Senate Republicans Strike Immigration Deal  —  WASHINGTON, April 5 — A group of Senate Republicans reached agreement Wednesday night on a compromise proposal that they hope can garner bipartisan support and bring passage of a bill on the future of the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants.

Bush Said to Have Cleared Early Release of Iraq Intelligence to Times  —  New York Sun Web Exclusive  —  A former White House aide under indictment for obstructing a leak probe, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that he gave information from a closely-guarded "National Intelligence Estimate" …

Iraqi Says Visit by Two Diplomats Backfired  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 5 — A top adviser to Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Wednesday that the visit this week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of Britain had backfired, prolonging a deadlock …

South Park Takes On Islamists, Cowardly Broadcast Executives, And 'Family Guy'  —  Last week, when the raunchy cartoon series South Park killed off Chef after Isaac Hayes complained about the show's religious intolerance, some CQ readers noted that Matt Stone and Trey Parker had never taken on Muslims.

Program on Vouchers Draws Minority Support  —  WASHINGTON, April 5 — As a student at Shaw Junior High School here, Amie Fuwa strained to shut out the distractions of friends cutting up.  She struggled through math, and used photocopies or the library when textbooks were scarce.

Campaign Finance Measure Approved  —  House Bill Would Cap '527' Donations, Used Largely by Democrats  —  The House approved campaign finance legislation last night that would benefit Republicans by placing strict caps on contributions to nonprofit committees that spent heavily in the last election …

Iraqi's Blog Chronicles Daily Life of a Nation in Turmoil  —  In the first bloody hours after insurgents destroyed a revered Shiite shrine in Iraq in February, Baghdad dentist Zeyad A. watched his Sunni neighbors grab machine guns and cobble together roadblocks to keep out marauding Shiite gunmen.

Climate Researchers Feeling Heat From White House  —  Scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has made it hard for them to speak forthrightly to the public about global warming.  The result, the researchers say, is a danger that Americans …

McKinney Abuses Anchors As If They Were Capitol Police  —  Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney appeared on CBS, CNN, and FNC on Wednesday morning to address charges she hit a Capitol Police officer in the chest with her cell phone when he tried to stop her as she tried to walk right past security screeners.

Rumsfeld Challenges Rice on 'Tactical Errors' in Iraq  —  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he did not know what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was talking about when she said last week that the United States had made thousands of "tactical errors" in handling the war in Iraq …

Anchor's Chair Was an Irresistible Lure for Couric  —  In the midst of the widely publicized negotiations over her future career in network television, Katie Couric called a family meeting, with her parents and two young daughters around the dinner table.  —  Laying out her options …

John McCain Thinks Americans Are French  —  Pfc. Jonathan Dixon provides perimeter security in Iraq on 3/31/06.  Wait a minute!  This is a hard, dirty, underpaid job—how did they find Jon?  President Bush and Senator McCain told me Americans won't do these types of jobs!

Senate Dems to pursue new strategy on abortion  —  The Senate Democratic leadership says it has found a wedge issue to strengthen the party's position on abortion rights, which top strategists think has become a liability in recent years.  —  The wedge is legislation expanding access …

Poll Finds Steele May Be Magnet for Black Voters  —  Candidate's Ties to President Bush Judged a Potential Vulnerability  —  An internal document prepared by a top Democratic strategist warns that a majority of African American voters in Maryland are open to supporting Republican Senate …

NASCAR SMACKS DOWN NBC  —  I spoke this afternoon with Ramsey Poston, managing director of corporate communications at NASCAR.  He's on his way down to Texas for the NASCAR race this weekend, and he responded to NBC Dateline's undercover Muslim stings, which I first reported on yesterday morning.

The Religious Left  —  It is fruitful and has multiplied.  —  Lo and behold, there is a religious left.  The Catholic Church is helping to lead the fight against immigration restrictions.  A week doesn't seem to pass without some group convening a conference on religion and liberalism.

Professor's population speeches unnerve some  —  He says he's issuing warning, but others see talk of pandemics as a threat.  —  University of Texas professor Eric Pianka's enemies say he advocates wiping out 90 percent of the population and that his seemingly giddy obsession with death …

Benzene Levels in Soft Drinks Above Limit  —  WASHINGTON - Cancer-causing benzene has been found in soft drinks at levels above the limit considered safe for drinking water, the Food and Drug Administration acknowledged Wednesday.  —  Even so, the FDA still believes there are no safety concerns …

U.S. Rolls Out Nuclear Plan  —  The administration's proposal would modernize the nation's complex of laboratories and factories as well as produce new bombs.  —  The Bush administration Wednesday unveiled a blueprint for rebuilding the nation's decrepit nuclear weapons complex …