Iran eyes badges for Jews  —  Law would require non-Muslim insignia  —  Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.

USA Today Reporter a Democratic Donor; Phone Company Demands Retraction  —  Leslie Cauley, the USA Today reporter who last week "broke" the news that three major U.S. telecommunications companies were assisting the National Security Agency in building a database to more easily track …

U.N. Panel Backs Closing Prison at Guantánamo  —  A United Nations panel on torture called on the United States today to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and expressed concern over reports of secret detention centers and of a practice of sending terror suspects to countries with poor human rights records.

'National' or 'common'?  Senate ponders what to call English  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Whether English is America's "national language" or its national "common and unifying language" was a question dominating the Senate immigration debate.  —  The Senate first voted 63-34 Thursday to designate English as the …

Press Gaggle by Tony Snow  —  MR. SNOW: All right, thank you.  Welcome all.  Since there will be no on-air briefing today, we will publish the gaggle a bit later so you can all consult.  —  Q Great.  No bupkis list, then?  —  MR. SNOW: Well, if there's a bupkis list, we will attach the answers in the form of footnotes.

McCain at New School: Honeymoon is Over  —  "I haven't heard anyone aroused about me speaking at the New School," John McCain said in April, defending his decision to address Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.  —  Nobody at all, except for virtually the entire crowd at the New School's …

Illegals granted Social Security  —  The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment — even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents.  —  "There was a felony they were committing, and now they can't be prosecuted.

The Inaccurate Taliban Offensive; Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah reported captured  —  The news reports of a major Taliban offensive in southeastern Afghanistan are inaccurate, as Coalition offensives and Taliban attacks have been lumped together to give the impression of a coordinated Taliban assault in multiple provinces.

Federal appeals judge Edward R. Becker dies at 73  —  PHILADELPHIA - Edward R. Becker, a judge of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals known for his scholarly opinions and humble lifestyle, died Friday, according to the court.  He was 73.  —  The court's statement did not specify a cause …

Scalia Tells Congress to Mind Its Own Business  —  Justice Antonin Scalia rebuked fellow conservatives on Capitol Hill yesterday, saying they have gone too far in trying to prevent the Supreme Court from using foreign law in its constitutional rulings.  —  Scalia dissented vigorously …

Vote in House Seeks to Erase Oil Windfall  —  WASHINGTON, May 18 — In an attempt to revoke billions of dollars worth of government incentives to oil and gas producers, the House on Thursday approved a measure that would pressure companies to renegotiate more than 1,000 leases for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Other Side of the Green Line  —  RAMALLAH - I rode in an Israeli taxi with Palestinian journalist Sufian Taha from the American Colony Hotel to the Qalandia checkpoint on the road to Ramallah, capital of nascent Palestine, in the hills of the West Bank over Jerusalem.

McCain and the Base Truth  —  All successful politicians must have at least some talent for telling lies about what's in their hearts and convincing people that it is the truth.  But Sen. John McCain has a unique genius for telling the truth from his heart and making people believe that he is lying.