Bush challenges hundreds of laws  —  President cites powers of his office  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts …

Economist John Kenneth Galbraith Dies at 97  —  John Kenneth Galbraith, the author, scholar, diplomat and presidential adviser, who was a preeminent symbol and source of liberal political thought, died last night in Cambridge, Mass. He was 97.  —  His son Alan said his father died …

US 'allowed Zarqawi to escape'  —  The United States deliberately passed up repeated opportunities to kill the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, before the March 2003 US-led invasion of that country.  —  The claim, by former US spy Mike Scheuer …

Where's the dissent about source of quote?  —  John Kerry announced this week's John Kerry Iraq Policy of the Week the other day: "Iraqi politicians should be told that they have until May 15 to deal with these intransigent issues and at last put together an effective unity government or we will immediately withdraw our military."

Merits of Partitioning Iraq or Allowing Civil War Weighed  —  As the U.S. military struggles against persistent sectarian violence in Iraq, military officers and security experts find themselves in a vigorous debate over an idea that just months ago was largely dismissed as a fringe thought …

G.O.P. Moderates Rebuff Lobbyists, Then Woo Them  —  WASHINGTON, April 29 — After appearing to falter Thursday, the House of Representatives is once again poised to pass a new package of lobbying restrictions, thanks largely to the efforts of an alliance of Republican moderates.

CORRECTING WHERE IT COUNTS  —  The New York Times is exquisitely sensitive to the possibility that its reporters could have conflicts of interest, or undisclosed angles on the stories they report.  When such possible conficts are sniffed out, the Times takes a rigorous, Caesar's wife approach.

Clearstream - French for Watergate?  —  Over the last year or two there has been a scandal brewing in Paris and it looks like it is about to ready to boil over (if that isn't mixing metaphors too badly).  It all started in 2004 when someone sent some documents to a judge that indicated …

Dollar starts the big slide against major currencies  —  THE dollar has embarked on a big decline that will see it fall against all leading currencies, according to analysts.  —  The plunge is being prompted by America's $800 billion (£438 billion) current-account deficit, they say.