We see this essentially as a distribution of wealth. It has not been wild looting in terms of risk to life. The first time I have heard anybody talk seriously of redistribution of wealth in a while (here at the BBC). They're saying that any hospitals or warehouses being looted would have been for the Baath party members... I wouldn't be surprised, and if so all power too them. But peace and order are needed for aid...

The text on the front page for this story is "Planet hijacked". I had to read that twice...

Apparently the differing structure of primate eggs mean we are too hard to clone - though I am of course skeptical about any "may never be possible" statement. Sure, the weirdos who claim to have done it are even more likely to be lying, but if the human race should last for a while (not a foregone conclusion) who knows what technology will be around in hundreds of years? The space travel analogy is well-worn, but still illustrative.

Oh, and see this Guardian piece, please. Though I think Pyongyang is a red herring, nobody's going to actually "move on" and attack North Korea.

In contrast to claims in Basra that looting wasn't such a bad thing (!), supposedly embassies have been sacked in Baghdad. Including the German embassy and a French cultural center apperently, which I'm sure will please some of the "patriotic" Americans.

(Sometimes patriotism is a synonym for xenophobia, isn't it?)