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July's Poli-Book Best Sellers. The latest list of top reads for your holiday weekend.

Bits: Google Puts Privacy Link on Main Page. The move brings Google into clear compliance with a California law that requires many Internet sites to have a link to their privacy policy on their home page.

DealBook: Parent of Bell Canada in Buyout Deal. BCE announced it has renegotiated its deal to sell itself to a consortium of investors for about $50 billion, marking the end of saga over the fate of the largest buyout in history.

Google Changes Home Page, Adding Link to Privacy Policy Google has added the word "privacy" to its home page, bringing it into clear compliance with a California law that requires many Internet sites to have a link to their privacy policy on their home page. - Saul Hansell

Tax Credit to Save UBS From Another Hefty Loss. The Swiss bank said it expected to break even or make a small loss in the second quarter, helped by a $2.96 billion tax credit.

Flights Begin From China to Taiwan. The flights, the latest breakthrough in warming cross-strait relations, mark the first time that “ordinary” Chinese citizens will be allowed to visit Taiwan as tourists.

The Early Word: July 4th Edition. Light campaigning on Independence Day after a week of twists and turns on the road to the White House.

Iran Nuclear Deal Response Expected. Iran will respond on Friday to incentives offered by six world powers to try to entice Tehran to stop enriching uranium, Iranian state radio reported.

I'm a pussycat. Compared with the Times editorial page. People don&single=1’t seem to know this, but they, not me, were the first to worry about an Obama cult of personality. And today’s editorial is quite something.Consider this an open thread for my relatively mild column.No Tags

Gunmen Kill 8 Police in Southern Afghanistan. Gunmen lobbed a grenade and sprayed a police checkpoint with gunfire in southern Afghanistan, killing eight officers, Kandahar’s police chief said.

Sri Lanka Fighting Kills 34. A wave of battles across Sri Lanka’s embattled northern region has killed 32 ethnic Tamil rebels and two government soldiers, the military said.

Larry Harmon, Who Popularized Bozo, Dies at 83. Mr. Harmon bought the rights to the character Bozo the Clown and turned him into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century.

To Improve Backdrop, Fireworks Move South. The city is moving the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks display from Manhattan to Brooklyn this year for a simple reason: TV.

Jules Tygiel, Historian, Dies at 59. Mr. Tygiel was a historian and self-confessed baseball nut whose Brooklyn upbringing inspired his highly regarded scholarship on Jackie Robinson.

Blast at Concert Injures Dozens in Belarus. A bomb exploded during an outdoor concert Minsk, the capital of Belarus, injuring dozens of people.

National Briefing | Midwest: Kansas: No Indictment For Abortion Doctor. A doctor whose Wichita clinic is one of the nation’s few providers of late-term abortions was not indicted at the end of a six-month investigation on Wednesday by a citizen-initiated grand jury, an unusual practice allowed in only a handful of states. The jurors said their investigation into the clinic of the doctor, George Tiller, right, did not yield sufficient evidence of a crime, but they noted that a review of medical records “revealed a number of questionable late-term abortions” that might not have met a common interpretation of the words in state law, which limits abortions of viable fetuses to pregnant women who would otherwise face “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” The jury was convened after abortion opponents collected signatures to prompt the investigation.

National Briefing | Midwest: Ohio: Diocese’s Ex-Accountant Is Guilty of Tax Charges. A federal jury convicted the former top accountant at the Cleveland Catholic Diocese of tax charges, but acquitted him of more serious charges related to kickback accusations. The jury in the trial of the man, Joseph H. Smith, 51, had been deliberating for nearly two weeks. The prosecution portrayed Mr. Smith as a manipulator who arranged $785,000 in kickbacks and secret payments because he felt he was underpaid. He was acquitted of more serious charges of mail fraud related to the alleged kickbacks, but convicted of six tax-related charges. A judge had earlier dismissed money laundering charges. Sentencing was set for Oct. 3. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

National Briefing | South: Kentucky: Mistrial In Fen-Phen Case. Two lawyers accused of defrauding their clients in a diet-drug settlement of $65 million were sent back to jail, after a jury in Covington deadlocked and a federal judge declared a mistrial. The jury considered the case against the lawyers, William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr., for eight days, and twice in two days sent out notes indicating it was stumped. A third defendant, Melbourne Mills Jr., was acquitted this week. All faced a single charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The case has been watched in the horse racing industry because Mr. Gallion and Mr. Cunningham are part-owners of the 2007 Horse of the Year, Curlin. Prosecutors said they planned to request and schedule a new trial in the next two months. The lawyers were accused of keeping millions of dollars that should have gone to plaintiffs in a $200 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit over the diet drug fen-phen.

