When Mozilla released the Firefox browser in 2004, Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominated the market with a whopping 95 percent share. Now Firefox has 18 percent of the market and Apple's Safari has another 6 percent. Along the way, Wall Streeters began pressing Mozilla to go public (it won't) and Mozilla CEO John Lilly wowed scores of suits with his talks about how the open source project became a successful business. Just before the launch of Firefox 3 in June, Wired sat down with Lilly at his company headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Wired: What are the biggest changes in Firefox 3?

Lilly: It's got 15,000 improvements. It's more secure and easier to use. But, most important, it's two or three times faster. Think about all the programs we run in our browser now — like office software. When Firefox 2 was developed three years ago, we ran those applications on our desktop. So in Firefox 3 we improved the JavaScript engine and changed the way the browser handles and allocates memory.

Wired: Why did Firefox catch on in the first place, and how has it stolen users from Microsoft's Internet Explorer?

Lilly: When Firefox came out in 2004, there wasn't much browser innovation happening at Microsoft. People used Firefox, saw it was really fast and liked the tabs, and stayed.

Also, people now understand what we stand for — the participatory and open Web — and they like that. It's why we launched Firefox 3 in more than 45 languages. The idea that people worldwide can feel a sense of ownership about software that's initially only in English — like IE7 — is bogus.

Wired: That's nice, but it's not exactly a long-term strategic plan. Do you worry about competition from Apple now that it has enabled Safari on Windows?

Lilly: I used to work at Apple. I have an iPhone. But there are other ways of developing software. Instead of relying on individual brilliance, we rely on enabling a network around the world, like Wikipedia does. That's a different aesthetic.

Wired: Is it an aesthetic or a rationalization for not producing well-designed products?

Lilly: It's an aesthetic. Apple is great if you like the way it comes. Firefox is great if you like to customize things. The focus is on how it lets you do what you want, not how it looks.

Wired: Roughly 85 percent of your revenue comes from Google. What happens if Google decides to build its own browser?

Lilly: It's kind of a sucker's game to speculate about what Google's going to do. That said, it was the Google guys who approached us — not the other way around — because Firefox was a good browser. Our relationship will be just fine, as long as we build something that people give a damn about.

Wired: Mozilla is a nonprofit foundation but also a for-profit startup. How does that work?

Lilly: We're like a university. We have a public mission — keeping the Web open — that we're supporting with economics. It's just that our competitors are all for-profit companies.

Wired: Does the browser still matter now that users access the Net with different, non-browser- dependent devices, like Amazon.com's Kindle?

Lilly: That's a bogus argument. People have been saying for 10 or 15 years that the PC is dead. Even with a good mobile device, I'll sit at my laptop when I'm near it because it's a better experience.

Wired: But still an imperfect one.

Lilly: There are huge problems left to solve. If your data is in the cloud, how do you access it when you're offline? How do you display video without using proprietary technologies? And then there's the whole mobile Web; I think it's not at all clear that it will look like the actual Web.

Wired: Are you going to develop a version of Firefox for the iPhone?

Lilly: No. Apple makes it too hard. They say it's because of technical issues — they don't want outsiders to disrupt the user experience. That's a business argument masquerading as a technological argument. We're focusing on more important stuff. The iPhone has been influential, but there's not that many of them. We're part of the LiMo Foundation — Linux on Mobile. The Razr V2 is a LiMo phone, and you'll see more in the next year or so.

Have you found yourself riding on the emotional tidal wave when you stumbled upon an interesting idea for several days only to end up flirting with another idea that intrigued your mind with the touch of magic? What made you abandon the original idea as an after thought or a bad dream? Have you changed jobs or businesses often in the vain hope of striking the passion of you life? You are not alone.

It’s a contagious disease that has intoxicated the brightest amongst us. It’s a maelstrom in our own mind that can reduce our mighty ambition to a measly hallucination. It is the awesome power of our own mind working against us by throwing us into the whirling depths of watery self-doubt and self-sabotage to achieve a fraction of what we are born to achieve.

I’m ceaselessly amazed to witness the brightest people with the highest IQs living mediocre lives at best while those with an IQ of 75 achieve things beyond our wildest imagination. The secret lies in these two words — Self-Confidence.

If I have to think of a role model to prove the fallacy of IQ when it comes to human achievement, Forrest Gump leads the pack. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor, became the world ping-pong champion, got President Nixon impeached, built a national shrimping empire — made a fortune with his investment in Apple Computers, and, last but not least, taught Elvis how to dance!

How did Forrest Gump achieve these incredible feats with a mediocre IQ? He achieved these feats by his mastery of self-confidence — his yearning for the positive outcome and his ability to defy the failures by his willingness to persist and try harder.

Lesson # 1. Never allow imagination to hold you hostage.

My Momma always said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” - Forrest Gump

We have to learn to visualize our success. When we embark upon an idea or a goal, we are told to constantly visualize the end result. It may have some truth, but it also can be our Achilles Heel. Obsessive visualization creates a phobic sense of self-defense. We tend to harbor a creature of our mind called “self-doubt.” Often we feel paralyzed by this overwhelming sense of defeat that derails our visualization wagon. Forrest Gump had an obvious edge. With his limited power of imagination, he was boundless in his pursuit to keep working at his skill in catching shrimp. When we bite every chocolate of opportunity that comes our way without thinking about its taste, we learn to immerse the best of our ability with boundless energy that knows no defeat. The universe takes care of its part by delivering success to reverberate the power of our self-confidence.

