Murtha, a War Critic, Assails Rove Over Speech  —  WASHINGTON, June 18 — Representative John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat and Vietnam War veteran pushing for a quick withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, on Sunday mocked Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser, for championing the war while …

A.C.L.U. Warned on Plan to Limit Members' Speech  —  A lawyer in the New York state attorney general's office informally warned the American Civil Liberties Union that his office had concerns about proposed standards that would limit the group's board members from speaking publicly about policies …

CNN RELIABLE SOURCES  —  Coverage of Rove's Role in Plame Leak Investigation; Interview With Jim Lehrer  —  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.  —  HOWARD KURTZ, HOST: Rove's reprieve.  After years of media speculation …

Doubts About Duke  —  The prosecutor insists his rape case is strong.  One big problem: the facts thus far.  —  June 29, 2006 issue - The order had come, signed by a judge, requiring that the Duke lacrosse team give DNA samples.  The prosecutor was trying to identify the three players …

'Wash Post' Obtains Shocking Memo from U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Details Increasing Danger and Hardship  —  NEW YORK The Washington Post has obtained a cable, marked "sensitive," that it says show that just before President Bush left on a surprise trip last Monday to the Green Zone in Baghdad …

Group Claims It Kidnapped U.S. Soldiers  —  An umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a Web statement Monday that it had kidnapped two U.S. soldiers reported missing south of Baghdad.  There was no immediate confirmation that the statement was credible …

Trying to Get Even  —  Democrats keep betting on failure in Iraq.  —  During last week's congressional debate over the war in Iraq, critics of the Bush administration's policy made three arguments: that President Bush more or less lied when claiming Saddam Hussein was a threat to the U.S. …

U.S. Competes With China for Vietnam's Allegiance  —  HANOI, Vietnam — With the fastest growth in East Asia after China and a capitalist game plan that is attracting global investment, Communist Vietnam is emerging as a regional economic power as it moves steadily from rice fields to factories.

North Koreans Could Be Close to Missile Test  —  WASHINGTON, June 18 - North Korea appears to have completed fueling a long-range ballistic missile, American officials said Sunday, a move that greatly increases the probability that Pyongyang will go ahead with its first important test launch in eight years.

Illegal Hiring Is Rarely Penalized  —  Politics, 9/11 Cited in Lax Enforcement  —  The Bush administration, which is vowing to crack down on U.S. companies that hire illegal workers, virtually abandoned such employer sanctions before it began pushing to overhaul U.S. immigration laws last year, government statistics show.

Freedom of speech and thought R.I.P.  —  The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper, The Examiner  —  WASHINGTON - Robert Smith, Roman Catholic and now-former Metro board member, believes homosexuality is a form of "deviancy."  Jim Graham, District of Columbia Council member, believes Smith's beliefs are "ancient and archaic."

The Project That Wouldn't Die  —  Over the past decade Vibration & Sound Solutions Ltd., a small Alexandria defense contractor, has received a steady flow of federal contracts to work on "Project M" — $37 million in all from annual "earmarks" by congressional supporters such as Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.).