Lieberman To Start Petition Drive  —  Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is to announce today he will petition for a place on the November ballot as an "independent Democrat," giving him a chance to stay alive politically should he lose an Aug. 8 primary for the Democratic nomination.

Bush Directed Cheney To Counter War Critic  —  President Bush told the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case that he directed Vice President Dick Cheney to personally lead an effort to counter allegations made by former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV that his administration …

Mexico conservative creeps toward slim victory  —  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's conservative presidential candidate Felipe Calderon declared victory on Monday in a bitterly contested election and official returns appeared to show his leftist rival could no longer catch him.

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden  —  WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.  —  The unit, known as Alec Station …

N. Korea warns of nuclear war if attacked  —  SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea vowed on Monday to respond with an "annihilating" nuclear strike if its atomic facilities are attacked pre-emptively by the United States.  —  The Bush administration responded sternly, saying while it had no intention …

Wingers: Anne Frank Wants NYT To Shut Up  —  Freerepublic.com and Accuracy in Media hosted a lunchtime protest at the New York Times D.C. bureau today, to harangue the Grey Lady for publishing stories on secret anti-terrorism programs.  The groups' panties were most recently bunched …

Israel Faces 11 P.m. Deadline on Soldier  —  Militants gave Israel 24 hours starting Monday to begin releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, implying they would kill an abducted Israeli soldier if their demands were not met.  —  Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected any negotiations …

Court intervenes in Calif. cross fight  —  SAN DIEGO - The U.S. Supreme Court intervened Monday to stop, at least for now, the removal of a large cross from city property in Southern California.  —  A lower court judge had ordered the city of San Diego to remove the cross or be fined $5,000 a day.

Details Emerge in Alleged Army Rape, Killings  —  BAGHDAD, July 2 — Fifteen-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza was afraid, her mother confided in a neighbor.  —  As pretty as she was young, the girl had attracted the unwelcome attention of U.S. soldiers manning a checkpoint that the girl …

A Blog Mogul Turns Bearish on Blogs  —  THE blogging bubble has been taking on serious air of late.  Last week, PaidContent.org, a blog that covers digital media, held its first mixer.  It was, by all reports, filled to the brim with money and content guys speed dating on the way to marriage.

The Great Pro-America Steak-Out  —  On Thursday we noted that Diane Wilson planned to start a hunger strike tomorrow: "I'm just a shrimper whose gonna stop eatin' to stop the war," she said in an interview with Code Pink.  Wilson urged others to join her, and said you don't even have to stop eating altogether …