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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

Iraqi Hospitals Are War's New 'Killing Fields'  —  Medical Sites Targeted By Shiite Militiamen  —  BAGHDAD — In a city with few real refuges from sectarian violence — not government offices, not military bases, not even mosques — one place always emerged as a safe haven: hospitals.

Rumsfeld Assails Critics of War Policy  —  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld warned yesterday that "moral and intellectual confusion" over the Iraq war and the broader anti-terrorism effort could sap American willpower and divide the country, and he urged renewed resolve to confront extremists waging "a new type of fascism."

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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:

The media war against Israel  —  Early in the recent Lebanon war, the blogosphere revealed the fabrication of images by Reuters, whose reputation is now in shreds among those dwindling numbers in the western mainstream media who still acknowledge there is such a thing as the truth.

Witness for the Prosecution?  —  THE NEW YORK TIMES IS STILL VICTIMIZING INNOCENT DUKIES.  —  Imagine you are the world's most powerful newspaper and you have invested your credibility in yet another story line that is falling apart, crumbling as inexorably as Jayson Blair's fabrications …