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.

Suspect: Church fires started as 'joke'  —  Three Birmingham college students arrested, charged  —  BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (CNN) — Three Birmingham college students were arrested and charged Wednesday in connection with a string of Alabama church fires that is described in court papers as a joke that "got out of hand," authorities said.

Official Says Shiite Party Suppressed Body Count  —  BAGHDAD, March 8 — Days after the bombing of a Shiite shrine unleashed a wave of retaliatory killings of Sunnis, the leading Shiite party in Iraq's governing coalition directed the Health Ministry to stop tabulating execution-style shootings …

Israel will have to act on Iran if UN can't  —  BERLIN (Reuters) - If the U.N. Security Council is incapable of taking action to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Israel will have no choice but to defend itself, Israel's defense minister said on Wednesday.

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 …

Thousands of Port Truckers Go Unscreened, Yet Many Have Criminal Records  —  WASHINGTON, March 7, 2006 — In Washington today, House Republicans vowed to defy President Bush's effort to have a Dubai company take over six major U.S. ports.  But ABC News has learned about a port threat from within …

SHAPED CHARGES  —  We've already noted the media's recent selective quoting of General George Casey, commanding general of the Multinational Forces in Iraq.  This past weekend another fine example of the technique played out on national television.  —  First, take a look at General Casey's …

Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing  —  Poll Numbers in U.S. Higher Than in 2001  —  As the war in Iraq grinds into its fourth year, a growing proportion of Americans are expressing unfavorable views of Islam, and a majority now say that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence …

Enough of the D.C. Dems  —  Mah fellow progressives, now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of the party.  I don't know about you, but I have had it with the D.C. Democrats, had it with the DLC Democrats, had it with every calculating, equivocating, triangulating …

Giving Yale the finger  —  Since the New York Times and Wall Street Journal broke the news about the admission of Taliban official Sayeed Rahmatullah Hashemi to a special student program at Yale, we've received numerous emails from outraged Yale Alumni.  One email stood out from the rest …

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 …

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 …

Bush Orders DHS to Create Center for Faith-Based Aid  —  President Bush ordered the Department of Homeland Security yesterday to create a center for faith-based and community initiatives within 45 days to eliminate regulatory, contracting and programmatic barriers to providing federal funds …

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.

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.