Top Bush admin. officials approved "enhanched interrogation" techniques; Higgs predicts 'God particle' soon to be revealed...

10 April :: ABC News reported yesterday that "In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News"; Rice chaired the meetings, as National Security Adviser; according to the ABC News report: "At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft"... Physicist Peter Higgs predicts new CERN collider will discover 'Higgs boson', known as 'the God particle', early next year; Higgs theorized a primordial Higgs field, made up of a higher force that gives the universe mass, makes life possible, 4 decades ago... Palestinian officials say Bush plans to meet PA pres. Mahmoud Abbas in Sharm el-Sheikh for peace talks next month; other Arab leaders may also be in attendance... Microsoft, NewsCorp may team up in bid to takeover Yahoo!, which is reportedly in talks with TimeWarner to merge with AOL, seeking to reposition itself strongly against more profitable online rivals; projected mergers would reshape market for online goods, services... Despite protests from China's gov't, the Olympic torch was diverted with little announcement, to avoid clashes between human rights protesters and China supporters; Reuters reports "On a beautiful spring day, San Francisco deployed hundreds of security officers, including FBI agents backed up by police cars, harbor boats, jet skis and helicopters"; Hong Kong authorities also plan to divert the torch from its planned route, to avoid "embarrassing scenes"...

Indian, Chinese leaders meet in Beijing to discuss economic cooperation; Clinton camp says criticism of remarks about MLK have been "distorted"...

13 January :: IHT reports from Beijing "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India will arrive in Beijing on Sunday for a three-day visit to China, with each country eager to increase bilateral trade, promote mutual friendship and offer reassurances that Asia is big enough to accommodate the ambitions of both rising powers"; the two nations with more than 1 billion inhabitants each, are foreseen as major economic competitors for unprecedented shares of world resources, as they develop their economies... Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has complained that Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) campaign has "distorted" her statements regarding the value of Martin Luther King's civil rights movement; while both Sen. Clinton and her husband have long lauded the civil rights movement of the 1960s, she attempted to play down her rival's appeal to hope and American ideals by saying that "It took a president" (Lyndon Johnson) to realize the dream of Dr. King, by forcing legislation through Congress; the Obama campaign has said it has not released any misleading statements about Sen. Clinton's words... An asteroid observers feared could strike Mars is now estimated to miss the Red Planet by a considerably safe distance, reducing likelihood of impact to 1 in 10,000; Discovery reports "Scientists said the best estimate was for the asteroid to pass at a distance of more than 16,000 miles from the surface of Mars, or at worst, no closer than 2,480 miles"...

CA plans to sue EPA over emissions; Kurdish rebels offer truce with Turkey; Microsoft cedes to EU regulators...

23 October :: California attorney general Jerry Brown has said he plans to file suit against the EPA, for stalling permission for CA, 11 other states to force automakers to produce cleaner vehicles; suit aims to push emissions regulations designed to reduce threat/pace of human-induced global warming... Kurdish rebel group offers Ankara truce, saying "Our movement and people have the strength to defend itself under any condition; however, we prefer to solve the problems by democratic and peaceful ways rather than armed struggle"; Turkish gov't has explored launching cross-border raids against PKK rebels inside Iraq, US reported to be contemplating airstrikes against rebel positions inside Iraqi Kurdistan... Microsoft has surrendered to antitrust regulators in Brussels, after years of litigation and fines, agrees to free up dozens of patents for license-free consultation by developers; regulatory office says interoperability issues still remain, Microsoft is on warning that other cases are being looked at, dealing with DRM in Vista, 'integrated security' solution, browser functionality... NYT reports "More than a quarter of a million people were urged to flee their homes on Monday as wildfires ravaged Southern California for a second day, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses and charring swaths of scrub and forestland"; the 'paper of record' also reported homes burning "with no firefighters in sight", as shifting winds, spreading fires made it difficult to strategically contain blazes... Scientists rush to get first glimpse of gravity waves, phenomena predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity, but which have yet to be observed in any astronomical event...