National Briefing | Recall: Beef Recall Is Expanded. Nebraska Beef Ltd. is expanding a recall announced this week to include all 5.3 million pounds of meat produced for ground beef from May 16 to June 26. The company’s products have been linked to an outbreak of E. coli affecting 40 people in Michigan and Ohio. Some products were sold by Kroger, which has recalled ground beef products in more than 20 states because the meat may have been contaminated. The company said Monday that beef involved in the original recall went to Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Thursday’s release did not specify whether the beef now being recalled went to additional states.

Google Told to Turn Over User Data of YouTube. The order raised concerns that the online video viewing habits of tens of millions of people could be exposed.

Bits: What Is Facebook Worth? (Part 37). A document in the settled Facebook ConnectU litigation reveals that Facebook’s common shares are worth a quarter of the value of the stock Microsoft purchased when it invested in the social network.

Bits: Justice Looks Further at Google-Yahoo Deal. The Justice Department’s antitrust division has begun issuing subpoenas as it probes further into whether a planned Google-Yahoo partnership in search advertising is anticompetitive.

Nvidia Reports Problem With Laptop Chips. Nvidia will take a charge against second-quarter earnings to cover the expected cost of repairing and replacing the products, which include graphics processing units and media and communications processors.

Business Briefing | Acquisitions: Vodafone Acquires Majority Stake of Ghana Telecom. The Vodafone Group said it had agreed to acquire a 70 percent stake in Ghana Telecom, the African country’s third-largest mobile phone operator, for $900 million.

Apple to .Mac Subscribers: Sync Bookmarks by Sunday. The warning came as part of Apple’s transition from .Mac to the new MobileMe online service, which was announced at last month’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

Bits: A Sucker Is Converted Every Minute. Those ads for the free digital TV signal converter box? Beware.

Obama Voters Protest His Switch on Telecom Immunity. Thousands of Barack Obama’s backers are using the online organizing tools his campaign created to protest his recent support for expanding government surveillance powers.

Bits: Former H.P. Executive Indicted for Leak of Secrets. Atul Malhotra joined Hewlett-Packard in May 2006. His employment ended four months later. In between he got himself into hot water with H.P., and, now, the federal government.

Cyberfamilias: See Spot Run. Now Find Out Where He Went.. This summer, a new generation of pocket-size gadgets offer anyone willing to spend $129.99 or more a way to use the Global Positioning System to track the people, pets and possessions they love.

Apple’s Video of iPhone 3G Shows Its Marketing Prowess. A slick 30-minute online video narrated by Bob Borchers offers a guided tour of the iPhone 3G coming July 11.

Bits: Our Paradoxical Attitudes Toward Privacy. A forthcoming study from Carnegie Mellon shows that people are more inclined to divulge private information online in some contexts than others.

Bits: Making Music With Verizon Wireless. John Harrobin of Verizon Wireless sees music distribution via cellphone becoming more important as artists leave the big record labels.

Microsoft Buys Online Concern. Microsoft said on Tuesday that it would buy Powerset Inc., an Internet search company, the latest in a string of acquisitions aimed at bolstering its position online.

Blockbuster Drops Bid for Circuit City. Blockbuster said on Tuesday that it was withdrawing its proposal to acquire Circuit City Stores.

European Regulators Clear Navteq Sale to Nokia. The European Commission said Nokia’s takeover of the U.S. digital mapmaker would be unlikely to shut off rivals’ access to digital maps.

Microsoft to Sell Office Software for $70 a Year. Microsoft will begin selling its Office programs to consumers on a subscription basis starting mid-July, in a bid to reach thrifty PC buyers who would otherwise pass on productivity software.

Energy Star for Servers May Be Ready by Year-End. The E.P.A. expects to introduce its first Energy Star rating for servers by the end of the year, although a more comprehensive system that measures actual workloads will take longer to develop.

What Is Facebook Worth? (Part 37) A document in the settled Facebook ConnectU litigation reveals that Facebook's common shares are worth a quarter of the value of the stock Microsoft purchased when it invested in the social network. - Brad Stone

A Sucker Is Converted Every Minute Those ads for the free digital TV signal converter box? Beware. - Eric A. Taub

Former H.P. Executive Indicted for Leak of Secrets Atul Malhotra joined Hewlett-Packard in May 2006. His employment ended four months later. In between he got himself into hot water with H.P., and, now, the federal government. - Matt Richtel

Google-Yahoo Partnership: Justice Is Looking Closer The Justice Department's antitrust division has begun issuing civilian subpoenas as it probes further into whether a planned Google-Yahoo partnership in search advertising is anticompetitive, a person close to a company that received a subpoena confirmed on Wednesday. - Steve Lohr

