May 11, 2003

Powell Meets With Israeli and Palestinian Leaders Headlines From The NY Times - The day of meetings appeared to clear the way for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel to meet soon with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian premier. By Steven R. Weisman. 9:55:28 PM

Brain candy: 'Matrix' heroes face many challenges in making film Minneapolis Star Tribune - Prepping for his role as Neo, the supercool hero of the "Matrix" films, involved a lot of stretching for Keanu Reeves, both physically and mentally. 4:36:49 PM

New York Times Discloses Fraud by Reporter Voice of America - One of the most influential newspapers in the United States, The New York Times, says it has uncovered frequent acts of journalistic fraud by one of its reporters. 4:34:16 PM

Bush Shakes Up Iraq Administration Washington Post -The American diplomat serving as chief administrator of Baghdad has been reassigned by the Bush administration after less than three weeks in Iraq in what U.S. officials here said was part of a broader shake-up of the troubled Pentagon operation to rebuild the country. Barbara K. Bodine, a former ambassador to Yemen and the highest-ranking woman in the U.S.-led interim administration in Iraq, said she intended to leave for Washington on Sunday to fill a senior post at the State Department. As Baghdad's effective postwar mayor, she had been in charge of restoring vital public services and forming a democratic local government for the capital's 5 million residents -- a job that is incomplete. 4:32:13 PM

Abbas says Palestinians leaders ready to get started on peace plan San Francisco Chronicle - Palestinian leaders have put aside reservations to parts of the US-developed plan for peace with Israel and are ready to get started on it, Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday, heeding an appeal by Secretary of State Colin Powell. 1:48:16 PM

New York Post Iraqi crowds welcome ayatollah home San Francisco Chronicle - Beating their chests and chanting praises to Allah, tens of thousands of Shiites flooded the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Saturday to welcome home their exiled leader, whose brand of hard-line Islam could play a decisive role in shaping the religious and social face of the new Iraq. Returning to Iraq after 23 years living abroad in neighboring Iran, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq party (SCIRI), was deluged by an outpouring of devotion from followers who flocked to the Iran-Iraq border near Basra to witness his passage back to his homeland. 10:08:03 AM