Bloomberg News via the NYT:

Google, the world’s most-used Internet search engine, reached a settlement with Belgian photographers and journalists yesterday in a copyright dispute over how Google’s news service links to newspaper content.

The agreement was made with the Belgian copyright groups Sofam, representing about 3,700 photographers, and Scam, on behalf of journalists. In September, Google lost a copyright suit initially filed by Copiepresse, a group representing French- and German-language newspapers in Belgium. That case is being reheard, but the company has removed links to 17 papers from its Google News page.

Copyright disputes with Google compelled Microsoft to remove Web site links to Belgian newspapers last month and highlighted the global issue of whether traditional copyright protections apply to Internet search services.

“We reached an agreement with Sofam and Scam that will help us make extensive use of their content,” Jessica Powell, a spokeswoman for Google, said in a phone interview yesterday. She declined to give details of the agreement or say whether it involved paying the groups for the content, and declined to say whether Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., was considering similar accords with the newspapers.

Ahh, the good old days in Iraq. An IED here, a sniper there. This NYT story says some groups of Sunni Muslim insurgents are behaving more like soldiers than rag-tag, hit-and-run guerrilla fighters.

U.S. cities are in a battle to attract young, educated workers before they turn old (read 35) and settle down. With boomers retiring, this has serious economic implications for cities.

From the Guardian:

The radioactive spy

Sushi, mystery meetings and a lethal dose of polonium

Obituary: Alexander Litvinenko

Editorial: A still mysterious death

The Independent:

Who killed Litvinenko?

Deathbed accusations, furious denials and key questions surrounding spy's death

Angry last words of a dying man

Radioactive metal that killed Litvinenko

'Cobra' meets over fears of assassination squad

Boris Berezovsky, the first oligarch

Times Online:

Poisoned spy was the victim of state terror

Third man at meeting rebuts blame

Editorial: A British citizen

Comment: The one way to fight Putin's menace

The Telegraph:

Spy poisoned by radiation