— HOME ALONE?

The United States appears to be going it alone on more issues these days. Many in Congress were surprised when the world went ahead and adopted the Kyoto Accord in Bonn while the U.S. looked on. According to Senator Joe Lieberman: “Bonn surprised people. The feeling was that, if the United States took its football and left the field, the game couldn’t go forward. But the rest of the nations of the world found their own football, and they completed the game. They left the United States on the sidelines.”
{OK, so are we talking about American football or what the rest of the world calls football?}
http://latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-072501dioxide.story

+

A refusal to support a worldwide plan to enforce a ban on germ warfare is the latest issue in which the U.S. has split with many other nations.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/604811.asp

— THE DEVI MADE HER DO IT

The incredible life of India’s “Bandit Queen”, which saw her evolve from outlaw to politician {the opposite of the general U.S. evolution} comes to a violent end as she is shot down by masked gunmen.
http://cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/07/25/india.devi/

— A MOUNTAIN DUE

In the last twenty years, young children in the U.S. have seen the amount of homework required of them triple. {It’s unclear whether that stat includes a penmanship exercise still sitting
in my desk drawer}.
http://cnn.com/2001/fyi/teachers.ednews/07/25/homework.increase.ap/

— ANY PREDICTIONS?

Missouri has filed lawsuits against the psychic Miss Cleo (if you have ever watched television, you know her) charging her with consumer fraud. According to the state’s attorney general: “Miss Cleo should have seen this coming. It doesn’t take a crystal ball to realize that ripping off consumers isn’t without consequences.”
http://boston/dailynews/206/nation/Missouri_s_attorney_general_ac:.shtml

and…

On his way to Beijing, Colin Powell expresses optimism about the release of the U.S. scholars convicted of spying in China.
http://latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-072501scholars.story

Teen birth rate falls to a record low in the U.S.
http://cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/parenting/07/25/teen.births.ap/

Condit will talk to FBI.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/07/24/missing.intern/

Patients’ bill of rights heads back to the waiting room.
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49450-2001Jul25.html

Nato gets parties to re-establish cease-fire in Macedonia.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010725/wl/balkans_macedonia_dc_183.html

Will AOL’s $100 million investment in Amazon lead to an eventual merger?
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010724/aponline202130_000.htm

Opec cuts oil output. Consumers shouldn’t see much difference.
http://nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-World-Oil-OPEC.html

Researchers believe they have solved the mystery of what killed the Iceman more than 5,300 years ago.
{So far, no warrants have been issued in the case.}
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010725/sc/iceman_mystery.html

The bedbugs, more often than ever, are biting.
http://travel.boston.com/world/072501_fl_bedbugs.html