Bush administration plans for "the world's wealthiest nations to declare their support for democracy in the Middle East" at the G8 Summit this week are backfiring. The declaration "has strained relations with several important allies in the Arab world," including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Egypt and Pakistan.

Sixty percent of the nearly 19,000 people in 19 nations surveyed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes agreed: "The world is not going in the right direction." This view was strongly linked to the opinion, held by 55 percent of respondents, that "the United States is not having a positive influence in the world." A majority of poll participants "does not think that rich countries are playing fair in trade negotiations with poor countries"; believes "rich countries

"I feel sorry for Steve Kurtz because he lost his wife ... and he didn't even have time to grieve," said art professor Beatriz da Costa. Kurtz is part of the Critical Art Ensemble, an acclaimed group "dedicated to exploring the intersections between art, technology, radical politics and critical theory." Following Kurtz's wife's sudden death, police found "biological materials" at their home and involved the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Kurtz's art uses plants, bacterial cultures and lab equipment.