Overheard in front of Beba on College St.:

"I've never seen you half passed-out. You usually keep drinking to the point of oblivion. Even after 17 beers ..."

- One 20-something guy talking to his buddy

These grafs from a Guardian story on the Judith Miller situation at the NYT caught my eye:

According to the New York Observer and sources with knowledge of the negotiations, Miller is demanding the right to reply to her critics in an opinion piece and a non-disparagement agreement as condition of her departure. Otherwise she has threatened to return to work. ...

Actually, read the Observer piece too. Ms. Miller has some very high-powered friends.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney spent part of his week trying to convince U.S. Republican senators to back an exemption for the CIA from a proposed ban on the torture of terror suspects.

An NYT piece talks about the eternally-relevant George Carlin, who will be doing his first concert special for HBO in nearly four years.

There is almost no good news for Dubya in the current ABC News-Washington Post poll.

"On almost every key measure of presidential character and performance, the survey found that Bush has never been less popular with the American people. Currently 39 percent approve of the job he is doing as president, while 60 percent disapprove of his performance in office -- the highest level of disapproval ever recorded for Bush in Post-ABC polls," it reported Friday.

Aaron Brown has "agreed" to leave CNN. Moving into Brown's old timeslot is Anderson Cooper, who gained profile during hurricane Katrina.

Wang Yi's Microphone, run by a teacher in Sichuan province, has just had its chain yanked by the Chinese authorities.

Ethiopia and Eritrea (which separated from Ethiopia in 1993) have massed troops along each other's borders, and there are fears it wouldn't take much to trigger a serious conflict.

The two nations have had a ceasefire since 2000, which ended a two-year war.

See the BBC story for details.

On Thursday, the Toronto Star produced its regular front page, but it also had some Grade 9 students come up with what they thought should be the top stories.

The big par-tee will also be used to promote the relaunch of the magazine, showcasing the emerging vision of editor-publisher Ken Whyte.