September 1, 2004

Microsoft Launches MSN Music PC Magazine - By Kyle Monson. In the right corner, weighing in with 100 million downloaded iTunes songs: heavyweight champion Steve Jobs. In the left corner, weighing in with billions and billions of dollars and near universal market presence, is challenger Bill Gates, and the gloves are coming off. 9:02:33 PM

Betting it all on Napster CNET News.com - By any measure, Napster Chief Executive Chris Gorog is one of the world's biggest believers in digital music. Eighteen months ago, his company, Roxio, was a successful, if unspectacular, player in the CD-burning software market. Then, in a rapid-fire corporate transformation, he purchased the Napster brand name at a bankruptcy auction, bought the record-label-backed Pressplay subscription service and relaunched the Napster brand as an iTunes song store rival and online music subscription service. A few weeks ago, he took the final step, selling off the old Roxio business and changing the company's name to Napster altogether. The move has won him kudos from those who saw the old business slowing down, along with head-shakes of disbelief from those who think Napster is outmatched against bigger rivals such as Apple Computer, Microsoft and Sony. 9:00:51 PM

Pakistan Found to Aid Iran Nuclear Efforts New York Times - A new assessment of Iran's nuclear program by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency says that, as early as 1995, Pakistan was providing Tehran with the designs for sophisticated centrifuges capable of making bomb-grade nuclear fuel. It also finds evidence that, as of the mid-August, Iran had assembled and tested the major components for 70 of the machines, which it showed to inspectors from the agency. 8:58:32 PM

What's behind the Darfur crisis - and what's next? Christian Science Monitor - Thursday is a pivotal day for the government of Sudan. The United Nations Security Council begins debate on whether Khartoum has disarmed and brought to justice the Arab militias in the western part of the country responsible for killing more than 30,000 people and causing some 1.4 million others to flee their homes over the past 18 months. The penalty for noncompliance: economic and diplomatic sanctions.  5:04:04 PM

Russian School Taken by Terrorists; 300 Hostages Held (Update8) Bloomberg - About 20 armed men and women wearing explosive belts seized a school in southern Russia and are holding at least 300 hostages, including children, in the country's fourth terrorist attack in eight days. 5:02:06 PM

Mosque burnt by protesters in Nepal's capital Xinhua - A mosque located in Kathmandu was burnt Wednesday morning by a group of angry demonstrators in protest against the killing of 12 Nepalese workers in Iraq. 2:08:11 AM