Our Paradoxical Attitudes Toward Privacy A forthcoming study from Carnegie Mellon shows that people are more inclined to divulge private information online in some contexts than others. - Brad Stone

Making Music With Verizon Wireless John Harrobin of Verizon Wireless sees music distribution via cellphone becoming more important as artists leave the big record labels. - Laura M. Holson

A Fresh Start for iRiver IRiver, a maker of mobile media players, is trying to make a comeback with some innovative new devices, but it's unclear whether the company can gain traction against big players like Apple, Microsoft, Nokia and Google. - Saul Hansell

Is the Government Tracking Us Through Our Cellphones? Lawsuit Seeks Answers. Two civil liberties groups sued the U.S. Justice Department Tuesday to force the agency to disclose how and how often the government tracks individuals using their cell-phone data. - Matt Richtel

What's the iPhone 3G Worth? You can buy the Phone 3G without a contract, but it will cost you $600. - Laura M. Holson

Falling Over Fallback Password Questions Researchers at the Palo Alto Research Center have developed a new way to help people recover lost passwords -- a personality test. - Brad Stone

A Quarter for Venture Capitalists to Cringe Acquisitions of venture-backed companies are down sharply. In the second quarter, 50 mergers or acquisitions of venture-backed companies were completed. That's down from 70 in the first quarter. In the first half of 2008, there were 120 such deals altogether, down 28 percent from the 169 in the first half of 2007. - Matt Richtel

Intel Bets on the Past One of Intel's chief advantages is that Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system will be booting on the teraflop Intel microprocessor in every personal computer of the future. Intel beleives that because it has always believed in backward compatibility. In the world of handhelds and smartphones, that may not be enough of a margin. - John Markoff

Google and the Anti-Obama Bloggers Google freezes, then unfreezes, a number of anti-Obama blogs, saying it was a mistake caused by e-mail spam. - Miguel Helft

'Wall-E': An Homage to Mr. Jobs "Wall-E," the Pixar movie is packed full references to Apple. - Damon Darlin

Yahoo Makes New Pitch to Shareholders as Stock Drops Further Yahoo once again makes the case to shareholders that its existing directors are better equipped to lead the company forward than an alternate slate proposed by Carl Icahn. - Miguel Helft

Rhapsody Runs Hard Just to Stay in Place Rhapsody, the music service owned by Real Networks and Viacom, has been struggling to keep its subscriber base from shrinking. A new joint service with Verizon, an MP3 store, and outreach to social networks may help. But not by much. - Saul Hansell

OpenTable.com Talks New Features and Growth OpenTable.com, which sat 3 million diners a month for the first time in May, is introducing new restaurant rankings and a mobile Web site. - Brad Stone

Andy Grove Offers an Energy Solution There are parallels between the challenge faced by the automotive industry and lessons Andy Grove learned in the PC industry: "As with PCs, the work of advocates and hobbyists shows the way out of this dilemma." - John Markoff

AT&single=1&T Moves to Dallas, but Is That an Improvement? AT&T is moving its headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas. Remember the Alamo! - Laura M. Holson

Fortune Hears a 'Hoo An e-mail from a Yahoo employee offers an eye-opening peek into the frustration of many Yahoos. - Miguel Helft

Children’s Books: The Greatest’s Story, Told Twice. Two handsome new books for different age groups take on the formidable challenge of telling the story of Muhammad Ali’s epic life.

Children’s Books: Earth to Young People: Help!. A “family encyclopedia of ecology” and the first book by “the MySpace community” spell out environmental threats and suggest action to help.

Children’s Books: When We Last Saw Our Heroes .... Sequels to the popular children’s books “Not a Box,” “Zen Shorts” and “Little Pea” — plus the latest in Mo Willems’s “Pigeon” series.

Children’s Books: Cracking the Comics Code. In the “Fog Mound” series, the story unfolds in alternating chapters of prose and comics — a major advance in tricking children into reading.

Children’s Books: Something Wild. The girls in “After Tupac and D Foster” and “The Wild Girls” encourage one another to tramp through the woods, or take a secret train trip to the big city and back.

Children’s Books: Map of Dreams. After forty-five years as a children’s author, Uri Shulevitz now gives us his first explicitly autobiographical story. It is a masterpiece.

Children’s Books: I, Chihuahua. Skippyjon Jones is a Siamese kitten who thinks he’s a Chihuahua.

Children’s Books: Take My Brother, Please. Robie H. Harris and Judy Blume write about siblings that don’t get along — plus a book about brothers and sisters in the animal world.

Children’s Books: Because It’s Good for You. This book on the joys of reading talks about good stories rather than telling one.

Children’s Books: Boys to Men. Walter Dean Myers’s two new novels are set worlds apart: on the basketball courts of Harlem and in Fallujah, Iraq.

