Another Report of UBL's Demise

And now the most interesting two minutes in television, the latest from the wartime grapevine:

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Well... Yes, There Are Conditions
The first sign there may be conditions attached to Iraq's offer to let U.N. weapons inspectors return has emerged from a BBC radio interview which was picked up by a London newspaper.

Ali Muhsen Hamid of the Arab League, whose organization was deeply involved in the negotiations that led to the Iraqi letter, told the BBC's radio 4 when asked if the inspections would be unconditional that: "We support that, to go anywhere, any military site, but not as some people have suggested... against hospitals, against schools."

When that quote was picked up by the London Evening Standard, Hamid immediately claimed he'd been misquoted, though the BBC's transcripts shows otherwise.

Another Report of UBL's Demise
A man who says he was hiding with Usama bin Laden during the battle of Tora Bora last December has told an Arab newspaper the Al Qaeda mastermind is dead.

Shahid Ayan told the newspaper Al Bayan, published in the United Arab Emirates, of intense bombing in the area of the cave where bin Laden was hiding on the night of December 10th.

He added: "The cave was completely erased from the ground and became nothing... There is no doubt that bin Laden died... yes. Usama bin Laden is dead, but the jihad will continue until judgment day."

South v. North
South Korea says North Korea has a stash of chemical weapons and the ability to produce a ton of biological weapons every year.

South Korean Defense Minister Choi Sung Hong says the North has about 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, of 17 different types.

By comparison, the U.S. had about 30,000 tons before it began to dismantle its chemical arsenal.

UPI quotes Mike Mooody of the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute as saying that North Korea's stockpile is still "a significant amount" of chemical weapons.

Cable Ad Promotes Israeli Democracy
There's an ad running on cable news channels promoting Israel as the Middle East's only Democracy, where all citizens "have the freedom of religion and the right to vote."

But CNN says it will refuse to accept the ad for network broadcasts. That won't keep it from appearing on CNN in some places because time can be bought on local cable outlets. 

So why won't CNN carry the ads, sponsored by a pro-Israel non-profit group, nationally?

An official says CNN has a policy against "advocacy advertising regarding international issues from regions in conflict."