Plame's identity, if truly a secret, was thinly veiled  —  WASHINGTON - The question of whether Valerie Plame's employment by the Central Intelligence Agency was a secret is the key issue in the two-year investigation to determine if someone broke the law by leaking her CIA affiliation to the news media.

Milosevic: Architect of Balkans carnage  —  Serb leader presided over ethnic cleansing in Bosnia  —  (CNN) — Former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic was regarded as the chief architect of the carnage unleashed during the breakup of Yugoslavia.  —  Milosevic, who died at the age …

SRLC Straw Poll: Frist Wins; Romney Second  —  After five hours of voting and with more than 1,400 ballots cast, The Hotline SRLC Straw Poll has come to a close with a tremendous turnout.  Sen. Bill Frist (TN) led the pack with nearly 37% of the vote, followed by MA Gov. Mitt Romney with 14%.

Ex-White House aide arrested in alleged refund scam  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — A former adviser to President Bush was arrested this week in Maryland and charged with swindling two department stores out of more than $5,000 in a refund scam.  —  Montgomery County police said Claude Allen, 45 …

Preview of 'Vanity Fair' Article on Plamegate: Too Much of Nothing?  —  NEW YORK A massive Vanity Affair review of the Plame/CIA case coming to newsstands on Tuesday is notable for the absence of major revelations.  The article, "Lies and Consequences," covers all or parts of 17 pages …

US hostage in Iraq killed after torture: police  —  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - American hostage Tom Fox has been killed and his body, showing signs of torture, left at a garbage dump in Baghdad, police said on Saturday.  —  One of the policemen who found the body said the 54-year-old peace activist …

Bloggers at the Gates: What Was Good for EBay Should Be Good for Politics  —  After the disastrous 2004 election, prominent Democrats gathered in Monterey, Calif., to discuss what to do next.  The organizers scheduled a session on coalition building, but each special interest complained that its issue was being slighted.

Bush Is Business as Usual Despite Party Grumbles  —  WASHINGTON, March 11 — Inside the White House, the staff is exhausted and the mood is defiant.  Republicans are clamoring for a new chief of staff, the West Wing just cut its losses on a deal that would have given a Dubai company control …

Even as U.S. Invaded, Hussein Saw Iraqi Unrest as Top Threat  —  As American warplanes streaked overhead two weeks after the invasion began, Lt. Gen. Raad Majid al-Hamdani drove to Baghdad for a crucial meeting with Iraqi leaders.  He pleaded for reinforcements to stiffen the capital's defenses …

Muslims Express Anger and Hope at Danish Conference  —  COPENHAGEN, March 10 — Denmark sought Friday to tamp down the fierce Muslim protests over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad at a conference with Muslim preachers and scholars that produced calls for dialogue but also fresh protests …

League of Conservation Voters Endorses  —  HARTFORD, CT - The national League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the independent political voice for the environment, today joined Connecticut environmental activists at the Mark Twain House and Museum to announce its endorsement of Senator Joe Lieberman …

Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug  —  Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu.  The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu …

The Fallback  —  If you harbor serious thoughts of running for the presidency, the first thing you do — long before you commission any polls or make any ads, years before you charter planes to take you back and forth between Iowa and New Hampshire — is to sit down with guys like Chris Korge.

A Sharp Debate Erupts in China Over Ideologies  —  BEIJING, March 11 — For the first time in perhaps a decade, the National People's Congress, the Communist Party-run legislature now convened in its annual two-week session, is consumed with an ideological debate over socialism and capitalism …

John Burns, Back from Baghdad: U.S. Effort In Iraq Will Likely Fail  —  NEW YORK A day after returning to the U.S., after another long term as bureau chief in Baghdad, John F. Burns of The New York Times said on Bill Maher's live Friday night HBO program that he now feels, for the first time …