Children's Books: John Henry Days. Scott Reynolds Nelson’s thrilling account of his search for the real John Henry — the steel-drivin’ man of so much song and story.

Children's Books: Keep On Truckin’. The first book in Jon Scieszka’s new series introduces Jack Truck and his buddy Dump Truck Dan, best friends who share a passion for destruction.

Children's Books: Up All Night. Books about a restless little girl, an evening stroll and the city workers who start their jobs at bedtime.

Children's Books: Animal Spirits. In “Samsara Dog,” a dog finds enlightenment; in “The Snow Leopard,” a wild cat saves a girl.

U.S. Pushes U.N. Sanctions on Zimbabwe and Mugabe. The U.S. proposed U.N. sanctions including an arms embargo and punitive measures against those responsible for undermining the presidential election through violence.

Food: The Way We Eat: Three Ways Till Sunday. Get past the guilt for a summer weekend of lobster and leftovers.

Journeys | Barcelona: Creative Plates at a Good Price in Barcelona. A growing number of Barcelona restaurants called bistronimics are dedicated to offering high quality, contemporary — and yes, occasionally clever — cooking at reasonable prices.

Weekend in New York | Hotel Bars: High on the View as Much as the Cocktails. From swanky Midtown to the hip Lower East Side, a guide to imbibing in (and on) the city’s rooftop hotel bars.

World Briefing | Europe: France: Reclassification of Certain Wines Challenged. The world of St.-Émilion wine was thrown into turmoil when a local court ruled that the latest reclassification of these Bordeaux wines, made in 2006, was not impartial and should be annulled.

Style: Sky Lark. When a family in Rotterdam needed more space, there was nowhere to go but up.

Social Q’s: It’s My Party, Come Out to Pay. This week, answers to readers' questions about feeling obligated to pay the birthday host, friends on Facebook and creating social relationships with co-workers as a single person.

China’s Legacy: Let a Million Museums Bloom. Most art is an unsettled category in China and museums have complicated uses.

Art Review: Storm-Tossed Visionary of Light. The oil and watercolor paintings in the Metropolitan Museum’s “J. M. W. Turner” swing between overblown and moving, inspired and mechanical.

Design Review | Buckminster Fuller: Fixing Earth One Dome at a Time. A timely new exhibition of works by Buckminster Fuller at the Whitney Museum is likely to stir waves of nostalgia for those who miss the architecture of the cold war.

Along the Hudson, Searching for Old. For country-weekend antiquing, the mid-Hudson Valley offers excellent prices, great scenery and, in terms of merchandise, a little of almost everything.

Art Review: Some Shows for Escape, Some for Introspection. When the dog days arrive, many New York art galleries turn their exhibition spaces into pluralistic laboratories to test new talent and experiment with cool ideas.

Art Review: 3,344 People May Not Know Art but Know What They Like. The Brooklyn Museum’s “Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition” invites its viewers to consider whether the crowd is better than the individual at picking quality photography.

Art in Review. Tetsumi Kudo at Andrea Rosen, Hilary Harnischfeger at Never Work, Cliff Evans at Luxe Gallery and more.

Antiques: Diverse Sales Upriver at Stair Galleries. An auction house on the Hudson is previewing a 500-lot “exposition auction,” which will feature a diverse range of furniture, mirrors, chandeliers and porcelain.

Inside Art: London Swings as a Dynamo for Selling Art. The weak dollar has made London an attractive place for Americans to sell art, and has become the stomping ground for rich denizens of the former Soviet Union.

Museum and Gallery Listings. Selective listings from art critics of The New York Times.

Arts, Briefly: Springtime for a New Musical. The Tony Award winner Idina Menzel will appear in “Nero” at Vassar College.

Theater Listings. Selective listings from theater critics of The New York Times.

TV Review | 'I Love Money': When Cash Conquers All, Who Cares About Love?. VH1’s new show puts its best reality television veterans in a competition for money. The revelation of the first episode is that practice really does make, if not perfect, at least palatable.

Op-Ed Contributor: Looking for Liberty. The Declaration of Independence is a national treasure — but like many treasures, the quest it inspires may be more rewarding than the illusion of possession.

Editorial: New and Not Improved. Barack Obama’s shifts are striking because he was the candidate who proposed to change the face of politics. Yet now there seems to be a new Mr. Obama on the hustings.

Editorial: Freeing Ingrid Betancourt. President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia should offer the FARC rebels, who long ago traded the business of political liberation for drug trafficking, a political settlement.

Editorial: And Bring the Sunscreen. The Food and Drug Administration could help quiet the growing debate on ratings for sunscreens by issuing clear safety standards now.

