What Caught My Eye Today

London - Police thwarted a devastating terrorist plot on Friday, discovering two Mercedes loaded with nails packed around canisters of propane and gasoline set to detonate and kill possibly hundreds in London's crowded theater and nightclub district. The plot, coming only two days after Gordon Brown took over as prime minister, raised the specter of the attacks in July 2005 when the London Underground and an iconic double-decker bus were targeted by a group of homegrown terrorists who killed 52 people. Authorities said the bombs in both cars were similar and that each Mercedes had been abandoned in the same area near Piccadilly Circus. Had they exploded, at least hundreds of people would have been killed. The discovery of the car bombs before they exploded was a bonus for police. Gee whiz. Do ya think? Hats off to the police regardless of that dumbass understatement.

Speaking of understatements, this next one has to be a candidate for understatement of the year...

Iraq - As the United Nations officially disbanded its weapons inspections unit for Iraq, the United States again defended faulty intelligence it had cited to justify its 2003 invasion of the country. Despite U.S. and British suspicions and assertions that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction, no evidence of active programs to make chemical, biological or nuclear arms has been found. After the U.N. Security Council approved a U.S.-British resolution to shut down the inspection unit, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations conceded Washington had overestimated Iraq's weapons capability before the invasion. That's awfully big of Washington. We've only been there for 5 years and lost more than 3500 soldiers due to a miscalculation of Iraq's military capabilities. Way to man up.

Mexico - The 1.5-mile barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border was designed to keep cars from illegally crossing into the United States. There's just one problem: It was accidentally built on Mexican soil. Now embarrassed border officials say the mistake could cost the federal government more than $3 million to fix. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said the vertical metal tubes were sunk into the ground and filled with cement along what officials firmly believed was the border. But a routine aerial survey in March revealed that the barrier protrudes into Mexico by 1 to 6 feet. When the barrier was built in 2000, the project was believed to cost about $500,000 a mile. Estimates to uproot and replace it range from $2.5 million to $3.5 million. so like I was saying, why do we need to waste all this time and energy in Congress on immigration reform. From the looks of this, the system seems just fine and dandy.

iPhone - Hundreds of people who lined up to be among the first to get their hands on Apple Inc.'s coveted iPhone are now the braggarts and guinea pigs for the latest must-have, cutting-edge piece of techno-wizardry. The gadget was going on sale in the United States at 6 p.m. Friday in each time zone. Apple itself has set a target of selling 10 million units worldwide by 2008, gaining roughly a 1 percent share of the cell phone market. It's expected to go on sale in Europe later this year and in Asia in 2008. iPhone...big deal. Now if it can get a job and pay some bills, then I'll be impressed.

Football - NFL Europe, the European development league for American football, has folded after 15 seasons with National Football League owners disbanding the six-team circuit after heavy financial losses. NFL Europe had five German-based teams and one in Amsterdam. NFL owners have shifted their strategy for pitching the sport to European audiences, having decided to play two regular-season NFL games a year outside of US home markets. The first of those will be staged at London's Wembley Stadium on October 28 between the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins. Future games are planned for Mexico, Germany and Canada. A pre-season game planned this year in China was scrapped but the league is expected to bring a game there in the future, likely not until after next year's Beijing Olympics. Well, bugger. Now all we have is arena football. What is the world coming to?