Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah  —  DAMASCUS, Syria, July 27 — At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight.

For Some Jews, Israel and Iraq Cloud View on Lieberman  —  HARTFORD, July 26 — Lesley Korzennik walked into a diner in Norwalk recently hoping to vent her frustrations with Senator Joseph I. Lieberman — over his continued support for the war, among a litany of other things.  "I'm furious at him," she said.

Wal-Mart focus on close-in suburbs  —  Passage of city bill requiring big-box stores to pay `living wage' likely to cause retail giant to turn to strategy of ringing city with Supercenters  —  The world's largest retailer suffered a blow on Wednesday when Chicago aldermen passed a bill …

Republicans Near a Vote to Increase U.S. Wage  —  WASHINGTON, July 27 — Under intense pressure from their moderate wing, House Republican leaders moved on Thursday toward allowing a vote Friday on an increase in the minimum wage before sending anxious lawmakers home for a month of campaigning in the battle for control of Congress.

Conrad Burns chastises Hotshots over Billings fire  —  HELENA - Republican Sen. Conrad Burns chastised a group of firefighters over the weekend for doing a "poor job" of squelching a 92,000-acre blaze near Billings, a state report shows.  —  Burns and the firefighters …

The Bush Administration Draft Hamdan Response Bill  —  Here's one version of the draft legislation that the Bush Administration is considering in the wake of Hamdan.  I believe it's the same version that the New York Times and Washington Post have reported on in recent days.

Reynolds airs his ads early  —  Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), who is in charge of keeping Congress in GOP hands this fall, surprised the political establishment yesterday by airing an early television advertisement that made no mention of his party affiliation.

A Blight Unto the Nations  —  I've felt many emotions about the Israelis before.  I've admired them for their accomplishments — building a flourishing state out of almost nothing.  I've hated them for their systematic dispossession of the Palestinians — even as they smugly congratulated themselves …

Rice has Mideast on her mind at Asian summit  —  KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took a day off from her bid to untangle the Middle East crisis, but fallout from the fighting trailed her to an East Asia security summit.  —  Rice flew all night from Europe to Malaysia …

A Few Questions  —  Why does the president call the secretary of state "Condi"?  And what exactly is his philosophy?  —  Why does President Bush refer in public to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as "Condi"?  Did Dwight Eisenhower call his Secretary of State "Johnny"?

Democrats launch 'Six for '06' agenda  —  Party unveils campaign themes, says elections will be about Bush  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Senate's top Democrat says 1994's "Contract with America," the Republican campaign agenda the year the GOP regained control of Congress — was an "urban myth."