Editorial: The Meaning of a Day. We are especially glad we get to celebrate the Fourth in July. It is the buoy, or perhaps the cannonade, that marks the beginning of high summer.

Op-Ed Columnist: Rove’s Third Term. The Wesley Clark affair revealed something important about John McCain. Now we know what a McCain administration would represent: namely, a third term for Karl Rove.

Letters: To Celebrate Our Freedoms Today. To the Editor:.

Letters: Age and John McCain, All Kidding Aside. To the Editor:.

Letters: The World Is Finite, With Finite Resources. To the Editor:.

Letter: A Message to Tyrants. To the Editor:.

Letter: Torture Lessons. To the Editor:.

Letter: Voting Rights in Florida. To the Editor:.

Domestic Disturbances: Getting Real. Why is it that letting go of childhood comes more easily to the child than to its parent?

The Brutality of War, on a Big Stage. Lincoln Center Festival’s production of the opera “Die Soldaten” represents a milestone in the Park Avenue Armory’s transformation into a performance and visual arts space.

Music Review | Cherryholmes: Family Harmony, With Just a Touch of Reverence. Wednesday’s otherwise peaceful performance by the family group Cherryholmes included a powerful, stirring song about war and God by one of the daughters.

25 Northeast Getaways. Maine’s crisp beaches, the art scene in the Berkshires and West Virginia’s balmy springs are but a few quick getaways for the East Coast urbanite.

A Journey Back in Maritime. The seas off of the coast of North Carolina have swallowed many a vessel — resulting in a Xanadu for scuba divers.

Away: From Urban Hotelier to Gentleman Farmer. A family expands its weekend farmhouse, maintaining its rustic style. Almost double in size, it has room for all, including sheep and llamas.

Rituals: The College Reunion, Where Time Leaps by Decades. Life, beer and the ravages of time are pondered at a college reunion at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y.

Havens | Oxford, Miss.: A College Town Where the Streets are Paved in Magnolia. Not the quiet town William Faulkner knew 50 years ago, Oxford, Miss. has become a see-and-be-seen place.

Breaking Ground: The Westin Verasa Napa Residences and Karina Bay Resort & Marina. A country condominium-hotel in Napa, Cali. and a waterfront fractional-ownership development in Key Largo, Fla.

Your Second Home | Guests With Children: No-Tears Visiting. Children at the country place: A guide to help keep housemates of all ages happy.

High and Low | Muskoka Region in Ontario: A Land of Lakes, Farther North. The Muskoka region, two hours north of Toronto, offers homes on more than 250 lakes — the larger the lake, the higher the cost of waterfront real estate.

Two Killed in South Ossetia Bombardment. Six people were also wounded in heavy exchanges of fire that the Georgian government and the separatists blamed on one another, media reports and officials said.

World Briefing | Europe: Turkey: Court Challenge for Leaders. The deputy prime minister defended his party in court against charges that it was steering Turkey toward Islamic rule.

World Briefing | Europe: Germany: Wish You Were Here. A German woman missing from a retirement home for more than two months has been found safe, sunning herself on a beach in the Canary Islands, the German police said.

World Briefing | Europe: Italy: Census of Gypsies Raises Fears. The government’s plans to fingerprint Gypsies living in camps in Italy, including children, drew criticism from a Catholic human rights group in Rome that warned that it would set a dangerous precedent.

World Briefing | Europe: Britain: 2 French Students Found Dead. The British police appealed for witnesses to help solve the killings of two French bioengineering students who were stabbed and then set on fire in their apartment in southeast London.

World Briefing | Asia: China: Chief May Be Fired Over Unrest. The police chief whose inquiry into a schoolgirl’s death set off riots in southwest China may be fired, the state-run news agency Xinhua said.

Books of The Times: A Broken Body in Shiny, New China. In Ma Jian’s novel, a man with a broken body confronts a shiny, new China.

A Confident Merritt Challenges Wariner’s Dominance. LaShawn Merritt blazed across the line first and, looking strongest Thursday night at the United States Olympic track and field trials, left Jeremy Wariner and the rest of the field in his wake.

Reports: Arenas Agrees to Deal With Wizards. Gilbert Arenas told the Washington Post and the Washington Times on Thursday that he has agreed to re-sign for considerably less than the maximum deal he said the Wizards offered him.

Mets 11, Cardinals 1: Mets Easily Clobber Cardinals, but Phillies Loom as True Test. An explosive offensive performance overshadowed an excellent start by Mike Pelfrey and kept the Mets within four and a half games of the Phillies heading into their four-game series.

Tigers 8, Mariners 4. SEATTLE (AP) -- Justin Verlander threw six strong innings, Michael Hollimon hit his first big league home run and the Detroit Tigers hung on to beat the Seattle Mariners 8-4 Thursday night.

