With a few keystrokes, an official U.S. brochure eliminated some historic arms-control deals, angered the champions of disarmament, and showed again that in the paper deluge of a global conference, what's left out can be as telling as what's put in.

On Thursday, May 26, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will consider in closed session a draft bill that would both renew and expand various USA PATRIOT Act powers. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has obtained a copy of the draft bill, along with the committee's summary of it, and has made them available to journalists and interested citizens on its website, www.eff.org/.

What the cops hope to do is ask the Escondido City Council in June for an ordinance making it unlawful for youngsters to be on the streets from 8 or 8:30 in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon. A teenager on the street! Grab that kid! We can't have them on the street!-North County Times

What if someone or some corporation, without telling you, poured formaldehyde into your morning coffee, your favorite yogurt, your chewing gum, your diet beverage and your children's vitamins? In essence, this is what happens every single time you consume aspartame, the neurotoxic additive whose assimilated by-product includes formaldehyde.

A last minute hitch appears to have delayed the introduction of the government's identity cards legislation this week despite the hopes of the home secretary, Charles Clarke, that it would be published before the Commons rises for the Whitsun break on Friday.Mr Clarke was keen to push ahead with the controversial legislation to take advantage of the disarray in the Conservative party in the immediate aftermath of the general election -Guardian UK

Presidents and oil company executives will inaugurate a 1,100-mile pipeline Wednesday that will carry millions of gallons of crude from the landlocked Caspian to the Mediterranean - a much-needed alternative to Mideast energy resources.Analysts say the $3.2 billion, U.S.-backed Baku-Ceyhan pipeline could also help bring stability to the troubled region.The Caspian is thought to contain the world's third-largest oil and gas reserves

The executive director of the U.S.-led international consortium formed to implement a nuclear deal with North Korea has been let go, a development likely to be viewed as a weakening of support for dialogue with Pyongyang, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday. The executive director, Charles Kartman, a former U.S. negotiator with the North, has been a strong proponent of discussions with the isolated communist state and has long been viewed with suspicion by key members of the Bush administration

The US warned European ministers yesterday to stand firm in negotiations with Iran and reject any proposal that could allow the partial resumption of Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.The warning, given as the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK prepared to meet Iranian negotiators in Geneva today, underlines the risk that the talks might break up or lead to increased transatlantic tension -Financial Times UK

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is in Washington for a meeting this week with President Bush.As president of the Palestinian Authority, Abbas has pursued a strategy that depends on his being able to show that his way -- the way of nonviolence -- will deliver for the Palestinian people.Unfortunately, at this point, Abbas has been able to deliver little of what was expected -Washington Post

The Senate voted 81-18 yesterday to end debate on 5th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Priscilla R. Owen, a Texas Supreme Court justice whom Democrats have blocked with filibusters four times since she was nominated by the president in 2001.Even Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who plans to vote against Owen in a vote scheduled today, supported ending debate -Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Russian President Vladimir Putin described India as "one of the key Russian partners in the Pacific Asian region." Putin said Russian-Indian ties were "becoming more and more substantial and dynamic."-MosNews

Ignoring President Bush's veto threat, the House voted Tuesday to lift limits on embryonic stem cell research, a measure supporters said could accelerate cures for diseases but opponents viewed as akin to abortion.