Lesson # 2. Never label the outcome.

When I had to go… you know… I went. — Forrest Gump

Often with our higher IQ, we tend to subvert our focus and attention by engaging in the mindless game called - “Analysis of paralysis” After all, our smartness has to rein in its power, even if that ends up stealing our passion. Forrest Gump had a distinct advantage. With the IQ unworthy to possess smartness, Forrest Gump could do what he loved to do without analyzing the finest details of his actions. His actions were dictated by his passion. Forrest Gump spent days learning how to catch shrimp. He caught boots and license plates instead of shrimp but that didn’t shake his determination. His endless pursuit eventually made him a fortune with his shrimp empire. Success comes to those who have an attitude to keep doing what they love and to do it long and hard enough.

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.
– Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) British author.

Lesson # 3. Claim your confidence.

Now you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows. — Forrest Gump

We all have a companion, which follows us more than our own shadow. The moment we wake up till going to bed, this companion chatters with our mind. It is more destructive than our worst foe by constantly dragging us into the pit of negativity. “I can’t do it!,”, “I’m never going to succeed!,”,” How am I going to pay my bills?,”, and so on. If we don’t believe in ourselves, who else will? If we constantly undermine ourselves with negative self-talk, soon it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Guard your mind with your strong suits or accomplishments when the influx of negative waves sweeps through your mind. Forrest Gump knew how to run, and he shamelessly bragged about it. We can double up our self confidence simply by reminding ourselves what we can do rather than throwing ourselves into a bull pit of self-pity.

Lesson # 4. Do something for others.

Jenny taught me how to climb. And I taught her how to dangle. — Forrest Gump

Obsessive thoughts of ego nurturing elevate your own imaginary woes to decimate your self confidence. When we focus on others, we develop thoughts of positivity and tranquility. Our positivity transcends our own woes and transforms our attitude to one filled with passion and self confidence. Another aspect of giving is receiving. As paradoxical as it sounds, by giving - we receive from others the act of kindness with interest. We are destined to climb the mountains of our life with an abundance of self-confidence if we help others while they are “dangling” from their own tree of life.

Lesson # 5. Always give your best effort.

“YES DRILL SERGEANT!”
– Forrest Gump’s response to sergeant’s claim that he had set a company record for assembling rifles.

The easiest way to crucify our self-confidence is by doing less than what we can. Most people don’t achieve greatness not because they are less smart or less intellectual than those who achieve greatness — they simply give less than the best of their untapped energy to whatever they pursue in life. Regardless of the fate of the outcome, the way you really feel about yourself matters most in life. When we are excited about our work and give it our best, everyone around us feels positive vibes from us. Our positive attitude generates new energy for all of those who work with us. Forrest Gump could have replied to the comment of the sergeant in a lackluster way with the gentle reply, “Yes Sir”. Instead, he chose to portray an abundance of positivity with his response. Try this form of attitude for several days in your personal and professional life and see for yourself the astounding results it produces.

Lesson # 6. Maintain your integrity.

I gotta save Bubba! — Forrest Gump

Integrity to our self-confidence is like what oxygen is to our survival. When we try to fool ourselves, we are depriving soul nourishment to our self-confidence. How can I stand tall if my act is so short? How can I dream big when my thoughts are spiraling down in the depths of self-pity? Our acts of benevolence come back to us in multiple ways by our giving to others. Forrest Gump made Bubba his partner posthumously and made sure to share the profit with his family when he built a successful Bubba Gump shrimp empire. He never forgot the fact that it was his friend Bubba who inspired him to go into the shrimp business.

Lesson # 7. Run to lead.

My momma always said you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where the go, where they’ve been. I’ve worn lots of shoes, I bet if I think about it real hard I can remember my first pair of shoes. — Forrest Gump

Running creates a wave of excitement within and around us. The natural act of running breeds a great sense of positivity in our attitude and the way we view our life. Even those who add a little pep in their walk feel a jolt of positive feelings by creating an impression that they are on an exciting journey — to learn and to achieve more in life. The Universe never fails to respond positively to these people. When Forrest Gump ran three times across the nation, he found loyal followers running behind him. Amazingly enough, when he stopped, they stopped to hear the words of wisdom from a guy with an IQ of 75.

Once we believe in ourselves, others will begin to believe in us. Once we place a high value on our self-confidence, others will surely bid our value even higher. When was the last time you felt proud of yourself? When was the last time you felt great about the fact that you are unique; that there was never anyone like you before and that there will never be anyone like you ever again?

Those who believe that they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something.
– Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) British author.

