Afghan Court Drops Case Against Christian  —  KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity because of a lack of evidence and he will be released soon, officials said.  —  The announcement came as U.S.-backed President …

More Than 500,000 Rally in L.A. for Immigrants' Rights  —  Joining what some are calling the nation's largest mobilization of immigrants ever, hundreds of thousands of people boisterously marched in downtown Los Angeles Saturday to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants …

The pro-freedom of expression rally in London  —  The rally in Trafalgar Square today was attended by about 1,000 (at most by my estimate) very disparate people and was a worthy effort for a poorly funded ad-hoc team of folks.  —  My main criticism would be that most of the speakers seemed …

A G.O.P. Split on Immigration Vexes a Senator  —  HOUSTON — The telephone lines in the unassuming offices of Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, have been sizzling here in recent weeks as anxious Republican voters call to find out precisely where their tough-minded senator stands on illegal immigration.

McCain, Feingold Air Views in Iraq  —  Visiting Legislators Debate U.S. Policy as Violence Rages  —  BAGHDAD, March 25 — The increasingly rancorous public debate in the United States over the war spilled into Iraq during a news conference Saturday with two visiting lawmakers who are outspoken in their opposing stands on the issue.

Former DeLay Aide Enriched By Nonprofit  —  A top adviser to former House Whip Tom DeLay received more than a third of all the money collected by the U.S. Family Network, a nonprofit organization the adviser created to promote a pro-family political agenda in Congress, according to the group's accounting records.

Testing Presidential Waters as Race at Home Heats Up  —  CULPEPER, Va., March 21 — George Allen makes little secret that he is bored with life in the Senate.  —  "I made more decisions in half a day as governor than you can make in a whole week in the Senate," Senator Allen said earlier …

Dose of Tenacity Wears Down a Horrific Disease  —  OGI, Nigeria — Whatever secrets the turgid brown depths of the Sacred Pond of Ogi may keep, there is one they betray quite easily: why it is so infuriatingly hard to wipe even one disease off the face of the earth.

Michael Ware: Terrorist Propaganda Works!  —  Michael Ware, Australian Time Magazine Baghdad Bureau Chief, got on the Bill Maher show last night to tell Maher what he wanted to hear.  Ian Schwartz recounts them talking about American soldiers, and how they apparently abuse Iraqi women.

The Democrats' plan for midtern elections  —  If the elections were held today, top strategists of both parties say privately, the Republicans would probably lose the 15 seats they need to keep control of the House of Representatives and could come within a seat or two of losing the Senate

Putin accused of plagiarising his PhD thesis  —  THE career of President Vladimir Putin of Russia was built at least in part on a lie, according to US researchers.  A new study of an economics  —  thesis written by Putin in the mid-1990s has revealed that large chunks of it were copied from an American text.

Court Case Challenges Power of President  —  Military Tribunals' Legitimacy at Issue  —  Seized by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Osama bin Laden's former chauffeur is now seeking victory over President Bush in a new arena: the Supreme Court.

Redirecting Bullets in Baghdad  —  NEW TARGETS Violence has changed, not abated, in Baghdad.  Now Iraqis bomb each other, not just Americans.  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq  —  I GOT back to Iraq two weeks ago, having been away more than a year.  The first story I covered began with a tip that vigilantes …