Not Such a Rush...  If I had to bet, I'd say that Roy Black is in a foul mood this morning.  Nothing like cutting a sweet deal for a client and then having them screw it up within three months: it makes you look bad as an attorney because you've made representations about your client's willingness …

Bush Says Report on Bank Data Was Disgraceful  —  WASHINGTON, June 26 — President Bush on Monday condemned as "disgraceful" the disclosure last week by The New York Times and other newspapers of a secret program to investigate and track terrorists that relies on a vast international database …

Steele's Donor List Stirs Racial Questions  —  The fundraiser thrown for Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele on Thursday night, while ordinary in most ways, struck some African American leaders as notable because of the host.  —  Unlike the dozens of high-dollar events across the country …

In the Senate, Covering Themselves in Old Glory  —  The Citizens Flag Alliance, a group pushing for the Senate this week to pass a flag-burning amendment to the Constitution, just reported an alarming, 33 percent increase in the number of flag-desecration incidents this year.

Israel rules out prisoner release  —  Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has refused to release any Palestinian prisoners in exchange for information about an abducted Israeli soldier.  —  He was responding to a demand from three militant groups that women and youths be freed from Israeli jails in return for news on Gilad Shalit.

'Breathtaking' Waste and Fraud in Hurricane Aid  —  FEMA spends $250,000 a month to store about 10,000 empty mobile homes at an airfield in Hope, Ark.  —  WASHINGTON, June 26 — Among the many superlatives associated with Hurricane Katrina can now be added this one: it produced …

Bush ignores laws he inks, vexing Congress  —  WASHINGTON - A bill becomes the rule of the land when Congress passes it and the president signs it into law, right?  —  Not necessarily, according to the White House.  A law is not binding when a president issues a separate statement saying …

Why we ran the bank story  —  The Times editor on the paper's decision to expose U.S. money monitoring.  —  MANY READERS have been sharply critical of our decision to publish an article Friday on the U.S. Treasury Department's program to secretly monitor worldwide money transfers in an effort to track terrorist financing.

A Well-Known Political Blogger Is Hired by the Clinton Campaign  —  WASHINGTON, June 26 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has hired Peter Daou, one of the most prominent political bloggers in the nation, to help disseminate her message in a forum that has not always been that hospitable to her.

When the Anchor Drops  —  Goodbye to Dan Rather.  He was a good man and served CBS for 44 years with distinction.  —  Television is a tough business.  When it's time to go, you go .  And if you don't go the way they want you to, they get very upset.  They tell the world …

Top Democrat Finds F.D.A.'s Efforts Have Plunged  —  WASHINGTON, June 26 — A 15-month inquiry by a top House Democrat has found that enforcement of the nation's food and drug laws declined sharply during the first five years of the Bush administration.  —  For instance, the investigation found …

What the Government Knows  —  While an overseas program to track bank records has unleashed a political storm, the domestic Patriot Act has already made a wealth of financial data available to U.S. law enforcement agencies.  —  Christian Weidemann / AP  —  An aerial view of Swift's Belgian headquarters

Womb environment 'makes men gay'  —  A man's sexual orientation may be determined by conditions in the womb, according to a study.  —  Previous research had revealed the more older brothers a boy has, the more likely he is to be gay, but the reason for this phenomenon was unknown.

Making love in the White House is even better  —  Because he was the first Democrat to step up and say publicly last year that he's exploring running for president, we can assume that Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) is plenty interested in the office.  —  But like most other men, apparently there are things that interest him more.

Harry Potter may perish in last book, author hints  —  Harry Potter may perish in the final installment of the boy wizard series in which two main characters die, author J.K. Rowling hinted in a television interview.  —  Speaking on Monday evening, Joanne Kathleen Rowling, 40 …