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.

Pander and Run  —  After years of struggling to define their own approach to post-Sept. 11 foreign policy, Democrats seem finally to have hit on one.  It's called pandering.  In those rare cases when George W. Bush shows genuine sensitivity to America's allies and propounds a broader …

Detainee Abuse Charges Feared  —  An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts.

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.

A Time To Act  —  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's just-concluded trip to Lebanon, Israel and Rome was an exercise in grace, bravery and, to my regret, wrongly focused diplomacy.  Especially disappointing is the fact that she resisted all suggestions that the first order of business …

Cindy Sheehan Buys Property in Crawford  —  War protester Cindy Sheehan has purchased a 5-acre plot in Crawford with some of the insurance money she received after her son was killed in Iraq.  —  The group she helps lead, Gold Star Families for Peace, says on its Web site that it will return next month …

Execution of a teenage girl  —  A television documentary team has pieced together details surrounding the case of a 16-year-old girl, executed two years ago in Iran.  —  On 15 August, 2004, Atefah Sahaaleh was hanged in a public square in the Iranian city of Neka.

How critical is the Los Angeles Times' condition?  —  A picture, or better yet, a graph, is worth a thousand words.  —  As you can see, in 1970, nearly 1 out of 6 people living in the L.A. basin subscribed to the Los Angeles Times everyday.  While the population has multiplied almost 70% in the 35 years …

Christians Fleeing Lebanon Denounce Hezbollah  —  TYRE, Lebanon, July 27 — The refugees from southern Lebanon spilled out of packed cars into the dark street here Thursday evening, gulping bottles of water and squinting in the glare of the headlights to find family members and friends.

Kidnapping Mexican Democracy  —  MEXICO CITY — To illustrate the "ad terrorem" method by which truth was imposed in totalitarian societies, Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski told a story: Two girls race each other in a park, the one who is behind repeatedly proclaiming at the top of her lungs, "I'm winning!

Blair to tell Bush: we need a ceasefire  —  Drawn out Lebanon crisis will boost militants across Arab world, PM fears  —  Tony Blair will press George Bush today to support "as a matter of urgency" a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of a UN security council resolution next week, according to Downing Street sources.