Iran hands over nuclear response  —  TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Tuesday handed over its reply to an incentives package by world powers aimed at allaying Western fears that Tehran seeks to build atomic bombs, Iran's state-run Arabic-language Al-Alam television reported.

Missing Fox News crew: Blogburst  —  Fox News Channel reporter Steve Centanni and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig are still missing.  It has now been more than a week since their kidnapping at gunpoint in Gaza by unknown terrorists.  FNC top management, the journalists' families …

Exclusive Poll Results Show Allen Losing Ground  —  GOP Allen's Once Large Lead Evaporates: In an election for the United States Senate in Virginia today, 8/21/06, incumbent Republican George Allen edges Democrat challenger James Webb 48% to 45%, according to an exclusive SurveyUSA poll conducted for W*USA-TV in Washington, DC.

Washington Whispers  —  Don't laugh, but a loaner training kayak in the pool of the House of Representatives gym made the difference in President Bush's House victory for a pork-busting line-item veto.  "That's spot on," says Colorado Rep. Mark Udall, who helped talk 34 other Democrats into backing the measure 247 to 172.

Poll: GOP up after terror arrests  —  WASHINGTON — The arrest of terror suspects in London has helped buoy President Bush to his highest approval rating in six months and dampen Democratic congressional prospects to their lowest in a year.  —  In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday …

Judge Orders Justice Department Investigation of Leak to CBS Report  —  A federal judge has ordered a Justice Department probe into how CBS News obtained a story two years ago disclosing an FBI investigation into a pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Sec/Def Lieberman?  —  Plus Steely Dan, Hot Tuna and more  —  Frank Rich writes here of these same folks who gave us the catastrophe that is Iraq and cheered Israel toward its folly who now "apoplectically fret that Mr. Lamont's victory signals the hijacking of the Democratic Party by the far left …

Who's the senator who wants spending kept secret?  —  The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper, The Examiner  —  WASHINGTON - A Senate staffer — who shall remain nameless here — must have awakened on the wrong side of the bed Monday morning.  Said staffer exploded in response …

In Election Push, Bush Faults Talk of Iraq Pullout  —  President Bush seized on Monday on Democratic calls for withdrawal from Iraq to make an election-year case that his political rivals did not properly understand the threats to the nation and would create a more dangerous world.

ANALYSIS: Policing in Gaza has blunted IDF fighting abilities  —  One of the main conclusions of the war against Hezbollah will be the  —  fact that the fighting abilities of the ground forces deployed by the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon have been blunted by years of police action in the territories.

Obsessed Bin Laden wanted to kill Whitney Houston's husband  —  Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is so obsessed with singer Whitney Houston he thought about killing her husband, Bobby Brown, it was claimed last night.  —  The suggestion is made by Sudanese poet and novelist Kola Boof …

Too Few Overachievers  —  Academically Stressed Students Aren't the Country's Norm  —  Be careful when you visit Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda.  It is full of unhappy, overworked teenagers.  Julie went into a tailspin when her private admissions advisertold her she had no chance of getting into Stanford.

A Man, a Plan, a Dam.  Then, an F.B.I. Call.  —  On July 25, Jim Bensman of Alton, Ill., attended a public meeting on the proposed construction of a bypass channel for fish at a dam on the Mississippi River.  Less than a week later, he was under investigation by the F.B.I. — the victim …

Iran's Navy Attacks and Boards Romanian Rig in Gulf (Update3)  —  Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) — Iran attacked and seized control of a Romanian oil rig working in its Persian Gulf waters this morning one week after the Iranian government accused the European drilling company of ``hijacking'' another rig.

Scientists Offer Proof of 'Dark Matter'  —  Analysis of Galactic Collision Said to Reveal Mysterious Substance  —  For decades, many scientists have theorized that the universe is made up of nearly undetectable mysterious substances called dark matter and dark energy.

Israel, US foil Iran arms transfer  —  ANKARA, Turkey  —  Israeli and American intelligence agencies alerted Turkish authorities last Friday that several Lebanon-bound Iranian planes, loaded with military hardware meant for the Hizbullah, were making their way through Turkish airspace, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

President on Another Planet  —  For a moment there, I was almost encouraged.  George W. Bush, the most resolutely incurious and inflexible of presidents, was reported last week to have been surprised at seeing Iraqi citizens — who ought to be grateful beneficiaries of the American occupation …

Throwing in the Towel  —  The constant calls, the people frightening his children, and the demonstrations in front of his home apparently became a little too much.  —  Dario Ringach, an associate neurobiology professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, decided this month to give …

The Fame Motive  —  Money and power are handy, but millions of ambitious people are after something other than the corner office or the beach house on St. Bart's.  They want to swivel necks, to light a flare in others' eyes, to walk into a crowded room and feel the conversation stop.