A note to our readers  —  On May 11, USA TODAY reported that the National Security Agency, with the cooperation of several of America's leading telecommunications companies, had compiled a database of domestic phone call records in an effort to monitor terrorist activity.

Did Bush commit war crimes?  —  Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld could expose officials to prosecution.  —  THE SUPREME Court on Thursday dealt the Bush administration a stinging rebuke, declaring in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld that military commissions for trying terrorist suspects violate …

Sulzberger Responds to 'WSJ' Editorial Slamming the 'NYT'  —  NEW YORK After remaining mum for the past week, even as controversy swirled around newspapers' revealing the banking records surveillance program, the Wall Street Journal editoral page weighed in today.

Report: Mubarak demands Hamas be expelled from Syria  —  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak demanded from his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad to deport the Syrian-based Hamas leadership unless it agrees to release kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Palestinian sources said on Friday.

Superman eschews longtime patriot act  —  Nevermind Superman's sexual orientation.  Here's another identity-related question that is likely to spark controversy as the Man of Steel soars into theaters nationwide this Fourth of July weekend in Warner Bros.  Pictures' "Superman Returns": Is Superman still American?

Guardian finds Afghan witnesses US couldn't  —  Declan Walsh in Gardez  —  The US government said it could not find the men that Guantánamo detainee Abdullah Mujahid believes could help set him free.  The Guardian found them in three days.  —  Two years ago the US military invited Mr Mujahid …

Immigration Deadlock Revisited  —  Fear of Voter Backlash Prompts GOP Senators to Consider House's Tougher Bill  —  Republican Senate leaders are considering how to revive immigration legislation and cut a deal with the more hard-line House, a sign of increasing GOP concern that inaction …

SIEGEL V. BASEBALL CAPS:  —  There are few places on earth, as far as I'm concerned, where the light, especially in late afternoon, in summer, is more beautiful than on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  It's a river light, soft and gently diffused.  It gets delicately soaked into the sides of buildings …

U.S. troops accused of killing Iraq family  —  BEIJI, Iraq - Five U.S. Army soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman, then killing her and three members of her family in Iraq, a U.S. military official said Friday.  —  The soldiers also allegedly burned the body …

US, Iraqi forces clash with Shi'ite militia  —  BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S. troops battled Shi'ite militiamen in a village northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, and witnesses and police said U.S. helicopters bombed orchards to flush out gunmen hiding there.

Kerik Pleads Guilty for Gifts and a Loan  —  Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, pleaded guilty today to two misdemeanor charges as the result of accepting tens of thousands of dollars of gifts and a loan while he was a city official in the late 1990's.

A Secret the Terrorists Already Knew  —  COUNTERTERRORISM has become a source of continuing domestic and international political controversy.  Much of it, like the role of the Iraq war in inspiring new terrorists, deserves analysis and debate.  Increasingly, however, many of the political …

A Spat Over Iraq Revealed On Tape  —  Rice and Russian Caught Bickering At Private Lunch  —  MOSCOW, June 29 — The official State Department version is that "there was absolutely no friction whatsoever" between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during …

House lifts offshore drilling ban  —  WASHINGTON - Congress has taken a major step toward allowing oil and gas drilling in coastal waters that have been off limits for a quarter-century.  —  Still, a battle looms in the Senate over the issue.  And the Bush administration's support for the legislation …

Sept. 11 claim stirs UW probe  —  Instructor says U.S. planned the attacks to provoke war  —  mtwohey@journalsentinel.com  —  The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced Thursday that it would launch a review of an instructor who argues that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks for its own benefit.