Part of me died when I saw this cruel killing  —  EVEN by the stupefying standards of Iraq's unspeakable violence, the murder of Atwar Bahjat, one of the country's top television journalists, was an act of exceptional cruelty.  —  Nobody but her killers knew just how much she had suffered until …

House Intelligence Chairman Opposes Hayden as Next CIA Chief  —  May 7 (Bloomberg) — The chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee urged the White House not to nominate Air Force Lieutenant General Michael Hayden to head the civilian Central Intelligence Agency.

Pollster Suggests Bush Moves Might Be Too Little, Too Late  —  The recent White House shake-up was an attempt to jump-start the administration and boost President Bush's rock-bottom approval ratings, but have those efforts come too late to salvage the presidency?  A prominent GOP pollster thinks that may be the case.

Confident Democrats Lay Out Agenda  —  Party Plans Probes Of Administration If It Wins the House  —  Democratic leaders, increasingly confident they will seize control of the House in November, are laying plans for a legislative blitz during their first week in power that would raise the minimum wage …

In a Dentist Shortage, British (Ouch) Do It Themselves  —  George Glasper, 81, at the Dental Access Center in Rochdale.  It gives emergency care but is always swamped.  —  ROCHDALE, England, May 2 — "I snapped it out myself," said William Kelly, 43, describing his most recent dental procedure …

Intelligence: Goss Goes Out-But the CIA's Struggles Go On  —  May 15, 2006 issue - If there was one government agency that needed to improve after 9/11, it was the CIA.  Apparently, however, the spy agency has only weakened.  Forced out last week as CIA director, Porter Goss leaves an outfit …

Israel foils plot to kill Palestinian president  —  A HAMAS plot to assassinate Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has been thwarted after he was tipped off by Israeli intelligence.  —  Hamas's military wing, the Izza Din Al-Qassem, had planned to kill Abbas at his office in Gaza, intelligence sources said.

Targeted Killings Surge in Baghdad  —  Nearly 4,000 civilian deaths, many of them Sunni Arabs slain execution-style, were recorded in the first three months of the year.  —  BAGHDAD — More Iraqi civilians were killed in Baghdad during the first three months of this year than at any time since …

Three ACI guards charged with assaulting inmates  —  ACI Director A.T. Wall says he will move to have the correctional officers fired if they are convicted.  —  PROVIDENCE — Three state correctional officers, including a captain who allegedly forced an inmate to taste his own feces on Valentine's Day …

Chavez Wants Vote on Governing Until '31  —  CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that Venezuelan voters should have the chance to decide whether he should govern the country for the next 25 years.  —  Speaking at a stadium packed with supporters in central Lara state …

Civic Duty: Go See 'United 93'  —  In most movies made to convey dread, the tension flows from uncertainty about what will happen.  In "United 93," terror comes from knowing exactly what will happen.  People who associate cinematic menace with maniacs wielding chain saws will find …

A Star Is Made  —  The Birth-Month Soccer Anomaly  —  If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in next month's World Cup tournament, you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk: elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months.

Bush's best moment in office?  Reeling in big perch  —Text+BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush told a German newspaper his best moment in more than five years in office was catching a big perch in his own lake.  —  "You know, I've experienced many great moments and it's hard …

Hands Off  —  There is a strange post by Eugene Volokh about "involuntary sexual arousal and touching" here, at the Volokh Conspiracy.  It elicited a very strong negative reaction from Belle Waring, which is posted here, at Crooked Timber.  Volokh's theory seems to be that people …