Webb Grabs Easy Victory. Alan Webb ran the night’s fastest time of 3 minutes 41.27 seconds, advancing easily to Friday’s semifinal round. But there remains much uncertainty about Webb’s chances of grabbing an Olympic spot.

36 Hours in 36 Hours | Pittsburgh. Great restaurants, excellent shopping, breakthrough galleries and prestigious museums make this city of 89 distinct neighborhoods a hip destination.

Movie Review | 'Gonzo': Beyond Fear and Loathing. “Gonzo” is a fascinating history lesson and a bit of a cautionary tale about how fame can turn into the scourge of talent.

Movie Review | 'Kabluey': Land of the Meek, and Home of the Deeply Blue. “Kabluey” is a bittersweet indie comedy whose hapless protagonist spends a good part of the movie waddling along the side of a highway in a blue foam-rubber suit.

Movie Review | 'Holding Trevor': Desperately Seeking Sex and Identity, With Snark. “Holding Trevor,” a portrait of 20-something gay men and their straight friends, is a joyless exploration of middle-class deadbeats.

Movie Review | 'Very Young Girls': Children Without Childhoods. Notwithstanding the coyly suggestive title, “Very Young Girls” is very far from exploitative.

Movie Review | 'We Are Together': The Gifts That Song Can Bring. “We Are Together” is another feel-good documentary about a feel-bad topic: the bright-eyed, golden-voiced children of Agape, an orphanage in South Africa.

Movie Review | 'Diminished Capacity': A Tale of Two Minds, Spinning Out of Control. “Diminished Capacity” touches earnestly on heart-heavy issues of loss: loss of memory, of love and, perhaps because of the local angle, of (or rather by) the Chicago Cubs.

Arts, Briefly: The Boss Recalls a Fortuneteller. On his Web site, Bruce Springsteen wrote a tribute to a fortuneteller he made famous in a song. Marie Castello, who was 93, died June 27.

Arts, Briefly: Plan to Film at Jail Is Denied. The Discovery Channel’s plan to film a documentary at a Dallas county jail was delayed by a judge this week

Arts, Briefly: E.U. Hears From a Bee Gee. Composer-songwriters told the European Commission on Thursday that standardizing music royalties across Europe could hurt musicians and the songs they write.

Arts, Briefly: Fox Dances to the Top. Two hours of “So You Think You Can Dance” made Fox the top-rated network on Wednesday with 8.7 million viewers.

Arts, Briefly: Jewish Museum Gets $1 Million. Steven Spielberg’s foundation will give the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia to build a five-story building in the city’s historic section.

Arts, Briefly: Encore, Director. George Manahan has renewed his contract as music director of the New York City Opera through 2012.

Arts, Briefly: Footnotes. Two playwrights will receive three-year grants from the Bank of America to write plays for the Manhattan Theater Club.

Baseball Roundup: The Diamondbacks Erase a Five-Run Deficit in Ninth to Top Brewers. Conor Jackson hit a winning two-run single Thursday as the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied from a five-run deficit in the ninth inning to defeat the visiting Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5.

Unexpected Becomes Normal in Men’s and Women’s 400. In the women’s 400 meters, Dee Dee Trotter’s earned her a second trip to the Olympics Thursday night while Jeremy Wariner lost the hold he has had on the men’s race for the past six years.

Blazes in California Take a Toll on Fireworks. Wildfires have prompted some California towns and cities to impose a temporary ban on the use of fireworks.

Subplots on Guantánamo. The long legal story of the Bush administration’s effort to prosecute detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, now has two fast-moving subplots, and either one could soon write something of a final chapter.

Judicial Screener, Now a Nominee, Faces Scrutiny. For Michael E. O’Neill, who helped steer recent Supreme Court nominations through the confirmation process, there are signs that his nomination might be a difficult one as well.

Obama Fuels Pullout Debate With Remarks. The changing dynamics in Iraq have posed a challenge for Barack Obama, who said Thursday that he might “refine” his policies but later held a second news conference to clarify his first statement.

Outlook Darker as Jobs Are Lost. The unemployment rate held steady as 62,000 jobs disappeared in June, the Labor Department reported.

2 Supervisors Are Arrested After Sweep at Meat Plant. Hundreds of illegal immigrants were rounded up in May at the kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa, and the two supervisors were arrested on criminal immigration charges.

Governor of Florida Is Rebuffed on Gambling. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Charlie Crist overstepped his authority in a deal that let the Seminole Tribe install slot machines and offer blackjack and baccarat at its casinos.

Report Finds Far More Viewing of Celebrities’ Passport Files. Investigators selected 150 prominent politicians, athletes and entertainers and found that the passport files of 127 of them had been viewed, some multiple times, over five and a half years.

