Hizbullah likely to retain weapons  —  Hizbullah will not hand over its weapons to the Lebanese government but rather refrain from exhibiting them publicly, according to a new compromise that is reportedly brewing between Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Seniora and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Muslims face extra checks in new travel crackdown  —  THE Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk.  —  The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people …

A Gap In Their Armor  —  The Democratic Party has a self-image problem.  —  Talk to Democrats at every level about the strong position the party is in for this fall's elections and the conversation inevitably ends with a variation of: "Yeah, if we don't blow it."

George Allen's America  —  "MY FRIENDS, we're going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas," Sen. George F. Allen told a rally of Republican supporters in Southwest Virginia last week.  "And it's important that we motivate and inspire people for something."

The Triumph of Unrealism  —  Five weeks have passed since the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers provoked Israel to launch its most unsatisfactory military operation in 58 years.  What problem has been solved, or even ameliorated?  —  Hezbollah, often using World War II-vintage rockets …

The New Pork Database  —  A while back, several groups including the Club for Growth, were able to get their hands on the 2007 Labor-HHS appropriations bill that was introduced in the House (but has not yet passed), along with the committee report.  What we found were 1,867 pork projects hidden in the bill.

Clinton Sounds Off on Terror, Republicans  —  Taking a break from his work at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto on Monday, former President Clinton warned Republicans not to politicize the London terror arrests, slammed Sen. Joe Lieberman, whom he campaigned for just a couple weeks ago …

Up Close And Too Personal  —  Katie Couric, Center of Attention, Says She Just Wants to Do Her Job  —  She is already the most heavily scrutinized, psychoanalyzed and gossiped-about anchor in network history, and she hasn't yet uttered a single "good evening" on a CBS newscast.

Latest Bush Approval Rating at 37%  —  Little fundamental change in rating since June  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll finds George W. Bush's presidential job approval rating at 37%, consistent with recent polling.  His approval rating has bounced between 36% and 40% since early June …

Stranger and Stranger  —  WHY IS GEORGE BUSH READING CAMUS?  —  On his summer vacation in Crawford, Texas, George Bush read Albert Camus' novel The Stranger.  I'm not sure what to make of this.  It's usually college freshmen who suddenly take up the French existentialist's slim volume …

ANALYSIS: The IDF's military victory is not enough  —  The question being asked in Israel at the end of the war is: Who won?  This was also asked at the end of the Yom Kippur War and the 1982 Lebanon War, and also following the last, limited confrontation with the Palestinians.

Bush Signs Law to Save War Memorial Cross  —  President Bush on Monday signed a law transferring a 29-foot-tall Latin cross high on a hill in San Diego to the federal government, stepping into a long-running dispute over the separation of church and state.  —  Mr. Bush, in the latest unusual …

Assad: American plan for a new Mideast has collapsed  —  America's plan for a "new Middle East" has collapsed after Hizbullah's successes in fighting against Israel, Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Tuesday in Damascus.  —  "The Middle East they (the Americans) aspire to ... has become an illusion," he said.

Don't Trust If They Won't Verify  —  Once again, fake news is in the news, as it turns out that many moving stories of carnage in Lebanon were not only moving, but, well, fake.  This raises major questions about the future of the news business, and offers a significant threat to free expression.

Primary election day arrives  —  Hotly contested races seen in bids for governor, Congress, commission  —  As the most hotly contested primary election in a decade or more dawns today, candidates and their staffs are in a sprint to the finish.  —  With potentially close primary contests …

Israel humbled by arms from Iran  —  Abandoned Hizbollah positions in Lebanon yesterday revealed conclusive evidence that Syria - and almost certainly Iran - provided the anti-tank missiles that have blunted the power of Israel's once invincible armour.  —  After one of the fiercest confrontations …

We Need Our Own MI5  —  What lessons can we draw from the recent foiled plot to bring down U.S.-bound airliners with liquid bombs?  —  The first concerns the shrewdness of al-Qaeda and its affiliates in continuing to focus their destructive efforts on civil aviation.

Has Bush v. Gore Become the Case That Must Not Be Named?  —  At a law school Supreme Court conference that I attended last fall, there was a panel on "The Rehnquist Court."  No one mentioned Bush v. Gore, the most historic case of William Rehnquist's time as chief justice, and during the Q. and A. no one asked about it.

State briefs: 'Bryson Prayer Force' asks Christians to join  —  KNOX  —  KNOXVILLE — A Christian prayer group is hoping to provide Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Bryson with some divine assistance during his campaign.  —  The "Bryson Prayer Force" is inviting Christians to join …

Link between British suspect and 9/11 conspirator explored  —  THE German authorities are investigating contacts between a Briton being questioned over the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airlines and a key figure in the September 11, 2001, terrorist cell.