I wish I could say I was surprised at the current outrage that's taking my flist by storm - the neglect of American media to report the beating, murder, and concealment of the body of Aaron Hall; the intent of his murderers to claim 'gay panic defense' in court.

But I'm not. Here, have some news links about what goes on under the noses of US citizens every day, and what the Americans on my flist never quite seem to have seen reported in their local dailies when I bring it up. Only the first two I've found, because I appear to have poisoned myself with bacon at lunch, and should probably be horizontal.

At least 78 people have been killed and another 218 injured in a truck bomb attack near a Shia mosque in the centre of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The bombing came as US forces began a major offensive against militants linked to al-Qaeda north of Baghdad. Around 10,000 troops are taking part in Operation Arrowhead Ripper in and around the city of Baquba in Diyala province, a centre of the Sunni Arab insurgency.

24 boys have been found starved and neglected at a government-run orphanage for special needs children in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Discovered last week by a US military advisory team that was out on patrol with Iraqi soldiers, the emaciated boys, some near death, were left naked and covered in their own excrement on concrete floors for more than a month in a staffed orphanage. The US soldiers found fully stacked kitchen shelves and new clothes in nearby rooms.

Surprised?