U.S. forces launched an offensive against insurgents in western Iraq near the Syrian border, and about 75 militants were killed in the first 24 hours, the military said Monday.-The Globe and Mail

Tony Blair has ruled out making changes to "living standards" to tackle global warming, and is drawing up plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions instead.

The chemical sucralose, marketed as "Splenda," has replaced aspartame as the #1 artificial sweetener in foods and beverages. Aspartame has been forced out by increasing public awareness that it is both a neurotoxin and an underlying cause of chronic illness worldwide, Dr. James Bowen, researcher and biochemist, reports.

To Americans, World War II ended with the Japanese surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, following detonation of atom bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9. But for Russians, who did not enter the war on Japan until Aug. 8, 1945, "The Great Patriotic War" ended on May 9, with the surrender of Nazi Germany. Which raises a question: What exactly is President Bush celebrating in Moscow? asks Pat Buchanan.-WorldNetDaily

With its pristine Spanish-style houses and flowering gardens, this remote town seems an unlikely place to be the most dangerous spot in the United States. But for the past six months it has been under siege by terrorists. The attacks are simulations, part of a national training program for emergency personnel such as police, paramedics and border patrol officers. For the roughly 20 families who live in this government-contracted town and the several dozen others who live on the outskirts, however, the events are sometimes almost too real.-Washington Post

The United Nations' main nuclear watchdog believes that North Korea has up to six nuclear weapons, its chief said yesterday. According to US intelligence reports, Pyongyang is believed to have two or more crude nuclear bombs.-Telegraph

In America, having papers has never been especially important. Until now.

Author Helke Ferrie has a clear, concise explanation of the dangers of "Codex." Read this, and get worried.

A Colombian parliamentarian affirmed that the purchase is for 300,000 assault rifles.Colombian congressman and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jimmy Chamorro, assured that the number of assault rifles that Venezuela will buy from Russia will be 300,000 and not 100,000, as had been publicly announced by the Russian and Venezuelan governments -el universal VE

Chile’s Supreme Court has rescinded the six-month deadline it had imposed for Pinochet-era human rights cases following a public outcry and threats by human rights advocates to appeal their cases to international tribunals.Had the deadline remained in effect, litigation of human rights cases, which involves several hundred retired and active-duty military personnel, would have been brought to a close on June 15 -Santiago Times CL

LEBANON’S most prominent anti-Syrian leader, a Christian militia general who returned at the weekend after 14 years in France, has underlined the fragmented nature of the opposition before elections due this month.Despite a rapturous welcome by thousands of supporters, General Michel Aoun, 70, said that he had not been approached by any anti-Syrian politicians -London Times Uk

Ahmad Chalabi, Iraq's new deputy prime minister, claims he is to be exonerated for his conviction for a fraud which almost caused Jordan's banking system to collapse.Mr Chalabi, 60, is said to be expecting a ruling from the Jordanian government that will quash his sentence of 22 years' hard labour, passed in absentia after the collapse of Petra Bank in 1989 -Telegraph UK

The State Department is refusing to make public documents requested by Senate Democrats trying to gain more information about repeated clashes between John R.Bolton and U.S. intelligence agencies over Syria, administration officials say

Now that it's time for Russian President Vladimir Putin's grand, global World War II victory party, he and President Bush are chums again.During a jovial evening, they put the sniping of recent days in the past — at least until Tuesday.But Bush aims to close out his five-day, four-country European trip Tuesday on a note that leaves talk of Stalin and Soviet oppression far behind — and may arouse Putin's anger again

An American soldier has revealed shocking new details of abuse and sexual torture of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay in the first high-profile whistleblowing account to emerge from inside the top-secret base.Erik Saar, an Arabic speaker who was a translator in interrogation sessions, has produced a searing first-hand account of working at Guantánamo. It will prove a damaging blow to a White House still struggling to recover from the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq -Guardian UK