CIA Officer's Job Made Any Leaks More Delicate  —  The rare firing last week of a CIA officer accused of leaking information to the news media stems both from the sensitivity of the subjects she allegedly discussed and the Bush administration's forceful efforts to block national security disclosures …

Purported bin Laden tape slams West for 'crusader-Zionist war'  —  (CNN) — Parts of an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden aired Sunday on an Arabic-language TV network in which the al Qaeda leader attacks the West for cutting off funds to the Palestinian Hamas-led government and referred to a …

Corrections  —  A front-page article on Thursday about strain on government services in Texas caused by hurricane evacuees misstated the number of evacuee children in Houston public schools and the amount of Federal aid the state has received.  The most recent count, in late February, showed 5,475 students, not 30,000.

What Happened at Duke?  —  Sex.  Race.  A raucous party.  A rape charge.  And a prosecutor up for re-election.  Inside the mystery that has roiled a campus and riveted the country.  —  Photos: Gerry Broome / AP (2 left, center); Sara D. Davis / AP (upper right); Jeffrey A. Camarati / AP (lower right)

New Plans Foresee Fighting Terrorism Beyond War Zones  —  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has approved the military's most ambitious plan yet to fight terrorism around the world and retaliate more rapidly and decisively in the case of another major terrorist attack on the United States, according to defense officials.

Dump Cheney for Condi, Bush urged  —  REPUBLICANS are urging President George W Bush to dump Dick Cheney as vice-president and replace him with Condoleezza Rice if he is serious about presenting a new face to the jaded American public.  —  They believe that only the sacrifice …

After Action Review  —  As most of you know, because of military duties I was unabale to attend the first ever Milblog Conference held in Washington D.C. yesterday, but I was able to participate via live video feed.  The conference was a resounding success from my standpoint …

Why the Euston group offers a new direction for the left  —  A disparate set of left-wing thinkers meeting in a London pub has reopened an essential debate on the nature of democracy  —  To be on the left is to be both temperamentally inclined to dissent and to be passionate about your own utopia, which can never be achieved.

Iran's president recruits terror master  —  Sarah Baxter, Washington and Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv  —  Plot for revenge attacks on West  —  IRAN'S president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended a meeting in Syria earlier this year with one of the world's most wanted terrorists …

Iraqi Lawmakers End Months of Deadlock  —  BAGHDAD, April 22 — Four months of political paralysis lifted on Saturday when a newly convened parliament chose seven top officials to run Iraq's first long-term government since the fall of Saddam Hussein.  —  In a largely ceremonial meeting …

Can Josh Bolten Rescue the Bush Presidency?  —  He started by shaking up the staff.  Next comes a five-point White House "recovery plan"  —  At the George W. Bush campaign headquarters in Austin, Texas, in 1999, policy director Josh Bolten was a low-key Washingtonian in a building full of brash Texans.

Old States, New Threats  —  You know these bad guys.  But there is a whole other world of tyrants, dictators and despots.  —  Crossing a border has always carried a special drama.  Moments after my train crossed from Hungary to Romania in the 1980s — from a country run by a liberal communist regime …