Some in G.O.P. Say Iran Threat Is Played Down  —  Some senior Bush administration officials and top Republican lawmakers are voicing anger that American spy agencies have not issued more ominous warnings about the threats that they say Iran presents to the United States.

Pluto gets the boot  —  Pluto no longer a planet, say astronomers  —  PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) — Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.

Is John McCain Running in '08 From a Third Party?  —  ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY DEGREES!  —  What do Air America Radio, Barack Obama's Senate campaign, the Clinton Global Initiative, Democratic gubernatorial candidate John DeStefano in Connecticut, the campaign of Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm in Michigan …

In New Method for Stem Cells, Viable Embryos  —  Biologists have developed a technique for establishing colonies of human embryonic stem cells from an early human embryo without destroying it.  This method, if confirmed in other laboratories, would seem to remove the principal objection to the research.

General: Iran Training Shiite Insurgents  —  WASHINGTON — The Iranian government is training and equipping much of the Shiite insurgency in Iraq, a senior U.S. general said Wednesday, drawing one of the most direct links by the Pentagon.  —  Brig. Gen. Michael Barbero also said it was too soon …

FDA Allows OTC Sales of Plan B  —  The Food and Drug Administration approved an application today making the long-debated emergency contraceptive Plan B, commonly known as the "morning-after pill," available without a prescription to women 18 and older.  —  The FDA said Barr Laboratories …

A Matter of Appearances  —  When Judge Anna Diggs Taylor was given the job of deciding whether the Bush administration's wiretapping program was unconstitutional, she certainly understood that she would be ruling on one of the most politically charged cases in recent history.

NWA flight disrupted; 12 arrested  —  A passenger on the India-bound plane — the man who first alerted the FBI to Zacarias Moussaoui five years ago — said the tense situation was handled well.  —  WASHINGTON - A Northwest Airlines plane flying from the Netherlands to India was escorted …

Gaza Captors of 2 Newsmen Pressure U.S.  —  An unknown Islamic group on Wednesday issued a sweeping demand for the release of all Muslim prisoners held in the United States in exchange for two Fox News television journalists seized at gunpoint last week in Gaza.

Allen Calls Webb Aide, Apologizes For Remark  —  Virginia Sen. George Allen apologized directly to S.R. Sidarth yesterday, telling the 20-year-old Democratic campaign staffer that he was sorry for offending him with remarks that have generated nationwide criticism for being racially insensitive.

Bush's New Iraq Argument: It Could Be Worse  —  Of all the words that President Bush used at his news conference this week to defend his policies in Iraq, the one that did not pass his lips was "progress."  —  For three years, the president tried to reassure Americans that more progress was being made in Iraq than they realized.

Relearning Lessons in the War on Terror  —  From the recent Israel-Hezbollah war in southern Lebanon to the jihadists in Iraq's Sunni Triangle to the repeated efforts by Islamists across the globe to trump Sept. 11, what old lessons about terrorism are we in the West finding ourselves having to relearn?

Christian Coalition losing chapters  —  Three disgruntled state affiliates have severed ties with the Christian Coalition of America, one of the nation's most powerful conservative groups during the 1990s but now buffeted by complaints over finances, leadership and its plans to veer into nontraditional policy areas.

Incumbent on the Brink  —  Can Sen. Santorum survive?  —  JANESVILLE, Pa.—Until recently, Bob Casey Jr.'s strategy for unseating Republican Sen. Rick Santorum had been working so well that Mr. Casey could behave like the incumbent.  —  Taking advantage of a double-digit lead in the polls …