New York’s currently: 87 feet above sea level

 Profile of China’s new leader, Hu Jintao.

 Pentagon’s Poindexter plans giant database to track your life in transactions.

 Gore found defeat at Supreme Court’s hands crushing, now believes in single-payer national health care plan.

 Are you calling my pint a puff? Drinking laws in England to change next summer, allowing for 24-hour quaffing, but it’s the reactions of the Guardian readers that make the news entertaining.

 Another reason to love New York: Did Citigroup’s chairman Sanford Weill help analyst Jack Grubman’s two daughters get into the 92nd Street Y nursery school with a million-dollar donation? Woody Allen doesn’t comment.

 Even if you’re not a mountain climber, it’s still captivating to read about the different ways up the Matterhorn.

 The science and pleasure of Belgian beer.

 You have until midnight to send your name to Mars.

 PeTA storms the stage while Gisele struts for Victoria’s Secret. Related: Is beef really safe to eat? The state of modern meat.

 Ken Smith, planting marshland in a city made of steel.

 Plan to ban smoking in New York bars slows down, with vote put off until next year.

 The next semester, Michiko Kakutani’s folklore professor abruptly announced the final exams would be oral. I am Michiko Kakutani.

 Beautiful photography and site design for Ami Vitale.

thanks! to yesterday’s one donor