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    Washington - The former US Senator Jesse Helms, a legendary isolationist and defender of "Southern values" who spent much of his life goading liberals, died yesterday.

    Universally known as "Senator No" he was deeply sceptical of international cooperation and intervention. His refusal to ratify international accords, notably the Kyoto treaty on global warming, made him the bete noir of the Georgetown foreign policy establishment

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    Beaches, barbecues and flags as big as baseball fields. Fireworks as loud as thunder lighting the nighttime sky. Hot fun, as Sly & the Family Stone would say, in the summertime.

    Friday was the 232nd anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Celebrations were ubiquitous. HBO offered a marathon telecast of its John Adams series. Bands of wildly varying quality, from one coast to the other, let loose with "The Star-Spangled Banner," "America the Beautiful" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

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    Presidential hopeful revisits patriotism with veterans.

    Butte, Montana - Ralph Maxwell, a former attorney and judge in North Dakota, nearly shook with anger. Wearing his World War II uniform, which he hadn't taken out of the closet since he came home to restart his life in 1945, he'd just been asked to comment on recent articles and reports where people questioned the patriotism of the presumed Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama.

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    Al Gore never claimed that he invented the Internet. Howard Dean didn't scream. Hillary Clinton didn't say she was staying in the race because Barack Obama might be assassinated. And Wesley Clark didn't impugn John McCain's military service.

    Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, titled his tell-all memoir "What Happened." But a true account of modern American politics should be titled "What Didn't Happen." Again and again we've had media firestorms over supposedly revealing incidents that never actually took place.

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    More American servicewomen have been killed serving in Iraq than were killed serving in either Operation Desert Storm or in the Vietnam War, according to a Cybercast News Service database.

    So far, 97 American women, including seven single mothers, have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The average age of these female casualties is 27.

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    Ingrid Betancourt arrived in France today after being held captive for six years in the Colombian jungle, amid claims that a ransom was paid to free her.

    The Colombian government said that she was freed in an audacious operation after the military tricked Farc into handing the French-Colombian politician over without a shot being fired.

    But quoting "reliable sources", Swiss Radio reported that a ransom was paid of around $20m (£10m).

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    Washington - A federal judge in California said Wednesday that the wiretapping law established by Congress was the "exclusive" means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and he rejected the government's claim that the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief trumped that law. The judge, Vaughn R. Walker, the chief judge for the Northern District of California, made his findings in a ruling on a lawsuit brought by an Oregon charity.

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    The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

    WHEN IN the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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    Early next week the US Senate will vote on an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with a few small amendments intended to immunize telecommunications corporations that assisted our government in the warrantless and illegal wiretapping it has grown to love.

    That such a gutting of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution even made it out of committee is yet another stain on the gutless and seemingly powerless Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.

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    San Francisco - A federal judge in New York has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom a database linking users of YouTube, the Web's largest video site by far, with every clip they have watched there.

    The order raised concerns among users and privacy advocates that the online video viewing habits of tens of millions of people could be exposed. But Google and Viacom said they were hoping to come up with a way to protect the anonymity of YouTube viewers.

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     Abu Dhabi - The United States will not allow Iran to block the Gulf, which carries crude from the world's largest oil exporting region, and would defend its ships in the waterway, the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday.

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    Washington - The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is doing combat operations in the volatile south, will stay an extra 30 days and come home in early November rather than October, Marine Col. David Lapan confirmed Thursday.

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    Amman - The city of Amman, Jordan, is awash with numerous colorful signs that proclaim independence, "Istiklal." The word is found on posters and placards in store windows. It names a major thoroughfare, a hospital and a shopping center. Appreciation for independence is palpable, and this could be said for numerous cities and towns throughout the region, including Iraq, where past struggles for independence are commemorated by naming buildings and streets "Istiklal." It reflects the love of independence and the longing for it.

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    Colorado Springs, Colorado - It will be a red-state Fourth of July for Barack Obama, who hopes to find votes as well as fireworks in places that blue-state Democrats often bypass in presidential elections.

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In a Style section cover story on Friday, fashion reporter Robin Givhan notes that Hillary Clinton has taken a brazen step for a woman politician by wearing a low neckline. The piece is definitely outrageous, but it's also hilarious. Absurdly hilarious. What do you think?

    When President George W. Bush went to his first Group of Eight summit in 2001, a dominant issue was the dollar - the strong dollar, that is. The U.S. currency was on a record-setting streak, and the free-marketeering president wasn't going to stand in the way.

    On the eve of Bush's last G-8 appearance, the dollar's gyrations are again in the crossfire. This time, it is a weak currency, upended by slumping growth, a housing recession and record gas prices, that is gnawing away at the world economy.

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    Washington - The United States and Poland have tentatively agreed to base American missiles in Poland for a future missile shield against Iran, U.S. and Polish officials said Wednesday.

    The outline deal reached in Washington this week improves chances that President Bush will have the key elements of his missile defense plan in place by the time he leaves office, but there is no guarantee the shield will ever be built or would work as advertised.

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