friday reads

KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct. 19 — The death toll rose to 134 killed and 450 wounded today following explosions just feet from a truck carrying the returning opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday night, in what the government said was probably a suicide attack by an Islamist militant.


Allegations that the CIA held al-Qaida suspects for interrogation at a secret prison on sovereign British territory are to be investigated by MPs, the Guardian has learned. The all-party foreign affairs committee is to examine long-standing suspicions that the agency has operated one of its so-called "black site" prisons on Diego Garcia, the British overseas territory in the Indian Ocean that is home to a large US military base.


Criminal probe into U.S. Embassy in Iraq construction


Executives Arrested in 'Phoenix New Times' Legal Dispute

Top Village Voice Media executives Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were arrested Thursday night by Maricopa County sheriff's deputies on charges of revealing grand jury information, a misdemeanor.

The charges came after they published a story under their byline in the Thursday edition of the Phoenix New Times, in which they described a subpoena the paper reportedly received from a local grand jury.

“They did not have a warrant, but they told me that I was being arrested for unlawful disclosure of grand jury information,” Larkin told The New York Times by phone from his home early this morning, after he was released from jail. Lacey, executive editor, remained in jail early this morning. Captain Paul Chagolla, a spokesman for the sheriff did not return a call from the Times for comment.

If you had 1,200 pounds of marijuana in the back of your semi, would you consent to a police search?


Digby takes a look at the truly ugly slime that has been oozing from the comservative movement in the past few weeks.


Fashionista Watch: Hello Kitty AK-47