Breaking: Group claims responsibility for Centanni abduction (Video added)  —  The "Holy Jihad Brigades"?  Whose very first act of holy jihad is to kidnap a reporter and a cameraman?  —  That's a shrewd way to get press, but at the rather large expense of antagonizing the Palestinian terror …

12 arrested after Northwest Airlines turned back  —  Passengers 'looked into plastic bags, passed cell phones'  —  AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (CNN) — Dutch police said Wednesday that 12 passengers were in custody after a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Mumbai, India, returned to Amsterdam when several people on board aroused concern.

A Law Unto Herself  —  TO end her opinion in American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency — the case that enjoins President Bush's warrantless surveillance program — Judge Anna Diggs Taylor quoted Earl Warren (referring to him as "Justice Warren," not "Chief Justice Warren," …

"Rockey I": If it sounds too good to be true...  The good news is that CNN seems to have finally stop obsessing over John Mark Karr.  Instead, they've found a new soap opera to go ga-ga over, Katrina survivor Rockey Vaccarella, who drove his FEMA trailer from his home in ravaged St. Bernard Parish …

Don't Marry Career Women  —  Guys: A word of advice.  Marry pretty women or ugly ones.  Short ones or tall ones.  Blondes or brunettes.  Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career.  —  Why?  Because if many social scientists are to be believed, you run a higher risk of having a rocky marriage.

E&P editor attacks bloggers over Reutersgate  —  I was going to make the title, "E&P editor attacks bloggers over Reutersgate, misrepresents pretty much everything," but his article's only the first of two parts.  So perhaps the misrepresentations will be addressed in today's exciting conclusion.

L'Affaire GoldFrisch III: We All Knew This Was Coming  —  This post was co-written with Tim Dreier of The One-Handed Economist; both of us are graduates of the University of Oregon in Eugene, where Deb Frisch now lives.  As a matter of full disclosure, we've had a few scrapes with Frisch of our own …

Iran Sanctions Could Fracture Coalition  —  It was always going to be tough for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to hold together her fragile coalition of world powers trying to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions.  The Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon has made that job harder.

Is the Next Step a Draft?  —  Rhonda Schwartz Reports:  —  An Iraq War veterans group says the call-up of thousands of Marines from the Individual Ready Reserve, announced by the Pentagon today, is "one of the last steps before resorting to a draft."  —  "This move should serve as a wake …

Alaska Gov. Murkowski Concedes Defeat in GOP Gubernatorial Primary  —  ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski, whose perceived missteps over the past four years have turned him into one of the most unpopular governors in state history, soundly lost his bid for re-election …

Comments Haunt Another Senator  —  In a moment of unusual candor for a veteran senator fighting for his political life, Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) offered this blunt self-assessment a few months ago: "I can self-destruct in one sentence," he told supporters.  "Sometimes in one word."

Pope sacks astronomer over evolution debate  —  Pope Benedict XVI has sacked his chief astronomer after a series of public clashes over the theory of evolution.  —  He has removed Father George Coyne from his position as director of the Vatican Observatory after the American Jesuit priest …

Is the Bush Doctrine Dead?  —  The president's critics are wrong.  That includes the neocons.  —  In recent months, we have been bombarded with reports of the death of the Bush Doctrine.  Of course, there have been many such reports since the doctrine was first promulgated at the start …

On the Trail of the Fast-Food Jihadists  —  They came from successful immigrant families and their English neighbors described them as nice boys who seemed harmless.  So what turned the British Muslim youth behind this month's massive terror plot into extremists?

McCain faults administration on Iraq  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio - Republican Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), a staunch defender of the Iraq war, on Tuesday faulted the Bush administration for misleading Americans into believing the conflict would be "some kind of day at the beach."

Connecticut Senate: Lieberman, Lamont Still in a Toss-Up  —  Lieberman (I) 45% Lamont (D) 43%  —  America's two-party system generally marginalizes Independent and third-party candidacies, but every once in a while a contest shows the system is not set in concrete: Ross Perot running for President …

Bush clings to a lost cause in Iraq  —  George W. Bush sounds increasingly like your average defiant teenager.  The teenager won't clean his room, and the president won't leave Iraq.  —  The president's latest news conference was another installment of rebel with a cause that a shrinking number of Americans believe in.