White House Asked Dubai Ports to Pull Out  —  Stunning Defeat for Bush, but Republicans in Congress Promise to Put It Behind Them  —  March 10, 2006 — The White House asked Dubai Ports World, a company owned by the United Arab Emirates, to give up its management stake in U.S. ports …

Former Bush Aide Charged in Felony Theft  —  Claude Allen had recently resigned as White House domestic-policy adviser.  —  When Claude Allen, President Bush's longtime domestic-policy adviser, resigned suddenly on Feb. 9, it baffled administration critics and fans.

Retired Supreme Court Justice hits attacks on courts and warns of dictatorship  —  RAW STORY  —  Via NPR.  Rush transcript by RAW STORY.  Listen to the audio report here.  —  Supreme Court justices keep many opinions private but Sandra Day O'Connor no longer faces that obligation.

Gale Norton resigns from Cabinet  —  Washington - Gale Norton resigned today after serving more than five years as secretary of the Interior and overseeing a dramatic expansion of drilling, logging and development on the public lands of the West.  —  But the former Colorado attorney general …

The Kurd Card  —  Lost amid the news of all the bloodletting in Iraq is an important political development: The Kurds have switched sides.  In the first parliament after the first set of elections, they allied themselves with the Shiite slate to produce the current Shiite-dominated government led by Ibrahim al-Jafari.

Elizabeth Dole is a racist  —  Check out FancyFord.com, a racist attack site created by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to oppose Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., who's running for Senate in Tennessee.  —  What's the message behind this site?  The line of white women on the front page …

Anti-Castro Sign at Ballgame Causes Stir  —  1cbeabdc2ba6@news.ap.org While Cuba played the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, a spectator in the stands raised a sign saying: "Down with Fidel," sparking an international incident that escalated Friday with the velocity of a major league fastball.

'Washington Post' To Cut 80 Newsroom Jobs, Sources Say  —  NEW YORK The Washington Post plans to cut at least 80 newsroom jobs through attrition and buyouts, according to sources at the paper who said editors began giving staffers the bad news on Thursday in meetings and continued today.

President Addresses National Newspaper Association Conference  —  Washington, D.C.  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.  Jerry likes to give a short introduction.  (Laughter.)  I appreciate you letting me come by to visit with you some, and I look forward to answering some questions you might have.

'Silent Tort Reform' Is Overriding States' Powers  —  SUPPORTERS and detractors call it the "silent tort reform" movement, and it has quietly and quickly been gaining ground.  —  Across Washington, federal agencies that supervise everything from auto safety to medicine labeling have waged …

U.S. firms are few for operating ports  —  Congress may want American companies to operate the U.S. ports that Dubai has agreed to unload, but good luck finding them.  —  There's only a handfull of home-grown outfits big enough to take over the six port operations that state-owned DP World has agreed to …

Bush's Approval Rating Falls to New Low  —  WASHINGTON - More and more people, particularly Republicans, disapprove of President Bush's performance, question his character and no longer consider him a strong leader against terrorism, according to an AP-Ipsos poll documenting one of the bleakest points of his presidency.

VIEW: Colonisation of Palestine precludes peace— Jimmy Carter  —  This is obvious to most Israelis, who also view this as a distortion of their moral and religious values  —  For more than a quarter century, Israeli policy has been in conflict with that of the United States and the international community.

Al Jazeera's Outreach To Bloggers  —  If Al Jazeera invites dozens of bloggers to the Middle East in order to cover a forum that is designed to promote the Arab television station, should those bloggers: a) take the free trip, or b) disclose the freebie to their readers if they do?