Israel warns: free soldier or PM dies  —  Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov  —  ISRAEL last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed.  —  The unprecedented warning was delivered …

GOP Seeks Advantage In Ruling On Trials  —  National Security Is Likely Rallying Cry, Leaders Indicate  —  Republicans yesterday looked to wrest a political victory from a legal defeat in the Supreme Court, serving notice to Democrats that they must back President Bush on how to try suspects …

New UN rights body targets Israel  —  GENEVA  —  The new UN Human Rights Council voted Friday to make a review of alleged human rights abuses by Israel a permanent feature of every council session.  —  The resolution, which was sponsored by Islamic countries, was passed by a vote of 29-12, with five abstentions.

Bush Takes Koizumi for Tour of Graceland  —  GRACELAND, America, June 30 — If wise men say only fools rush in, then on this day, at least, President Bush heeded the wise men.  —  It was one thing to take his friend, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, to Memphis to visit what evidently …

American Hero  —  Every once in a while you read about or get to meet someone who displays by his or her actions one of those wonderful fundamental lessons in personal integrity, intellectual consistency and common decency that makes you think this species might not be doomed after all.  Here's one:

N.Y. JUDGE WARS: HIDDEN '06 ISSUE  —  June 30, 2006 — AT least three of the seven seats on the Court of Appeals, the state's top court, will fall open early in the term of Gov. George Pataki's successor.  So either Democrat Eliot Spitzer (or maybe Tom Suozzi) or Republican John Faso …

USA Today: Call Database Not So Broad  —  USA Today acknowledged in a "note to our readers" Friday that it could not establish that BellSouth or Verizon contracted with the National Security Agency to provide it with customer calling records, as it previously reported.

Weekends With the President's Men  —  There is a lens in the birdhouse at the driveway of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's home at St. Michaels, Md.  —  JUST an hour and a half from Washington, across the 4.3-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge, or less than 30 minutes in a government-issue Chinook helicopter …

How to Create a Liberal Bestseller  —  As a book publisher, it is the best phone call you can make to an author: "Hi, there.  Just wanted to let you know that your book has hit the New York Times bestseller list!"  I made that call to Glenn Greenwald, author of How Would a Patriot Act? …

Frist: Europe missile-defense site needed  —  WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist urged President Bush on Friday to intensify efforts to put interceptor missiles at a site in Europe to protect against potential attacks from Iran.  —  "The threat from Iran is only going to grow in the years ahead.