Kerry knocks Bush on handling of Mideast conflict  —  U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D- Mass., who was in town Sunday to help Gov. Jennifer Granholm campaign for her re-election bid, took time to take a jab at the Bush administration for its lack of leadership in the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

Surveillance We Can Live With  —  President Bush's electronic surveillance program has been a festering sore on our body politic since it was publicly disclosed last December.  Civil libertarians, myself included, have insisted that the program must be subject to judicial review to ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment.

Rice meets with Lebanon PM in Beirut  —  WASHINGTON - In a surprise visit to Beirut, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised the beleaguered prime minister of Lebanon on Monday for his courage in struggling to contain the fighting between the Hezbollah militia and Israel.

Legal Group Faults Bush for Ignoring Parts of Bills  —  WASHINGTON, July 23 — The American Bar Association said Sunday that President Bush was flouting the Constitution and undermining the rule of law by claiming the power to disregard selected provisions of bills that he signed.

Pakistan Expanding Nuclear Program  —  Plant Underway Could Generate Plutonium for 40 to 50 Bombs a Year, Analysts Say  —  Pakistan has begun building what independent analysts say is a powerful new reactor for producing plutonium, a move that, if verified, would signal a major expansion …

Israelis Kill 8, wound 45 on Sunday  —  Strike Clinic, Ambulance, Factories, Minibus, Journalist  —  Hizbullah Rockets Hit Haifa, Kill 2  —  The Daily Star reports that … Jan Egeland, the United Nations undersecretary general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator …

'Chickenhawk'  —  ``IT'S TOUCHING that you're so concerned about the military in Iraq," a reader in Wyoming e-mails in response to one of my columns on the war.  ``But I have a suspicion you're a phony.  So tell me, what's your combat record?  Ever serve?"

Saddam hospitalized amid hunger strike  —  Prosecutors say ex-Iraqi leader being tube-fed after 17-day protest  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein was hospitalized Sunday on the 17th day of a hunger strike and being fed with a tube, the chief prosecutor said as the former Iraqi leader's trial nears …

War Dead Flown to Iran  —  JERUSALEM — The bodies of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers killed by the Israeli army in Lebanon have been transported to Syria and flown to Tehran, senior Lebanese political sources said.  —  Israeli and Egyptian security officials confirmed the news …

Sectarian break-up of Iraq is now inevitable, admit officials  —  The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, meets Tony Blair in London today as violence in Iraq reaches a new crescendo and senior Iraqi officials say the break up of the country is inevitable.

'It Looked Weird and Felt Wrong'  —  From its first days in Iraq in April 2003, the Army's 4th Infantry Division made an impression on soldiers from other units — the wrong one.  —  "We slowly drove past 4th Infantry guys looking mean and ugly," recalled Sgt. Kayla Williams …

Bar Talk  —  The brutal, sleepless heat stirs me toward an anecdote, and although I've yet to figure out an underlying point to this ...  I've said I wouldn't dicuss the current MidEast Mess, but some context is in order.  —  You will not find a more ardent supporter of Israel than myself.