Cell phones—The new cigarettes?
There has been a raging debate over whether cell phones—or more specifically electromagnetic radiation that they emit—up a person's cancer risk. The latest chapter: Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, this week warned consumers to limit exposure to cell phone radiation—and alerted parents to beware of possible effects on their kids' developing brains. Although the evidence remains controversial, he is convinced that the radiation poses a risk to human health. As he pointed out, a number of countries, including France, Germany and India, have already issued such warnings to their citizens. Herberman outlined 10 ways to reduce exposure. Among them: reduce cell phone use, use a hands-free earpiece, switch ears while chatting to limit radiation concentration in one spot, and avoid using mobile phones in public places to limit second-hand radiation. In particular, he cautions parents about the possible effects of cell phone radiation on children. He indicates that kids should only be allowed to use these devices in cases of emergency, as their developing brains are more likely to be susceptible to possible side effects. He said recent studies indicate that "living tissue is vulnerable to electromagnetic fields within the frequency bands used by cell phones." Worried? Perhaps you should be. But that doesn't mean you should hang up altogether, Herberman says. As he noted in his memo: "Our society will no longer do without cell phones." But he says there's enough biological data to indicate that consumers should take precautions. Herberman also called on the cell phone industry to improve current technologies to limit radiation risks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not respond to requests for comment, but the agency says on its Web site that no clear link exists between cell phone usage and cancer.

A new serious sports car is about to be born. Dreamt by Teritius Fortune, drawn by Emre Husmen, the Turkish designer that conceived the Husmen 699, and generated by Panoz Group, the FortuneSport Rt.S is a 4.17 m long vehicle that is aimed to weigh only 900 kg and powered by a 6.0-litre V8 engine pumping out 350 bhp.

With such technical specs, the Rt.S will go from 0 to 100 km/h in 4 seconds and potentially reach a maximum speed of 280 km/h. When it goes on sale, somewhere between 2010 and 2013, its price tag is expected to read US$ 85,000. However, before this happens, the world will know its racing version, the Rt.R.

We cannot name the first Fortune customers as owners of the Rt.R because, as awkward as it may sound, they will not own the cars. To be part of the sixty fortunate Rt.R pioneers, a deposit of $200,000 USD will be required. The second step will be travelling to FortuneSport HQ in Atlanta (while staying at luxury hotels), to have the car fitted to the customer. In order to save weight, seats are integrated into the chassis, which will make each Rt.R as personal as a tailored shirt.

When the assembly process is completed, which should take no more than three weeks, according to Teritius Fortune, the final installment of $100,000 will be paid and FortuneSport’s clients will have their cars transported to them. From there they have the right to drive the Rt.R at non-professional track-day events, as well as FortuneSport-sponsored events held with Skip Barber Racing Schools.

“For the most part, the Development Program will be a way to build the brand experience with the customer and to help the engineers build a car that the customers can actually use. We will look at them as pre-production prototypes and as a marketing exercise (images, race tracks, etc.). I know it’s risky, but I think this will work well if we are open with our clients”, said Fortune to WorldCarFans.

The fact that the Rt.R will serve as a development prototype for the Rt.S helps make all the payments of US$ 200,000 totally refundable. “Although repairs and maintenance are borne by the driver, the entire $200,000 amount is refundable once the program comes to a close, anywhere between 3 and 5 years. Part of the money will be used to manufacture the cars, but, as we have to make development prototypes anyway, this is not much of a loss to us”, said Fortune. An almost irresistible investment for anyone that can afford it.

What if you want to keep your Rt.R? You may, of course. “The customer has the option to keep the car once the program is over. In this case, the transaction is converted to a sale. If he chooses to return the car, then we would return the entire amount to him. Of the vehicles returned, some will be destroyed, some will be converted to racing vehicles, some as development mules for the next generation of the Rt.S, and a few to the FortuneSport Museum (if there should be one at that point)”, said Fortune.

When asked, most people would you pay $200,000 (with full refund) to drive a 900 kg, 350 bhp car? However, the Rt.R is 150 kg lighter and 160 bhp stronger than the Rt.S, putting its weight at 750 kg with 510 bhp. Keep in mind the Rt.S goes 0 to 100 km/h in 4 seconds and top speed of 280 km/h - considering there will be only 60 of them, you should be quick to make your deposit. The Rt.R program begins by the end of this year.A new serious sports car is about to be born. Dreamt by Teritius Fortune, drawn by Emre Husmen, the Turkish designer that conceived the Husmen 699, and generated by Panoz Group, the FortuneSport Rt.S is a 4.17 m long vehicle that is aimed to weigh only 900 kg and powered by a 6.0-litre V8 engine pumping out 350 bhp.

With such technical specs, the Rt.S will go from 0 to 100 km/h in 4 seconds and potentially reach a maximum speed of 280 km/h. When it goes on sale, somewhere between 2010 and 2013, its price tag is expected to read US$ 85,000. However, before this happens, the world will know its racing version, the Rt.R.

We cannot name the first Fortune customers as owners of the Rt.R because, as awkward as it may sound, they will not own the cars. To be part of the sixty fortunate Rt.R pioneers, a deposit of $200,000 USD will be required. The second step will be travelling to FortuneSport HQ in Atlanta (while staying at luxury hotels), to have the car fitted to the customer. In order to save weight, seats are integrated into the chassis, which will make each Rt.R as personal as a tailored shirt.

