The World was amazed by the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony and is now enthusiastically absorbed with the achievements of marvellous top athletes – which athlete gained gold by getting there 0.01 second faster and a deluge of other such sporting statistics.
In the first trial held in the Pentagon’s “judicial” system at Guantanamo Bay, Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s driver, was acquitted of conspiracy, convicted of providing “material support” to a U.S.-named terrorist organization, and given a 5 ½ year sentence, with credit for the 5 years of time that Hamdan has already served at the Gitmo prison. That means that he could conceivably be released from custody within 5 months.
Michel Sleiman, Lebanon's president, is set for a historic visit to Damascus, where the establishment of diplomatic ties will dominate the agenda of talks with Bashar al-Assad, his Syrian counterpart.
Australia's air safety body is to broaden its investigation into Qantas after the airline grounded six of its aircraft because of irregularities in maintenance records.
The Mexican authorities have launched a new police unit to combat kidnappings amid fears over rising crime and the high-profile abduction and killing of a teenage boy.
The US has had stern words for Russia over its military intervention in Georgia to back South Ossietian separatists, but many analysts say that the Bush administration must share the blame for the crisis.
The Dalai Lama has offered blessings at a Buddhist institute in France, where he is spending most of the duration of the Beijing Olympics in an attempt to avoid controversy over Tibet.
The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, has auctioned $25 billion of loans to US banks in the latest bid to improve poor credit conditions in the US.
Lebanon's new government has won a vote of confidence, approving a policy statement recognising Hezbollah's right to use all means possible to regain Israeli-occupied land claimed by Lebanon.
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