THE claim that “Osama bin Laden had a thing for Whitney Houston” prompted much excitement online, Slate.com reported. The assertion was made in the memoirs of Kola Boof, a writer who claims in her internet autobiography that she was once the al-Qaeda chief’s lover.

The world’s most wanted terrorist reportedly wished to have Bobby Brown, Houston’s husband, “killed and (to) convert the diva to Islam”, Slate said.

The Atlanticrift blog said: “So Osama bin Laden doesn't hate everything about American culture. He just hates the tolerable parts.”

Slate.com

kolaboof.com/dangerous.htm

atlanticrift.blogspot.com

Bush’s bombshell

Osama aside, a one-word answer from President Bush became the week’s most-blogged story, according to blogpulse.com. Asked “What did Iraq have to do with the attack on the World Trade Centre?”, the President told journalists: “Nothing.”

As liberal jaws dropped across the web, a video of the press conference became the top blog post. Thinkprogress.org trawled the archives to remind readers: “Bush informed Congress on March 19, 2003, that acting against Iraq was consistent with ‘continuing to take the necessary actions against . . . those nations, organisations or persons who planned, authorised, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001’.”

blogpulse.com

thinkprogress.org

Drawing power

The magazine Time has announced its “50 coolest websites” of 2005. They range from technologically savvy, instant-messaging hubs and bullet-dodging war reportage to a site devoted to the simple pleasures of drawing.

The Drawn! site says that its purpose is to “inspire creativity” by sharing links and resources.

“Albert Einstein said, ‘The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources’,” it adds. “But what the hell did he know anyway?”

www.time.com/time/

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