When the assembly process is completed, which should take no more than three weeks, according to Teritius Fortune, the final installment of $100,000 will be paid and FortuneSport’s clients will have their cars transported to them. From there they have the right to drive the Rt.R at non-professional track-day events, as well as FortuneSport-sponsored events held with Skip Barber Racing Schools.

“For the most part, the Development Program will be a way to build the brand experience with the customer and to help the engineers build a car that the customers can actually use. We will look at them as pre-production prototypes and as a marketing exercise (images, race tracks, etc.). I know it’s risky, but I think this will work well if we are open with our clients”, said Fortune to WorldCarFans.

The fact that the Rt.R will serve as a development prototype for the Rt.S helps make all the payments of US$ 200,000 totally refundable. “Although repairs and maintenance are borne by the driver, the entire $200,000 amount is refundable once the program comes to a close, anywhere between 3 and 5 years. Part of the money will be used to manufacture the cars, but, as we have to make development prototypes anyway, this is not much of a loss to us”, said Fortune. An almost irresistible investment for anyone that can afford it.

What if you want to keep your Rt.R? You may, of course. “The customer has the option to keep the car once the program is over. In this case, the transaction is converted to a sale. If he chooses to return the car, then we would return the entire amount to him. Of the vehicles returned, some will be destroyed, some will be converted to racing vehicles, some as development mules for the next generation of the Rt.S, and a few to the FortuneSport Museum (if there should be one at that point)”, said Fortune.

When asked, most people would you pay $200,000 (with full refund) to drive a 900 kg, 350 bhp car? However, the Rt.R is 150 kg lighter and 160 bhp stronger than the Rt.S, putting its weight at 750 kg with 510 bhp. Keep in mind the Rt.S goes 0 to 100 km/h in 4 seconds and top speed of 280 km/h - considering there will be only 60 of them, you should be quick to make your deposit. The Rt.R program begins by the end of this year.

China now has the world's largest net-using population, say official figures.

More than 253 million people in the country are now online, according to statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

The figure is higher than the 223 million that the US mustered in June, according to Nielsen Online.

Net penetration in the US stands at 71% compared to 19% in China suggesting it will eventually vastly outstrip the US.

The development is significant because the US has had the largest net-using population since records of how many people were online started to be kept.

"This is the first time the number has drastically surpassed the United States, becoming the world's number one," said a statement from the CNNIC, the nation's official net monitoring body.

The 2008 figure is up 56% in a year, said CNNIC. Analysts expect the total to grow by about 18% per annum and hit 490 million by 2012.

About 95% of those going online connect via high-speed links. Take up of broadband has been boosted by deals offered by China's fixed line phone firms as they fight to win customers away from mobile operators.

China's mobile phone-using population stands at about 500 million people.

Despite having a greater number of people online, China's net economy still has a long way to go to match or exceed that of the US or even that of South Korea.

Figures from Analysys International said China's net firms reported total revenues of $5.9bn (£2.96bn) in 2007. By contrast net advertising revenue alone for US firms in 2007 stood at $21.2bn (£10.6bn).

NEW YORK (AP) — When Amy Morris' twin boys, then 11, went on an academic trip to Washington last year, she agreed to give them cell phones at the program's request. But this summer she was dismayed to learn that girls at her 8-year-old daughter's day camp were using cell phones they'd taken along in their backpacks.

"We were outraged," says the Connecticut mother, who adds that the camp didn't know. "These girls think it's a cute game. But it's inappropriate, and it's unnecessary."

It's a signature parenting dilemma of the wireless age: Should kids have cell phones? And how old is old enough? It pits our understandable desire to keep tabs on our offspring — not to mention make them happy — against the instinctive feeling that it's simply, well, wrong for youngsters to spend their time chatting and texting over the airwaves.

Now, there's further ammunition for Morris and other reluctant parents like her to stand firm: The warning last week by the head of a prominent cancer research institute to his faculty and staff. Limit cell phone use, he said, because of the possible cancer risk — especially when it comes to children, whose brains are still developing.

The warning from Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, was based on early, unpublished data and came despite numerous studies that haven't found a link between increased tumors and cell phone use. But it's struck a nerve among parents who already have other reasons to resist their children's entreaties.

"Now we hear about this possible medical risk," says Marybeth Hicks, an author, columnist and mother of four. "I couldn't possibly know if it's real or not. But I know that it's probably not necessary for most children to have a cell phone."

To her, "it's part of this whole rush to adulthood — Hello Kitty backpacks for third-graders have cell phone pockets in them! Marketers have skillfully created a groundswell of begging among kids — and we all know that begging can work."

Hicks, whose book "Bringing Up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kid's Childhood in a Grow-Up-Too-Fast World," is about just such problems, has her own personal experience with persistent children.

"My 10-year-old daughter thinks she's deprived," says Hicks. "She's been saying she's the only one at school without a phone, and it's actually getting to be true." And her son, she says, was the only kid in his 8th-grade class without a phone. (He just got one, right before freshman year in high school.)

Hicks, who lives in East Lansing, Mich., is aware that some parents feel cell phones are an essential security tool for their kids. But, she says, "I always know where my kids are. A cell phone is a tool to negotiate the world once you have the responsibility to be out in the world on your own."

