” Another spokesman says “The memo that went out, it doesn’t indicate a shift in policy,” he said. “It just announces the decision of the court.” ‘ Uh huh. Sure. I remember in the early days of AAR when Janeane…

CNN.com – Man behind anti-Clinton ad convicted – Jun 28, 2006 EDINBURG, Texas (AP) — A political consultant whose company was behind a television ad accusing the Clinton-Gore administration of giving away nuclear technology was convicted of child molestation charges. A jury deliberated almost two days before convicting Carey Lee Cramer, 44, of aggravated sexual assault of a child, two counts of indecency with a child by contact and one count of indecency with a child by exposure. He was cleared of nine other charges Tuesday. Oh, ho ho ho ho. How very delicious: a Rethugnican political consultant getting hard…

Vt. man creates the backyard Zamboni – Yahoo! News Recently, a customer in California wanted one of his ride-on ice mowers with a Bambini pull-behind resurfacer to create a 10,000-square-foot skating surface for her children. But the client also wanted to remove snow from the outdoor pond. Renzello, who had been thinking about putting his inventions into one machine, said he had the answer. He combined all the technologies into the Bambini Revolution. It will clear snow, scrape ice smooth and leave a layer of water on the ice to bring it to a glassy finish. The scraper blade smooths…