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 …

Analysis: Euphoria gone for Bush and Blair  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair looked less like cheerleaders for the latest milestone of democratic political progress in Iraq and more like world-weary leaders who had met their match.

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 …

Iraqi Minister Backs Iran on Nuclear Research  —  Iraq supports Iran's right to pursue nuclear research, its new foreign minister said today, taking a position at odds with that of the Bush administration.  —  The foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, spoke during a visit to Baghdad by Iran's foreign minister …

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 …

Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection  —  The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.  —  The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles …

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.

Defendants Sunk by Their Testimony  —  HOUSTON, May 25 — Jurors in the Enron trial made it clear that it would have been better for former executives Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling if they'd kept their mouths shut and stayed off the witness stand.  —  Speaking shortly …

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 …