McCain Winds Up Latin Trip in Mexico. Senator John McCain used his visit to appeal to residents of both sides of the border: Mexicans and, more urgently, Latinos in the United States.

Target: Barack Obama. Strategy: What Day Is It?. John McCain has struggled to solidify lines of attack against Mr. Obama, Republican operatives say and some of his own advisers acknowledge.

American Flags as Big as Fields. Big flags have found a home inside the ballparks, arenas and raceways of American sporting events.

Bush to Attend Opening Ceremony in Beijing. The president’s decision was fraught with international symbolism that quickly drew criticism from advocates for human rights.

Berlin Journal: An American Nest Returns to Its Historic German Perch. The opening of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin marks the final chapter in more than a decade of an often bitter process between the city and American diplomats.

9/11 Health Official Is Ousted. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided not to reappoint the official who has coordinated health programs for ground zero workers, Congressional aides who spoke with him said.

Victor Remer, Children’s Aid Society Leader, Dies at 88. In the 1960s and ’70s, Mr. Remer pushed the agency in grittier, more urgent directions, including addressing the problems of young people convicted of minor crimes.

Japan Sees a Chance to Promote Its Energy-Frugal Ways. Japan’s single-minded dedication to reducing energy use, which dates to the 1970s, has given it the potential to play a rare leadership role on a pressing global issue.

Seasonal Factor Seen in Melting and Ice Shifts in Greenland. A study using 17 years of satellite measurements suggests that the movement of glacial ice is not as rapid as had been feared.

Hansen Falls to Fourth in Swimming Trials’ Biggest Upset. In the biggest upset of the trials, two of Brendan Hansen’s teammates, Scott Spann and Eric Shanteau, swam him down in the final 50 meters to earn the two Olympic berths.

A New York Slice of America, July 3: 128 Riders United. Riders reflected much of the tapestry of New York City between two stops on a crowded Q train.

Crane Inspector Is Tied to More False Reports. A city inspector charged with lying about inspecting a crane that collapsed and killed seven people is accused of filing other false reports.

Few Emblems of Americas Remain on Their Avenue. Lampposts up and down the Avenue of the Americas were once festooned with round signs showing the national seals of all the nations in the Western Hemisphere, but almost all the signs are gone now.

‘Untouchables’ Enjoy a Night of Fashion. Women who once cleaned septic tanks in India for a living took a turn as models at a fashion show at the United Nations.

Russia Presses U.S. Bank Over Money Laundering. The Russian government sought to make Bank of New York Mellon liable for $22.5 billion in damages for a money-laundering scandal that helped undermine Russia’s economy.

Ex-Refco Chief Sentenced to 16 Years in Cover-Up. Phillip R. Bennett was sentenced for a financial cover-up that brought down one of the world’s largest commodities brokerages.

Lottery Numbers. July 3, 2008.

Independence Day. NEW YORK.

NYC: All Wrapped Up in a Debate Over True Patriotism. Flags do not fly everywhere in New York as they once did, but does that mean New Yorkers care less for their country than they used to? Hard to imagine.

Mets 11, Cardinals 1: Reyes’ Triple Keys Mets’ Rout of Cardinals. Jose Reyes’ bases-clearing triple keyed a six-run third inning as the Mets pounded rookie Mitchell Boggs, rebounding from a one-run loss to earn a split in the four-game series.

Athletics 3, White Sox 2. CHICAGO (AP) -- Justin Duchscherer pitched seven solid innings, Jack Cust and Donnie Murphy homered and the Oakland Athletics beat Chicago 3-2 Thursday night to snap the White Sox's seven-game win streak.

Royals 10, Orioles 7. BALTIMORE (AP) -- Mark Grudzielanek went 4-for-5 and played a key role in a seven-run sixth inning that carried the Kansas City Royals past the Baltimore Orioles 10-7 on Thursday night.

Rockies 6, Marlins 5, 11 Innings. DENVER (AP) -- Ryan Spilborghs' two-run single off Kevin Gregg with one out in the 11th inning rallied the Colorado Rockies to a 6-5 win over the Florida Marlins on Thursday night.

Reds 5, Nationals 3. CINCINNATI (AP) -- Brandon Phillips had three hits and three RBIs and the Cincinnati Reds capitalized on a Washington error to rally for a 5-3 win over the Nationals on Thursday night.

Phillies 4, Braves 1. ATLANTA (AP) -- Cole Hamels came within one out of his second shutout of the Braves this season, making the Phillies' second series sweep of the year in Atlanta look easy.

Giants 8, Cubs 3. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Tim Lincecum trailed for all of two innings, then held down the Chicago Cubs' dangerous lineup.

