July 30, 2002

When Web operator Jon Messner gained control of one of al-Qaida's prime Internet communication sites, he offered it to the FBI to use it for disinformation and collecting data about sympathizers. What followed, he says, was a week of frustration. FBI agents struggled to find someone with enough technical know-how to set up the sting. By the time they did, the opportunity was lost as militant Islamic Web users figured out the site was a decoy, said Messner of Ocean City, Md. [ The Bayarea.com ] 9:36:46 PM

Microsoft to partner with AT&T Wireless. The software giant is expected to announce on Wednesday a partnership with AT&T Wireless on wireless software and services. [CNET News.com] 9:33:48 PM

Britney Spears' dad has admitted pulling a gun on four teenagers trying to see her childhood home. Jamie Spears says he always carries his silver gun with him as a security measure. The four teenage fans say they were also surrounded by guard dogs when they visited the house in Louisiana. 17-year-old Beth Stevens, said: "To have this happen was a shock. Britney's dad was really angry." 8:35:37 AM

Twenty-three of the 200 Cuban youngsters who attended the World Youth Conference in Toronto, Canada, decided not to return to the communist island, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in Cuba said Monday. The youngsters are in hiding in a "safe house" until Tuesday, when the Cuban delegation is slated to return to Cuba, said Joe Garcia of the Cuban American National Foundation. Garcia said relatives of the youths from Texas, New York, New Jersey and Florida had traveled to Canada to help them seek asylum. 8:30:37 AM

The two Zapotec Indians certainly died the deaths of martyrs: Fellow villagers "dragged them, hung them and finally decapitated them, cut open their sides to pull out their hearts and gave them to the dogs," according to the Roman Catholic church. Pope John Paul II plans to beatify the men – Juan Bautista and Jacinto de los Angeles – on Thursday as part of a trip reaching out to Indians across the Americas, who have been increasingly converting to rival Protestant faiths. Beatification is a necessary step on the path to sainthood. [ Washingtonpost.com ] 8:28:18 AM

A suicide bomber set off an explosion Tuesday on a busy street in central Jerusalem, killing himself and wounding at least five others, police said. Police said the bomber was a 17-year-old from Bethlehem in the West Bank. [ CNN.COM ] 8:26:00 AM