GOP House Panel Votes to Block Ports Deal  —  WASHINGTON - In a congressional election-year repudiation of President Bush, a House panel dominated by Republicans voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to block a Dubai-owned firm from taking control of some U.S port operations.  Democrats clamored for a vote in the Senate, too.

3 College Students Arrested in Alabama Church Fires  —  Three college students from the prosperous suburbs south of Birmingham, two of them 19 and one 20, were arrested today in the burning of nine Baptist churches in rural Alabama last month that federal officials say was a prank that spun out of control.

U.S.: Iran remarks 'provocative'  —  VIENNA, Austria (CNN) — The United States has dismissed Iran's comments that it can inflict "harm and pain" on Washington for its role in pushing for U.N. Security Council action over Tehran's refusal to halt its nuclear program.

50 Abducted in Iraqi Raid; 24 Bodies Found in Baghdad  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 8 — Gunmen wearing the uniforms of Interior Ministry commandos and driving government vehicles raided a private Iraqi security company this afternoon, kidnapping about 50 employees and seizing weapons, computer equipment and documents, police officials said.

TX 22: DeLay More Vulnerable Than Ever Following Primary  —  Tom DeLay and his partisans are hailing his primary victory Tuesday as a landslide and vindication from his constituents that the Texas Republican's legal and ethical problems are behind him.  —  But the primary result …

Costly Gestures  —  South Dakota has enacted a ban on abortion except to save a woman's life.  Pro-choice forces in the state have not decided whether to try to repeal the law by referendum or to file a lawsuit in federal court.  If the latter, the court will surely strike the law …

Defendant Offers Details of Jeep Attack at University  —  The man charged with nine counts of attempted murder for driving a Jeep through a crowd at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last Friday told the police that he deliberately rented a four-wheel-drive vehicle so he could …

Ariz. Governor Orders Troops to Border  —  Gov. Janet Napolitano on Wednesday ordered more National Guardsmen posted at the Mexican border to help stop illegal immigrants and curb related crimes.  —  National Guard troops have worked at the border since 1988, but Napolitano signed …

Hardball for the left, softball for the right: Conservatives dominate on Hardball … Since its CNBC debut as Politics with Chris Matthews in 1996*, MSNBC's long-running Hardball with Chris Matthews has consistently attracted criticism from the right wing.  For example, in January 2006 …

Eyeing '08, Sen. McCain courts K St.  —  Good-government advocacy groups working on lobbying reform say their longtime ally Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has played a smaller leadership role on the issue than they had expected.  —  McCain's lower-than-hoped-for profile on the sensitive subject coincides …

Jeers and Heckling Greet Annan At Staff Meeting at United Nations  —  UNITED NATIONS - U.N. staffers heckled and booed Secretary-General Annan yesterday in a raucous meeting after he presented a "management reform" plan that includes cutting jobs for New Yorkers employed at Turtle Bay.

Gordon Parks, a Master of the Camera, Dies at 93  —  Gordon Parks, the photographer, filmmaker, writer and composer who used his prodigious, largely self-taught talents to chronicle the African-American experience and to retell his own personal history, died yesterday at his home in Manhattan.