Morris, of Weston, Conn., has decided that for her own kids, middle school is about the right time. "My boys are starting to walk home alone sometimes," she says. "I want them to have a phone." Being boys, though, they tend to forget the darned things all the time — especially in situations when they actually need them.

So far, Morris has avoided giving one to her younger child, she says, not an easy thing in a society where kids, especially girls, are so sensitive to social pressures. "I think a lot of parents in this country just give in," she says. She's especially concerned about the rampant text messaging among the younger set.

Statistics from the Pew Research Center show just how deeply ingrained in our daily lives cell phones have become: Fully 78 percent of all adults own them, including 86 percent of 18-29 year-olds and 55 percent of Americans 65 and older. Pew doesn't compile statistics on those under 18.

Text messaging, on the other hand, is the province of the young: 74 percent of 18-29 year-olds do it but only 6 percent of the 65-plus crowd.

It's harder to gauge the tween set (usually defined as between 9 and 13) but it's telling that in 2004, 21 percent of those aged 8 to 10 and 36 percent of the 11 to 14 group had phones, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation — a number sure to have ballooned since then.

Should the latest medical news cause huge concern among parents who HAVE given in? "If you've got good reasons for them to have it, I'd go ahead," says Frank Barnes, a professor who chaired a recent report on the subject. However, he added, "they've probably got other things they should be doing."

As for whether it's a health hazard, Barnes, who teaches electrical and computer engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said it's more a question of "How do you deal with the unknown? We just don't have the data."

Ultimately, parents have to make their own rules — but that's difficult when the social pressure is so strong, notes Lisa Bain, executive editor of Parenting magazine. "The age is creeping down," she says. "Girls tend to get them younger. It's become a status symbol — it makes them feel grown up."

Bain can see both sides of the argument. Parents really need to set limits, she says, especially because so many phones these days are also cameras and have Web access. On the other hand, she said, the first time she dropped her middle-school aged daughter off at the mall, "I thought, thank God she has a cell phone."

Of the recent medical warning, Bain says: "So many scary studies come out. This will give some parents second thoughts, and other parents ammunition. But for the vast majority, it's not going to mean a lot."

After all, says Bain, "It's like standing up against a tidal wave."

WASHINGTON — President Bush and Senator John McCain have long been in agreement on major elements of American foreign policy, particularly in their approach to the “axis of evil” countries of Iran and North Korea, and their commitment to staying the course in Iraq.

But now the administration’s agreement to consider a “time horizon” for troop withdrawals from Iraq has moved it, at least in the public perception, in the direction of the policies of Senator Barack Obama. That has thrown Mr. McCain on the political defensive in his opposition to a timed withdrawal, Republicans in the party’s foreign party establishment say.

On Friday Mr. McCain went so far as to say that the idea of a 16-month withdrawal, which Mr. Obama supports, was “a pretty good timetable,” although he included the caveat that it had to be based on conditions on the ground.

Republicans also say the administration’s decision to authorize high-level talks with Iran and North Korea has undercut Mr. McCain’s skepticism about engagement with those countries, leaving the perception that he is more conservative than Mr. Bush on the issue.

Essentially, as the administration has taken a more pragmatic approach to foreign policy, the decision of Mr. McCain to adhere to his more hawkish positions illustrates the continuing influence of neoconservatives on his thinking even as they are losing clout within the administration.

Whether the perception of Mr. McCain as being at odds with the administration is politically advantageous for him is a matter of debate among his supporters, but many of his more conservative advisers do not think it is a bad thing.

“There’s no doubt, particularly as Bush has adopted policies in the direction of Obama, that that gives Obama bragging rights,” said John R. Bolton, the Bush administration’s former ambassador to the United Nations, who has sharply criticized the administration’s talks with Iran and North Korea. “But if you believe as I do that this administration is in the midst of an intellectual collapse, it doesn’t hurt McCain. Occasionally in politics it helps to be right.”

But other Republicans — the so-called foreign policy pragmatists, many of whom have come to view the Iraq war as a mistake — say the administration’s policy shifts highlight the more confrontational nature of Mr. McCain’s foreign policy, particularly in his approach toward Russia and his embrace on Friday of the Dalai Lama, whom the Chinese regard as the fomenter of a rebellion in Tibet. They say the meeting will only antagonize China before the Summer Olympics, and at a moment when the United States is seeking its cooperation on economic issues and negotiations with North Korea.

The divisions within the Republican foreign policy establishment continue at a time when Mr. Obama is trying to establish his own international credentials. Republicans worry that he is seizing the chance, helped with the boost from Mr. Bush, to command the American foreign policy stage.

“Bush and Obama seem to be setting the foreign policy agenda, and McCain seems to be reacting,” said Kenneth M. Duberstein, a chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan.

The McCain campaign disputes the idea that Mr. McCain has been left out on his own by the president.

“Does he feel he had the rug pulled out from under him by Bush?” said Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy aide. “Absolutely not. John McCain has always said that he wanted the troops to come home. But he is opposed to an artificial date-driven timetable that ignores conditions on the ground and the advice of military commanders.”

