Up to 14 hurt in SF hit-and-run spree 7 critical; driver believed to have struck, killed a man in Fremont earlier  —  (08-29) 15:56 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — As many as 14 people were injured this afternoon by a motorist who drove around San Francisco running them down before he was arrested, authorities said.

First the Flood, Now the Fight  —  Critics Say FEMA Is Impeding Gulf Coast Rebuilding As Disputes Hold Up Nearly $1 Billion in Relief Funds  —  Someone had to pay to remove 3,000 dead trees in New Orleans.  The trees, insisted the Federal Emergency Management Agency, couldn't have been killed …

First Source of C.I.A. Leak Admits Role, Lawyer Says  —  Richard L. Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state, has acknowledged that he was the person whose conversation with a columnist in 2003 prompted a long, politically laden criminal investigation in what became known as the C.I.A. leak case …

Bodies with torture marks found in Iraq  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least two dozen bodies, many bearing signs of torture, were found dumped in Shiite areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, and the government almost doubled the death toll from clashes this week between militiamen and Iraqi forces, saying 73 people had died.

Ahmadinejad's High-Stakes Game  —  TEHRAN — Drivers here play a high-risk game of chicken at every intersection.  They barge into the frantic stream of traffic and you think there's going to be a crash for sure.  But at the last moment someone usually gives way, and a collision is avoided.

Facing the Central Questions of Our Time  —  (Note: Remarks as prepared for delivery by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld before the American Legion National Convention yesterday in Salt Lake City, Utah.)  —  Tom [American Legion Commander Tom Bock], I understand that your son is flying …

Coburn: Stevens Blocked My Bill  —  Twelve days ago, at a town meeting in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) accused Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) of obstructing his porkbuster-database bill with an anonymous hold.  —  That's according to an Aug. 18 article in the Fort Smith (Ark.) Times Record:

CNN sorry for Bush speech gaffe  —  NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - CNN apologized Tuesday after an open mike transmitted an anchor's bathroom conversation with another woman live over the network as it was carrying President Bush's speech in New Orleans.  —  "Live From" anchor Kyra Phillips …

Beyond Macaca: The Photograph That Haunts George Allen  —  Barnstorming around Virginia in the re-election campaign that Republican Senator George Allen hopes will provide the impetus for his 2008 run for the presidency, he has suddenly been forced on the defensive.

FEC Officially Votes to Silence Political Speech for Last Two Months of 06 Campaign  —  With a 3-3 vote featuring Democrat commissioners supporting the silencing of political speech against congressional incumbents and Republican commissioners in favoring of allowing it …

Carter Agrees to Hold Talks With Khatami  —  Ex-President of Iran to Visit U.S. Amid Tensions Over Tehran's Nuclear Program  —  For an event that would turn a page in American history, former president Jimmy Carter has agreed in principle to host former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami …

Kidnapped Journalists Recall Chilling Abduction  —  Two kidnapped FOX News journalists freed by gunmen last Sunday described in chilling detail how their abductors calmly discussed killing one of them.  —  "Unfortunately for you, you were with an American," camerman Olaf Wiig said his captors told him.

Broadcast Chief Misused Office, Inquiry Reports  —  State Department investigators have found that the head of the agency overseeing most government broadcasts to foreign countries has used his office to run a "horse racing operation" and that he improperly put a friend on the payroll …

Katie's Extreme Makeover?  —  "Talk about a waistline touch-up," an e-mailer says:  —  The left photo is the official first-pic-of-Katie released by CBS at this year's upfront.  (TVNewser posted it in May.)  The right photo is an edited version of the same photo, from the September issue of Watch magazine, which is owned by CBS.

Women Suddenly Scarce Among Justices' Clerks  —  Everyone knows that with the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the number of female Supreme Court justices fell by half.  The talk of the court this summer, with the arrival of the new crop of law clerks, is that the number of female clerks has fallen even more sharply.