ABC News Update on Hastert Story  —  Brian Ross Reports:  —  Richard Esposito and Rhonda Schwartz contributed to this report.  —  Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is …

Lay and Skilling guilty  —  Ex-CEO and founder convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges in Enron case.  —  HOUSTON (CNNMoney.com) - Enron former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling and founder Kenneth Lay were found guilty Thursday of conspiracy and fraud in the granddaddy of all corporate fraud cases.

Libby Told Grand Jury Cheney Spoke of Plame  —  Vice President May Be Called as Witness  —  Vice President Cheney was personally angered by a former U.S. ambassador's newspaper column attacking a key rationale for the war in Iraq and repeatedly directed I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby …

The Shadow of a Marriage  —  The two sides of Hillary Rodham Clinton — the opposites that make her potential presidential candidacy such a gamble — came into sharp focus Tuesday morning at the National Press Club.  —  For the better part of an hour, the senator from New York held forth …

Fragile Senate Coalition Set To Pass Bill on Immigration  —  The Senate moved to the verge of passing landmark immigration legislation yesterday, scheduling a final vote for today on a bill that would tighten the borders while allowing millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the country and permitting new guest workers to come and go.

Pelosi move triggers revolt  —  Furious black lawmakers, rallying behind Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), were pulled back from the brink of open revolt against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an emergency meeting with her yesterday.  —  The meeting with a handful of CBC members …

Warning of Calamities and Hoping for a Change in 'An Inconvenient Truth'  —  CANNES, France, May 23 — "An Inconvenient Truth," Davis Guggenheim's new documentary about the dangers of climate change, is a film that should never have been made.  It is, after all, the job of political leaders …

'YELLOW' JOURNALISM!!  —  "As per our conversation, I'm looking at running this," wrote the newspaper editor of the article he'd just received, "but I have not been able to confirm its veracity.  Particularly, I want to make sure that part saying Jews will have to wear a yellow stripe and Christians a red stripe is, in fact, true."

Abbas stuns Hamas with talk of referendum  —  RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he will call a national referendum on accepting a Palestinian state alongside Israel if Hamas does not agree to the idea within 10 days.  —  Abbas' surprise announcement …

Expanded Worker Checks Would Use Faulty System  —  A federal database program with a checkered track record could dramatically expand to affect every U.S. employer and worker under provisions of the immigration legislation being considered by Congress.  —  The program is intended …

Breach Was More of the Spirit, Not the Letter, of the Constitution  —  The FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson's congressional office was an aggressive tactic that broke a long-standing political custom.  But while it might violate the spirit of the Constitution, it might not violate the letter …

THE JIHADI SNIPERS REVISITED  —  For most people, the Beltway-area sniper case is a distant memory.  Over and done.  But in Montgomery County, Md., the pain and suffering caused by convicted killing spree murderers Lee Malvo and John Muhammad is as fresh and raw as it was three years ago …

FBI beefs up staff to probe pols  —  Federal law-enforcement officials say they witnessed a dramatic jump in campaign-finance and other election-related crimes in the 2004 presidential election year and are determined to beef up their policing of candidates running for federal and local office around the country this year.