In fact, Mr. Bush’s decision to accept a “general time horizon” for withdrawal from Iraq is still a long way from Mr. Obama’s proposal for a phased pullout, as the administration has not set any timeline.

Mr. McCain has on several recent occasions envisioned a date by when most American troops in Iraq would leave, although he has refused to call it a timetable. In a speech in Ohio in May, he declared that most American troops would be home by 2013. On Monday, in remarks at the side of the first President George Bush in Kennebunkport, Me., Mr. McCain embraced, if only in passing, the possibility of withdrawing most American troops by the end of 2010.

On Friday on CNN, under questioning by Wolf Blitzer, he called Mr. Obama’s 16-month proposal “a pretty good timetable.” But the McCain campaign declined to elaborate Friday night on whether this represented a change in his views.

Mr. McCain’s advisers also say that he is not opposed to talks with Iran and North Korea, and that he supported the administration’s decision to send the under secretary of state, William J. Burns, to Geneva last week for talks with Iran and European officials about Iran’s nuclear program. But Mr. McCain is against any president-to-president negotiations without preconditions, which Mr. Obama supports. (Mr. Obama’s advisers now say such talks would occur only if Mr. Obama deemed them potentially fruitful.)

Mr. McCain’s campaign continues to be a microcosm of the ongoing Republican foreign policy battles between the pragmatists and the neoconservatives like Mr. Bolton, and it is still not clear where the balance of power lies within Mr. McCain’s inner circle. So far, however, the divide between the two within the campaign does not appear as deep as it did within the Bush White House, and advisers say Mr. McCain has been able to chose when there is a policy difference.

Mr. McCain’s advisers were divided, for example, over a speech he gave on nuclear security policy in Denver in May. Two Republican pragmatists who advise Mr. McCain, the former secretaries of state Henry A. Kissinger and George P. Shultz, supported a call in the speech for a nuclear-free world, an idea they endorse as part of a “Gang of Four” of national security statesmen. But other McCain advisers, including John F. Lehman, a former Navy secretary, and Fred C. Ikle, a defense official in the Reagan administration, were opposed to the idea because, in their view, nuclear weapons act as a deterrent against an attack on the United States and its allies. In the end, Mr. Lehman said, Mr. McCain made the call in favor of a nuclear-free world.

“He wanted to do it,” Mr. Lehman said. “That position is McCain’s position. It’s not a cabal of Kissingerites or a cabal of neo-cons.”

But some of Mr. McCain’s pragmatist advisers remain uneasy that conservatives close to Mr. McCain — among them Mr. Scheunemann and Robert Kagan, a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace — will help him mold a more bellicose message than they would like on Iran and its threat to Israel, particularly at a time when there is widespread speculation in the Israeli news media that Israeli may bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Others who were once uneasy about the influence of conservatives on Mr. McCain say that their worries have not been realized, even as Mr. McCain has taken conservative positions.

“What I’ve seen in the campaign so far to me demonstrates that McCain is his own man, and he’s not being managed,” said Lawrence S. Eagleburger, a secretary of state under the first President Bush.

China has said it is examining a statement from a separatist group which is threatening to attack the forthcoming Olympic Games.

The group, calling itself the Turkestan Islamic Party, also claimed to have carried out bomb attacks on buses.

The blasts, in the port of Shanghai and the western province of Yunnan, happened over the last three months.

China has previously denied the explosions were the work of militants but has warned of threats to the games.

Earlier this month, officials said they had broken up five terrorist groups in the mainly Muslim Uighur region of Xinjiang region in the north-west.

Critics have said the threats are being exaggerated to justify repressive measures in the region.

The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said the group had released a video entitled 'Our Blessed Jihad in Yunnan'.

In it, the group's leader, Commander Seyfullah, claimed credit for several attacks and threatened next month's Olympics.

"Despite the Turkestan Islamic Party's repeated warnings to China and international community about stopping the 29th Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese have haughtily ignored our warnings," IntelCenter quoted him as saying.

"The Turkestan Islamic Party volunteers who had gone through special preparations have started urgent actions."

China's foreign ministry said it was examining the claims.

The recent medical controversy over whether vaccinations cause autism reveals a habit of human cognition—thinking anecdotally comes naturally, whereas thinking scientifically does not.

On the one side are scientists who have been unable to find any causal link between the symptoms of autism and the vaccine preservative thimerosal, which in the body breaks down into ethylmercury, the culprit du jour for autism’s cause. On the other side are parents who noticed that shortly after having their children vaccinated autistic symptoms began to appear. These anecdotal associations are so powerful that they cause people to ignore contrary evidence: ethylmercury is expelled from the body quickly (unlike its chemical cousin methylmercury) and therefore cannot accumulate in the brain long enough to cause damage. And in any case, autism continues to be diagnosed in children born after thimerosal was removed from most vaccines in 1999; today trace amounts exist in only a few.

The reason for this cognitive disconnect is that we have evolved brains that pay attention to anecdotes because false positives (believing there is a connection between A and B when there is not) are usually harmless, whereas false negatives (believing there is no connection between A and B when there is) may take you out of the gene pool. Our brains are belief engines that employ association learning to seek and find patterns. Superstition and belief in magic are millions of years old, whereas science, with its methods of controlling for intervening variables to circumvent false positives, is only a few hundred years old. So it is that any medical huckster promising that A will cure B has only to advertise a handful of successful anecdotes in the form of testimonials.

