'Australia won't bow to Iraq kidnappers' demand'
Sify - 52 minutes ago Sydney: Australia will send an emergency team to Iraq to seek the release of a kidnapped Australian contractor but will not bow to the militants' demand to withdraw its troops, Prime Minister John Howard said on Monday.

Desperate White House Wife, Episode 1: The Ranch Hand
New York Times - 1 hour ago When Laura Bush wisecracked at the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner on Saturday night that she was a "desperate housewife" married to a president who was always sound asleep by 9 pm, the popular first lady accomplished two things.

Buffett Says Chastened Insurers Are Making Changes
New York Times - 1 hour ago By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN. OMAHA, May 1 - Warren E. Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said here Sunday that insurers had been "sensitized" by disclosures of unseemly practices and financial manipulation

A Tonic for Bush's Ailing Second Term
BusinessWeek - 36 minutes ago One hundred and one days into his second term, President George W. Bush is near the low point of his four-and-a-half-year Presidency. His party is struggling mightily, too. Despite an aggressive marketing campaign, public support for the President's No.

Purcell Hangs On
Forbes - 1 hour ago NEW YORK - Philip Purcell held on as Morgan Stanley's chief executive over the weekend, when the firm's board of directors reaffirmed its commitment to him and elected to keep the company intact. But the embattled

Charges not ruled out for US runaway bride
China Daily - 50 minutes ago A suburban Atlanta prosecutor said Sunday he would be less likely to bring charges against runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks if authorities determine she left spontaneously rather than planning her disappearance.

An old treaty for a new world
BBC News - 26 minutes ago By Jonathan Marcus. The entry into force of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT in March 1970 represented a milestone for a world living in the shadow of the nuclear bomb. Its aim was to prevent the

Egypt Detains More Than 200 in Attacks on Tourist Industry
New York Times - 4 hours ago By MONA EL-NAGGAR. CAIRO, May 1 - Egyptian authorities swept through villages on the outskirts of Cairo on Sunday, detaining more than 200 people after attacks on Saturday that left seven people wounded and three attackers dead.

Violence surges on in Iraq
Xinhua - 1 hour ago BEIJING, May 2 --Insurgents have launched a third straight day of attacks in Iraq, killing at least ten Iraqis and wounding more than 20. A car bomb blast detonated near a US military convoy in western Baghdad

S. Korea Downplays N. Korea Missile Test
ABC News - 1 hour ago A South Korean police officer looks at North Korea's Scud-B missile, center green, and other South Korea's missiles at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, in this March 10, 2003 file photo. The