The attack on the United States last Tuesday has brought home to the west two uncomfortable realities - the ferocious hatred felt for America; and that none of us will ever feel safe again. So, asks Martin Amis, where do we go from here?

Israel emerged as an early stumbling block to Washington's plans to recruit Arab states to a broad war coalition yesterday as the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, rebuffed US calls for ceasefire talks, and ordered the third invasion of a Palestinian-ruled city in less than a week.

Yet Islam became one of the world's great religions in part because of its openness to social change and new ideas. Centuries ago, when Europe was mired in its feudal Dark Ages, the sages of a flourishing Islamic civilization opened an era of great scientific and philosophical discovery. The ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans might never have been introduced to Europe were it not for the Islamic historians and philosophers who rediscovered and revived them.

As America continues to count the human cost of history's worst-ever terrorist attack, it also has to decide how to retaliate. Officials are promising a 'global assault' against terrorism, but giving few hints as to what form that might take

The devastation wrought on September 11th will shape the debate about American foreign policy for years to come

Chess legend Bobby Fischer, who has not been seen in public for nine years, is playing fellow Grandmasters anonymously on the web, according to a newspaper report.

We at 37signals are frustrated with the online banking experience. So, we went ahead and designed our ultimate "My Account" page (below). We'd like to hear what you think. And if you represent an an online bank, get in touch and let's talk about how we can help.

All those award-winning CBS ads and brochures and ads and annual reports and ads and logos and ads and press kits and ads and calendars and ads and exhibits all worked together, all belonged to one family, all shared a taste, a mood, a flavor, a point of view, despite the fact they often had nothing visually in common on the surface. Layouts were different, typefaces were different, words were serious or funny or dramatic or ironic or factual. But they worked together.

"I just looked through the trees, at the Odeon Leicester Square Cinema, it just said Caine Mutiny. So, I just said Caine. If I'd gone to the Leicester Square Theatre, I'd have been called Michael A Hundred and One Dalmatians!"

A team searching for Genghis Khan's elusive grave site said on Thursday it has discovered a walled burial ground 200 miles northeast of the Mongolian capital that may contain the 13th century conqueror's remains along with priceless artifacts.

Human beings walk the way they drive, which is to say that Americans tend to keep to the right when they stroll down shopping-mall concourses or city sidewalks. This is why in a well-designed airport travellers drifting toward their gate will always find the fast-food restaurants on their left and the gift shops on their right: people will readily cross a lane of pedestrian traffic to satisfy their hunger but rarely to make an impulse buy of a T-shirt or a magazine.