News

AP - New findings on marijuana’s damaging effect on the brain show the drug triggers temporary psychotic symptoms in some people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, doctors say.

AP - When the Army Corps of Engineers solicited bids for drainage pumps for New Orleans, it copied the specifications — typos and all — from the catalog of the manufacturer that ultimately won the $32 million contract, a review of documents by The Associated Press found.

Reuters - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz
lashed back at critics on Monday who he said were conducting a
smear campaign against him and vowed he would not resign.

Reuters - The woman accused of running a
prostitution ring serving Washington's elite, including at
least one U.S. government official, also appears to be
something of a stock picker.

Reuters - A panel probing the conduct of
Israel's war in Lebanon last year scathingly criticized Ehud
Olmert on Monday but the prime minister said he would not
resign but work instead to put right mistakes.

AFP - An Israeli government commission on Monday accused Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of "serious failure" in the Lebanon war but he refused to step down despite the blow to his flagging leadership.

Reuters - A judge jailed five "cruel and ruthless"
Britons for life on Monday for plotting al Qaeda-inspired bomb
attacks on targets across Britain ranging from nightclubs to
trains and a shopping center.

AP - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will face fierce criticism when a government commission releases its first findings Monday on last year’s inconclusive war in Lebanon, officials said, raising pressure on the Israeli leader to step down.

AP - The St. Louis Cardinals are mourning a teammate for the second time in five years, and it isn’t any easier this time. Josh Hancock, a relief pitcher who helped the team win the World Series last season, died early Sunday when his sport utility vehicle slammed into the back of a tow truck, bringing back painful memories of Darryl Kile’s death in June 2002.

AP - The backlash has built up even before the official release of former CIA Director George Tenet’s memoir, with criticism about his version of the run-up to the Iraq war, interrogation techniques and other events.

Reuters - Google Inc. said on Sunday it was
working with the governments of Arizona, California, Utah and
Virginia to make it easier for consumers to search for
hard-to-find public information on state sites.

AP - Iran agreed Sunday to join the U.S. and other countries at a conference on Iraq this week, raising hopes the government in Tehran would help stabilize its violent neighbor and stem the flow of guns and bombs over the border.