Insurgents Justify Release of Jill Carroll in Web Tape  —  Tape Claims Americans Met Some Demands  —  March 30, 2006 — ABC News has found a video on an insurgent Web site showing U.S. reporter Jill Carroll before she was released by her captors in Iraq.  The circumstances surrounding …

Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer  —  Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.  —  And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate …

G.O.P. Is Taking Aim at Advocacy Groups  —  WASHINGTON, March 30 — To many Republicans, the liberal activist organization MoveOn.org is a political boogeyman that they hope to chase off with new restrictions on so-called 527 groups.  —  But the pursuit may turn out to be fruitless.

At Sept. 11 Trial, Tale of Missteps and Management  —  WASHINGTON, March 30 — Three weeks of testimony and dozens of documents released in the sentencing of Zacarias Moussaoui have offered an eerie parallel view of two organizations, Al Qaeda and the Federal Bureau of Investigation …

Levee Repair Costs Triple  —  The Bush administration said yesterday that the cost of rebuilding New Orleans's levees to federal standards has nearly tripled to $10 billion and that there may not be enough money to fully protect the entire region.  —  Donald E. Powell, the administration's …

Mass. high court says nonresident gays cannot marry in state  —  BOSTON —Same-sex couples from states where gay marriage is banned cannot legally marry in Massachusetts, the state's highest court said Thursday in a ruling that left the status of many unions in legal limbo.

Could Sanctions Stop Iran?  —  Recent History Suggests That the Prospects Aren't Good  —  Now that the U.N. Security Council has agreed on a statement demanding that Iran restrict its nuclear program, the United States and its allies are doubtless considering tougher measures, including sanctions, to force Iran's compliance.

Whose Backlash?  —  Hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens, along with Mexican-Americans and Hispanics in general, hit the streets throughout the United States this past week in one of the largest displays of public outrage since the Vietnam-War era.  —  The conventional wisdom …

Blair will be gone by Christmas, say friends  —  Your view: is it time for Tony to go?  —  Tony Blair is to announce his resignation by Christmas, members of his inner circle believe.  —  The Prime Minister's closest aides feel that, following a series of damaging rows over education and "sleaze", he will quit within nine months.

Obama rallies state Democrats, throws support behind Lieberman  —  HARTFORD, Conn. — U.S. Sen. Barack Obama rallied Connecticut Democrats at their annual dinner Thursday night, throwing his support behind mentor and Senate colleague Joe Lieberman.  —  Obama, an Illinois Democrat who is considered …

University must address Hashemi issue head-on  —  Kingman Brewster '41, onetime president of the University, once said of the qualities needed to gain admission, "A demonstrated failure of moral sensitivity or regard for the dignity of others cannot be redeemed by allegations that the young man …

Bush Wanted War  —  It is my firm belief that if, say, a few dozen people simultaneously did an Internet search for the words "Bush lied," computers all over the country would crash and the energy grid would buckle, producing a rolling blackout that would begin somewhere around Terre Haute …

War Kids Relief  —  Jon Powers never meant to become a soldier.  He wanted to be a teacher.  He joined the ROTC not out of an overwhelming sense of patriotism, but because the program paid for college.  He graduated in 2000 with a degree in education, a second lieutenant's bar and a debt to his country.

Pentagon to Test a Huge Conventional Bomb  —  A huge mushroom cloud of dust is expected to rise over Nevada's desert in June when the Pentagon plans to detonate a gigantic 700-ton explosive — the biggest open-air chemical blast ever at the Nevada Test Site — as part of the research …