Take wheatgrass juice ... if you can stomach it. The claims for its curative powers are bottomless. According to the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database (the “bible” of natural medicines: www.naturaldatabase.com), wheatgrass is “used therapeutically for increasing hemoglobin production, improving blood sugar disorders such as diabetes, preventing tooth decay, improving wound healing, and preventing bacterial infections.” And that’s not all. “It is also used orally for common cold, cough and bronchitis, fever and colds, inflammation of mouth and pharynx, tendency to infection, gout, liver disorders, ulcerative colitis, cancer, rheumatic pain, and chronic skin problems.”

The alleged salubrious effects of wheatgrass were promoted in the 1940s by a Lithuanian immigrant to Boston named Ann Wigmore, a holistic health practitioner who was inspired by the biblical story of King Nebuchadnezzar, recounted in Daniel 4:33, in which “he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.” Wigmore also noted that dogs and cats eat grass when they are ill and feel better after regurgitation, which gave her the idea of the wheatgrass detox. Because we have fewer stomachs than cows do, she hatched the idea of blending freshly cut wheatgrass into juice form for easier digestion—through either orifice—a practice still employed today. She believed that the enzymes and chlorophyll in wheatgrass constitute its healing powers.

According to William T. Jarvis, a retired professor of public health at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine and founder of the National Council against Health Fraud (www.ncahf.org), this is all baloney: “Enzymes are complex protein molecules produced by living organisms exclusively for their own use in promoting chemical reactions. Orally ingested enzymes are digested in the stomach and have no enzymatic activity in the eater.” Jarvis adds, “The fact that grass-eating animals are not spared from cancer, despite their large intake of fresh chlorophyll, seems to have been lost on Wigmore. In fact, chlorophyll cannot ‘detoxify the body’ because it is not absorbed.”

I tried wheatgrass juice at the Oh Happy Days natural food store in Altadena, Calif., as part of an investigation for the pilot episode of Skeptologists, a series we hope to sell to a television network (where another biblical phrase is apropos: “Many are called, but few are chosen”). My co-stars—Kirsten Sanford, who has a Ph.D. in physiology and is now a science journalist, and Steven Novella, director of general neurology at the Yale School of Medicine—also imbibed. If a picture is worth a thousand words, I will double this essay’s length by sharing the above snapshot.

An analysis of performance on math tests finds that girls match boys. And no gender difference can be found among top performers either. Cynthia Graber reports

Remember when Barbie whined that “math is hard.” Maybe you got annoyed at hearing a popular female doll say that to little girls. Or maybe you also had a nagging suspicion that, in fact, boys are better at math. Well, the latest research is in, and the answer is a resounding no: boys are not more math savvy. The finding appears in the July 25 issue of the journal Science.

Janet Hyde at the University of Wisconsin-Madison led the study. The group dug through piles of information from seven million students tested through the No Child Left Behind program across ten states. Researchers had detailed personal info on the test takers. Researchers checked out math tests in different grades. They took the average. No difference. Some critics have said that the difference only shows up among the highest levels of math skills. So the team checked out the most gifted children. Again, no difference. From any angle, girls measured up to boys. Still, there’s a lack of women in the highest levels of professional math, engineering and physics. Some have said that’s because of an innate difference in math ability. But the new research shows that that explanation just doesn’t add up.

AIDS specialists are calling for a fundamental rethinking of HIV policy after a new report showed that infection with the virus was rising dramatically in the South even as it dropped everywhere else in the country.

The warning, issued this week by the Southern AIDS Coalition, a nonprofit partnership of government and private-sector programs based in Birmingham, Ala., concluded that AIDS was creating a health disaster in the South.

AIDS deaths fell or held steady in other parts of the country from 2001 to 2006, the last year for which complete figures were available, but they rose by more than 10 percent in the South, according to the report, titled “Southern States Manifesto 2008.”

The report, an update to a landmark 2002 report that identified the disproportionate impact of HIV and AIDS in the South, was based on data compiled by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state health departments and academic researchers. It defined the region as Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Among the findings:

• Although the covered area is home to only 36 percent of the nation’s population, half of all U.S. AIDS deaths in 2005 were in the South, and more than half of all Americans with HIV lived in the region in 2006.
• Nine of the 15 states with the highest HIV diagnosis rates are in the South.
• More than 40 percent of all new infections are in the South.
• Of the 20 metropolitan areas with the highest rates of AIDS cases in 2006, 16 were in the South.

“The South is faced with a crisis of having to provide medical and support care for increasing numbers of infected individuals without adequate funding,” especially among the young and among minority Southern communities, the report concluded.

“African-American women are 83 percent of all [new] cases that we can document,” said Bambi Gaddist, executive director of the South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council and a member of the AIDS Coalition board of directors. “And the new epidemic is young people. They’re between 22 and 24.”

‘Specific problems here in the South’
AIDS specialists pointed to unequal government funding of anti-AIDS programs as a major problem in the South, where they said economic and cultural factors played unique roles in transmission of the disease.

