What Caught My Eye Today

Al-Qaeda - The U.S. announced the arrest of an al-Qaida leader it said served as the link between the organization's command in Iraq and Osama bin Laden's inner circle, enabling it to wield considerable influence over the Iraqi group. Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani was the highest-ranking Iraqi in the al-Qaida in Iraq leadership when he was captured July 4. Al-Mashhadani had told interrogators that al-Qaida's global leadership provides "directions, they continue to provide a focus for operations" and "they continue to flow foreign fighters into Iraq, foreign terrorists." The relationship between bin Laden and the al-Qaida in Iraq leadership has long been the subject of debate. Some private analysts believe the foreign-based leadership plays a minor role in day-to-day operations. Analysts have also questioned U.S. military assertions that al-Qaida in Iraq is the main threat to U.S. forces here. Well, well, well. How fortuitous is this? Just when there is growing doubt regarding U.S. policy in Iraq, we capture this dude who basically affirms everything we've been doing. What a coincidence? Or is it?

Congress - Senate Republicans torpedoed legislation to force the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, bowing to President Bush's adamant refusal to consider any change in war strategy before September. The 52-47 vote fell far short of the 60 needed to advance the legislation and marked the final act in an all-night session that Democrats engineered to dramatize their opposition to the war. The all-night session had its moments — Democrats decamping at dusk to attend a candlelight rally near the Capitol, for example, a senator or two catching a middle-of-the-night snooze in a room equipped with cots just off the Senate floor, meaningless procedural votes that obliged bleary-eyed lawmakers to appear at midnight and again at 5 a.m. Not even presidential contenders were immune from indignity. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York wound up with a dead-of-night turn to speak, not long after 4 a.m. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, her chief campaign rival, thought he had landed a slot in the 6 a.m. hour, rich in possibility for morning television coverage. That plan evaporated in a Senate scheduling crunch, though, and his remarks were limited to mere seconds, hours later. You see, its nonsense like this that makes me wonder how Congress has managed even a 34% approval rating.

Japan - An earthquake-wracked nuclear power plant was ordered closed indefinitely amid growing anger over revelations that damage was much worse than initially announced and mounting international concern about Japan's nuclear stewardship. The mayor of Kashiwazaki, a city of 93,500 on the northern coast, called in the head of the nation's biggest power company and ordered the damaged nuclear station closed until its safety could be confirmed, escalating a showdown over a long list of problems at the world's most powerful generating plant. The utility shocked the nation by releasing a list of dozens of problems triggered by the quake, after earlier reporting only the transformer fire and a small leak of radioactive water. The new list of problems included the transformer fire, broken pipes, water leaks and spills of radioactive waste. It also said the leak of radioactive water into the Sea of Japan was 50 percent bigger than announced previously. "We made a mistake in calculating the amount that leaked into the ocean," the company said in a statement. What I don't get is how they can be so off in their estimates. Was it that they were trying to see if no one would notice? At some point, like when people started glowing in the dark, the cover-up would have been exposed.

Britain - Britain became separated from mainland Europe after a catastrophic flood some time before 200,000 years ago, a sonar study of the English Channel confirms. The images reveal deep scars on the Channel bed that must have been cut by a sudden, massive discharge of water. Scientists believe that the torrent probably came from a giant lake in what is now the North Sea. It is believed that hundreds of thousands of years ago, when ice sheets had pushed down from Scotland and Scandinavia, there existed a narrow isthmus linking Britain to continental Europe. This gently upfolding chalk ridge was perhaps some 30m higher than the current sea level in the English Channel. Palaeo-researchers think it bounded a large lake to the northeast that was filled by glacial meltwaters fed by ancient versions of the rivers Thames and Rhine. Then - and they are not sure of the precise date - something happened to break the isthmus known as the Weald-Artois ridge. It's not that I don't find these geological discoveries fascinating, because I do (seriously). It's just that geological time is so slow. For a geologist, 200,000 years is equivalent to the blink of an eye. To me, well let's just say geological time moves about as quickly as a troop withdrawal bill does through the Senate.

High Fashion - And now for some hard hitting news. Gisele Bundchen tops Forbes.com's list of the world's richest models, earning $33 million in the last 12 months. Kate Moss, who recently launched a clothing line at British fashion retailer Topshop, ranks second with $9 million. The 33-year-old fashion icon is the new face of fashion label Stella McCartney and Italian sportswear company Belstaff. Heidi Klum, 34, placed third with $8 million. She is a Victoria's Secret spokesmodel and host of Bravo's "Project Runway." Two more Victoria's Secret beauties — Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio — rounded out the top five with $6 million each. Nice work if you can get it, I suppose.