Shiite Fighters Clash With G.I.'s and Iraqi Forces  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 26 — American and Iraqi government forces clashed with Shiite militiamen in Baghdad on Sunday night in the most serious confrontation in months, and Iraqi security officials said 17 people had been killed in a mosque, including its 80-year-old imam.

Bush Was Set on Path to War, Memo by British Adviser Says  —  LONDON — In the weeks before the United States-led invasion of Iraq, as the United States and Britain pressed for a second United Nations resolution condemning Iraq, President Bush's public ultimatum to Saddam Hussein was blunt: Disarm or face war.

500,000 Pack Streets to Protest Immigration Bills  —  The rally, part of a massive mobilization of immigrants and their supporters, may be the largest L.A. has seen.  —  A crowd estimated by police at more than 500,000 boisterously marched in Los Angeles on Saturday to protest federal legislation …

Seeking Fiscal Health Without Gas Tax  —  CORVALLIS, Ore. — Two professors were cruising around the campus of Oregon State University here in a Ford Explorer.  A wireless black box, mounted on the dashboard, tracked the miles in a test of a per-mile fee system that state officials said might …

Healthcare, Part IV  —  So here are the things I care about, when I think about healthcare: … All that's very nice . . . but how do we bell the cat?  —  Here is my suggestion.  It is simple and elegant enough to be explained in a single sentence, yet powerful enough to meet all the criteria above:

Evangelical teens rally in S.F.  —  More than 25,000 evangelical Christian youth landed Friday in San Francisco for a two-day rally at AT&T Park against "the virtue terrorism" of popular culture, and they were greeted by an official city condemnation and a clutch of protesters who said their event amounted to a "fascist mega-pep rally."

Terrorist 007, Exposed  —  For almost two years, intelligence services around the world tried to uncover the identity of an Internet hacker who had become a key conduit for al-Qaeda.  The savvy, English-speaking, presumably young webmaster taunted his pursuers, calling himself Irhabi — Terrorist — 007.

Windows Is So Slow, but Why?  —  Back in 1998, the federal government declared that its landmark antitrust suit against the Microsoft Corporation was not merely a matter of law enforcement, but a defense of innovation.  The concern was that the company was wielding its market power …

Sydney bomb plot link to race riots, murderer  —  A woman charged at the weekend with plotting to bomb Sydney was a convert to Islam who planned the attack at the behest of a jailed murderer angered over anti-Muslim race riots here late last year.  —  Jill Courtney, 26, was arrested …

Patriots Stun Huskies, Advance to Final Four  —  WASHINGTON — George Mason is no longer the cute little underdog.  The Patriots, by golly, are going to the Final Four.  —  The suburban commuter school from Fairfax, Va., beat top-seeded Connecticut 86-84 in overtime Sunday in the Washington Regional final …

Under the Scimitar of Damocles  —  Abdul Rahman faced death at the hands of our Afghan allies for the "crime" of converting to Christianity.  This fate is no fluke, not a brutal Afghan variant on the practice of "tolerant" Islam.  Death for apostacy is part and parcel of Islamic scripture and tradition.

Transcript for March 26  —  MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: the war in Iraq, tensions with Iran and the future of this woman.  Our guest: the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.  —  Then, will there be a White House staff shake-up?  And what is at stake in the 2006 midterm elections?

'Marriage Is for White People'  —  I grew up in a time when two-parent families were still the norm, in both black and white America.  Then, as an adult, I saw divorce become more commonplace, then almost a rite of passage.  Today it would appear that many — particularly in the black community …