“We have specific problems here in the South, especially because of our rural areas — transportation issues, translation, lack of access to proper health care,” said Mary Elizabeth Marr, executive director of the AIDS Action Coalition of North Alabama.

Education plays a particularly important role in fighting HIV in rural communities, said Marr, who blamed the “it can’t happen to me factor.”

“Some of those are parents in denial that their children are sexually active [and] people not getting tested,” she said. “People aren’t getting proper health care early on and are transmitting the disease to others.”

But “even though we have now seen this increase in the South, we are not seeing the increase in funding for the Southern states,” she said.

The Southern AIDS Coalition blamed “rising infection rates coupled with inadequate funding, resources and infrastructures” for what it called “a disparate and catastrophic situation in our public health care systems in the South.”

“There are vast geographic areas that encompass large cities, less urban areas, and rural areas that result in screening, care, treatment, and housing challenges,” it said. “Historically, the South has also received the least amount of federal funding.”

At the same time, “only 19 percent of U.S. philanthropic commitments for HIV/AIDS” go to the South, it said.

More funding, education, testing urged
The coalition called for more “age-appropriate, science-driven education for prevention of all sexually transmitted diseases,” along with increased federal funding for “prevention, treatment, care, and housing in the southern United States to rectify the historical inequities embedded in the federal HIV and STD funding portfolios.”

“Unless we act to correct funding and treatment disparities, we endanger not just isolated communities, but our states and our nation,” the report said.

Specialists said people could not get treatment if they did not know they were infected, which the report said could represent as many as 25 percent of all HIV cases in the South. They added a plea for inexpensive testing for every sexually active person.

“People in the South will die for lack of a simple test that can cost under $8 to provide, so we must work together to provide early screening,” said Evelyn Foust, a disease expert with the North Carolina Division of Public Health and a member of the AIDS Coalition’s board.

NBC affiliates WAFF of Huntsville, Ala., and WVTM of Birmingham, Ala., contributed to this report.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer has found the subpoena he was served Thursday at the Southeastern Conference Media Days.

Alabama attorneys representing disassociated Alabama booster Wendell Smith in a defamation suit against the NCAA want to question Fulmer under oath about his role in the investigation of Alabama, which ultimately landed the Crimson Tide on probation earlier this decade.

A process server hired by lawyers for Wendell Smith of Chattanooga, Tenn., approached Fulmer as he stepped out of an SUV outside the suburban hotel where SEC holds its media days, said Brandon Blankenship, an attorney for Smith.

"He said, 'Coach Fulmer, I've got something for you,' and gave it to him," said Blankenship, of Birmingham.

Fulmer, who initially denied several times to several different media members that he'd been served a subpoena, issued a statement Wednesday night. He insisted that he wasn't trying to mislead anybody.

"I do have to be a little bit careful -- a lot more than I'd like to be," Fulmer said in the statement. "I was getting out of the car and was tossed a piece of paper that I picked up, stuck it in with a whole bunch of things that I had been reading on my way in from the airport and handed it to [associate athletic director for media relations] Bud Ford to put in his briefcase and forgot about it. I got a bunch of questions [from the media] about a subpoena that I hadn't seen.

"I wasn't expecting a subpoena but maybe every time I go to Birmingham I probably will be expecting a subpoena. As it turns out, it's some sort of subpoena to do something, and I will let the attorneys all handle that. The issue is [that] it's all crap and they are trying to use the press trying to use a day that's very special to the Southeastern Conference for players and the coaches."

Attorneys have been seeking Fulmer's sworn statements in a lawsuit filed by Smith, a former Alabama booster, against the NCAA.

Fulmer was ordered to appear to give a deposition on Sept. 25 in Birmingham. The date is two days before Tennessee plays at Auburn; Blankenship said they picked the date because they knew Fulmer would be in Alabama.

By participating in SEC media days by telephone from Tennessee four years ago, Fulmer avoided coming to Alabama and possibly being forced to testify in another case involving an NCAA investigation of the Crimson Tide.

Tennessee appealed after Fulmer was fined $10,000 for failing to show up in 2004, but the league denied the challenge.

Smith is suing the NCAA for defamation, claiming the organization and several members of the infractions committee slandered him in accusing him of violating NCAA rules.

Alabama disassociated Smith as a booster after the sanctioning body accused him of providing money to a high school recruit. Smith denied the allegation and questioned Fulmer's role as a source for the NCAA during its investigation of the Alabama football program.

"Because they can't win legally, they are trying to play the game in the press," Fulmer said in the statement. "I am more than a little PO'd about any part of that.

"It's sad that a few publicity hunting lawyers in one of our sister states want to keep open a chapter of history that has long since been closed and as far as I'm concerned will stay closed. Obviously this is an effort to distract our football team or distract me in some way. The last time this happened, we won the division with two freshman quarterbacks. We won't be distracted. I had a good conversation with [SEC commissioner Mike Slive] about it.

"About being in Birmingham, I wasn't trying to mislead anybody. I hadn't looked at anything."

ESPN.com's Chris Low and The Associated Press contributed to the report.