DEFIANCE: As Chinese authorities clamped down on foreign media in and around Tibet, Pope Benedict broke his silence and appealed for an end to violence
China criticized foreign media yesterday for their reporting on the violence in Tibet, while it continued to block or detain international journalists trying to cover the story.

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Russia had a short answer for US President George W. Bush's top national security advisers who came to ask for detente in the simmering argument over a planned US missile shield at Russia's doorstep: "Nyet." Or maybe, "Not yet."

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By Charles Snyder
A top US State Department official, taking a last-minute swipe at Saturday's planned referendum on UN entry under the name "Taiwan," on Tuesday called the plebiscite alternately "pointless and destabilizing," "unnecessary and unhelpful" and "not a positive policy initiative."

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THE DIVIDE: Various anti-war groups and students all over the country were preparing to launch acts of disobedience to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq
Five years after launching the US invasion of Iraq, US President George W. Bush was making some of his most expansive claims of success in the fighting there. Bush said last year's troop buildup has turned Iraq around and produced "the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden."

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By Shelley Shan
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications' legal affairs committee yesterday approved a draft regulation that would allow individuals to own and operate personal aircraft.

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