Today's Story Line

Could the answer to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict be an international cavalry riding in to save the day? More and more Palestinians think so; they are reiterating their calls for an international presence. But Israelis say "no" (page 1). And for a look at the personal side of the peace process, check out the profile of Mohammed Dahlan (page 7). He is the head of the Palestinian "preventive security" forces in Gaza. For years, he fought to keep the peace process safe. Now an Israeli leader is calling for his "liquidation."

Quote of note: The peace process is "the only solution for both peoples." - Mohammed Dahlan

Faye Bowers Deputy world editor

REPORTERS ON THE JOB

HAZARDOUS WASTE? The courtyard of the cement factory that Peter Ford visited for his story today was full of enormous sacks of the ground-up industrial waste that the factory uses as fuel. But the meat-and-bone meal was kept separately. And as soon as he opened the hermetically sealed door to the delivery bay, Peter knew why. It was not the appearance - an ocher powder that could have been anything - but the smell. "Powerfully organic would be a polite way of putting it," he says. "I don't think the workers need the sign that management has put up ordering them to wear face masks when they handle this stuff."

THROUGH RAIN OR SLEET OR ASH.... The Monitor's Howard LaFranchi, who recently toured towns closest to Mexico's smoking Popocatepetl volcano, says he remembers well the morning in 1997 when his family awoke to find the city around them turned white with volcanic ash. "At first we didn't realize what it was. As a kid, I'd lived through a big fire in northern California that had dropped ash on us for days, so I first thought there must have been a fire. It wasn't until I rinsed off the car and the kids started collecting the heavy mud that collected on the ground that I realized we'd had a significant fall of volcanic ash."

YAHOO! ISN'T CHEERING: A French judge on Monday ordered Yahoo!, a California-based Internet portal, to block French Web surfers from parts of its auction site that sells Nazi memorabilia. As reported in the Aug. 14 issue of the Monitor, the trial pitted anti-racism groups against free speech advocates and the company, who argued that countries have no right to impose their laws on foreign-based Web sites.

Yahoo! has indicated it may fight the ruling.

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