Blue Crab Boulevard

Iraqi authorities have announced the arrest of the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri. There is no confirmation from the American military, however.

Mohammed al-Askari said the arrest of al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was confirmed to him by the Iraqi commander of the province. There was no immediate confirmation or comment from U.S. forces on the arrest.

The U.S. military in Baghdad said "we are currently checking with Iraqi authorities to confirm the accuracy of this information."

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said that Mosul police "arrested one of al-Qaida's leaders at midnight and during the primary investigations he admitted that he is Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir."

News of the arrest was also reported by Iraqi state television and Arab satellite TV stations.

The state channel, Iraqiya, said that Minister of Interior Jawad al-Bolani would reward Mosul police for the capture.

A very big blow if it turns out to be correct. News from Iraq has been mostly absent these days. It's good to have some potentially good news from there. Expect another tape from bin Laden if it does turn out to be real.

Sectarian violence has erupted in Lebanon. Hezbollah is claiming it isn't their fault, but they have a lot of fighters on the street. The Lebanese Army is standing aside as the proto-civil war develops.

In a grim reminder of Lebanon's devastating 1975-90 civil war, factions threw up roadblocks and checkpoints dividing Beirut into sectarian enclaves on the second day of clashes between Sunni Muslims loyal to the government and Shiite supporters of Hezbollah.

A top Sunni leader went on television urging Hezbollah to pull its fighters back and "save Lebanon from hell." The army, which has stayed out of the sectarian political squabbling that has paralyzed the country for more than a year, did not intervene in the battles.

The chattering of automatic weapons and thumps of exploding rocket-propelled grenades echoed across Beirut into the night. People huddled in hallways and stairwells as gunmen rushed from one street corner to the next firing at their foes. Some families fled to neighborhoods that remained quiet.

"There is so much shooting and explosions outside. Our building is in the middle of the fighting," a terrified woman, Ghada Helmi, told The Associated Press by telephone.

Fighting began along Corniche Mazraa, an avenue separating Shiite and Sunni areas, then spread to other districts. Combat was heard near the office of Lebanon's Sunni spiritual leader, an ally of the government, and near the official residence of the opposition-aligned parliament speaker.

Having an Iranian armed and financed group with no loyalty whatsoever to the legitimate government is not exactly a recipe for stability. It is not an encouraging sign that the Army is refusing to intervene.

Is it the end of the Clinton era in politics? Adam Nagourney thinks it might be. That spells more turmoil for the Democrats.

“There is going to be a new set of people running the show,” said Simon Rosenberg, the executive director of the New Democratic Network, a political action organization not affiliated with any candidates. “The Clintons and their allies have been running the show for 16 years. You’re going to see a new generation of political leaders coming to the fore. It’s going to create an upheaval.”

Gary Hart , a former Colorado senator who ran for president in 1984 and is supporting Mr. Obama, said: “At least half the Obama administration, if he is elected, will be people in the White House for the first time: cabinet members and senior appointees.”

In other words, people with as light a resume as his lightness himself. Think about that for a moment. Done cringing yet? It is not a comforting thought, given the world we live in.