Sounds of gunfire reported in Capitol complex  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Capitol Police said Friday they were investigating reports of sounds of gunfire in the garage of the Rayburn Office Building, where members of the House have their offices.  —  Law enforcement expert Mike Brooks …

Lawmaker Raid May Come Back to Bite Bush  —  Anger in Congress Could Cost  —  The President Some Allies  —  And Curb His Legislative Influence  —  WASHINGTON — The recent FBI raid of a congressman's office is fueling a power struggle between Congress and the administration …

Bush, Blair Acknowledge Mistakes in Iraq  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - More than three years after sending their troops to invade Iraq, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair cannot escape questions about their decision to go to war even as they acknowledge far-reaching mistakes.

Senate confirms Hayden as CIA director  —  WASHINGTON - After hearing assurances he will be independent of the Pentagon, the Senate on Friday easily confirmed Gen. Michael Hayden, a career Air Force man, to head the CIA.  —  Hayden, a four-star general, currently is the top deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.

Nobody home / Santorum tries to cover his tracks on residency  —  Before every election, the Post-Gazette routinely sends letters to the candidates seeking material for the Voters Guide.  Back in March, as part of that process for the primary, the newspaper sent a letter to Rick Santorum at his home address …

Say No to Tehran's Gambit  —  All of a sudden, revolutionary Iran has offered direct talks with the United States.  All of a sudden, the usual suspects — European commentators, American liberals, dissident CIA analysts, Madeleine Albright — are urging the administration to take the bait.

Military Expected to Report Marines Killed Iraqi Civilians  —  WASHINGTON, May 25 — A military investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis last November is expected to find that a small number of marines in western Iraq carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians …

We Got Mail from Reuters (Bumped)  —  Early this morning at about 3:00 am on the West Coast, someone in [Sweden] Britain connected to the Internet and browsed over to this article at the Guardian by Inayat Bunglawala, media secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain: This code could open doors.

Conservative Top 50  —  1. "Won't Get Fooled Again," by The Who.  —  The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this could be their theme song, an oath that swears off naive idealism once and for all.  "There's nothing in the streets / Looks any different …

A beginning  —  [The following is the text of my talk at last night's Euston Manifesto launch.]  —  By one of those coincidences that don't mean anything, 70 years ago today - and I mean to the very day - the poet T.S. Eliot paid a visit to a small hamlet in Cambridgeshire.

Senate should not use immigration reform as a way to control wages  —  The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper, The Examiner  —  WASHINGTON - It is hard to believe that it is happening under a Republican-controlled Congress and White House, but a measure to put federal bureaucrats in charge …

Border Fight Divides G.O.P.  —  WASHINGTON, May 25 — The negotiations between the White House and Congress that will follow the Senate's passage on Thursday of an immigration bill could decide not just how the nation confronts illegal immigration but also what strain of conservatism …

Burnt Offering  —  How a 2003 secret overture from Tehran might have led to a deal on Iran's nuclear capacity — if the Bush administration hadn't rebuffed it.  —  Iran's "mad mullahs" want nuclear weapons to destroy Israel and can only be stopped by the threat or use of military force.

Coming soon to The New York Times?  Globe reports Bush marriage breakup … In his May 23 front-page article in The New York Times, staff writer Patrick Healy asserted that "[w]hen the subject of Bill and Hillary Clinton comes up for many prominent Democrats these days …