Diamondbacks 6, Brewers 5. PHOENIX (AP) -- Conor Jackson hit the winning two-run single as the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied from a five-run ninth-inning deficit to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-5 on Thursday.

Dodgers 5, Astros 2. HOUSTON (AP) -- Chad Billingsley pitched eight strong innings and Andre Ethier homered for the second straight game to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-2 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday.

Company Never Forgot Captive Workers. For years, Northrop Grumman, a leading military contractor, kept a Web page about the three employees held hostage in Colombia, who were freed on Wednesday.

A Surprised France Prepares a Welcome. A jubilant France prepares to welcome Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian politician freed on Wednesday after six years of captivity by rebels in the Colombian jungle.

Criminal Charges Against Continental in Deadly Concorde Crash. Continental Airlines and two of its employees have been ordered to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges related to the 2000 crash.

A Billionaire Governor Resigns in Russia. Roman A. Abramovich, an investor, soccer club owner and yachtsman, has resigned his post as governor of Chukotka, an impoverished, icy expanse of Russia’s far east.

NYT: Front Page for 7/04/2008. NYT: Front Page for 7/04/2008 By The New York Times. 

Business Briefing | Economy: India Curbs Corn and Steel Exports. India banned corn exports and curbed shipments of steel, seeking to increase domestic supplies and cool the fastest inflation in 13 years as world commodity prices soar.

Business Briefing | Economy: BHP Billiton Wins Big Price Increase for Iron Ore. Chinese steel mills have reached an iron ore agreement with the mining company BHP Billiton in line with the near-doubling of prices won by BHP’s rival Rio Tinto.

Business Briefing | Economy: Britain’s Services Sector Contracted in June. Britain’s services sector contracted last month by the most since October 2001 and banks said they would curb lending further in the third quarter.

Red Sox 7, Yankees 0: Yankees Go From 18 to Zero With Help From Lester. With Jon Lester in command, the Red Sox battered Andy Pettitte and stormed off with a victory at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees trail Boston by five games in the wild-card race.

Against Lester, It’s the Yanks Who Are Unnerved. Jon Lester silenced the Yankees with a complete-game five-hitter and allowed only one runner to reach as far as third base in powering the Red Sox to a 7-0 victory.

Mets Notebook: With a Trip to Philadelphia, Mets Get to See Where They Stand. The Mets and Phillies series, which begins Friday night in Philadelphia, will provide a good litmus test before the Mets close out the first half of the season.

Bold Colombia Rescue Built on Rebels’ Disarray. The Colombian military duped FARC guerrillas in a raid that freed 15 hostages, an action that some analysts suggested might help push the rebels to negotiate for peace.

Global Markets Fall as Oil Hits New High. Stocks fell as oil rose above $145 a barrel for the first time.

High & Low | Muskoka Region in Ontario: A Land of Lakes, Farther North. The Muskoka region, two hours north of Toronto, offers home buyers a more than 250 lakes — the larger the lake, the higher the cost of waterfront real estate.

Ex-Banker Investigated in Transfers of Money. A former private banker at JPMorgan Chase is under investigation, suspected of making illegal money transfers, according to federal authorities and court documents.

Service Sector Data Adds to Inflation Anxiety. The United States service sector shrank unexpectedly in June, according to a closely watched survey, while inflation pressures soared to a record high for the survey’s 11-year history.

Economic Problems in Britain Mimic Those in U.S.. The British economy, like that of the U.S., may be headed for recession, and the reasons are similar: the collapse of a once red-hot housing market and rising inflation.

Business Briefing | Legal Matters: Couple Settles With S.E.C. in Trading Case. A former Morgan Stanley vice president and her husband, a former hedge fund analyst at ING Investment Management, agreed to settle federal regulatory claims that they illegally traded stocks using inside information.

Business Briefing | Economy: BHP Billiton, Too, Wins Big Price Increase for Iron Ore. Chinese steel mills have reached an iron ore agreement with the mining company BHP Billiton in line with the near-doubling of prices won by BHP’s rival Rio Tinto.

Business Briefing | Airlines: Delta Ends Pact With Regional Airline in West. Delta Air Lines and ExpressJet Holdings said that they had ended the agreement under which ExpressJet provided Delta with some regional flights.

Rangers Say Goodbye to Jagr With the Signing of Naslund. The Jaromir Jagr era ended for the Rangers on Thursday when the team decided not to wait any longer for a decision from Jagr, and signed Vancouver forward Markus Naslund.

Yankee Intern, Injured in Iraq, to Throw Out First Pitch Friday. Tony Odierno lost his left arm when a rocket-propelled grenade smashed through his Humvee in Iraq almost four years ago.