Families Flee Iraqi River Towns On 4th Day of Sectarian Warfare  —  Families fled in search of safety Monday as open warfare raged for a fourth day between Shiite militias and armed Sunni men in Tigris River towns north of Baghdad.  Militias allied with Iraq's Shiite-led government held sway in Balad city …

Bush to sign law on terror suspects  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush is signing into law today new standards expediting interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects, a bill the White House says strengthens his hand in a time of war.  —  Bush's plan becomes law just six weeks after he acknowledged …

Homes Raided In Rep. Weldon Influence Probe  —  FBI Looks at Business Run By Daughter, Political Ally  —  Federal agents raided the homes of Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and one of his closest political supporters yesterday as part of an investigation into whether the veteran Republican congressman used …

Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?  —  FOR the past several months, I've been wrapping up lengthy interviews with Washington counterterrorism officials with a fundamental question: "Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?"  —  A "gotcha" question?  Perhaps.

Poll: Support for Iraq war at all-time low  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — A poll conducted for CNN over the weekend suggests support among Americans for the war in Iraq is dwindling to an all-time low.  Just 34 percent of those polled say they support the war, while 64 percent say they oppose it.

Venezuela blames fierce U.S. lobbying as Chavez government fails to win U.N. seat  —  CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuelan diplomats blamed heavy-handed U.S. lobbying for their country's failure to muster enough votes to win a U.N. Security Council seat in ten rounds of voting Monday.

Lieberman endorses Bush appointee for U.N. post  —  NEW YORK - Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman on Monday endorsed controversial Bush appointee John Bolton for a permanent slot at the United Nations - putting him at odds once again with Democrats and his Senate colleague, Chris Dodd.

Cheney Hits Heartland, and He Can Feel the Love  —  Grace Mosier lives with her mom and dad, goes to birthday parties, takes ballet classes and is just like a lot of other 6-year-old girls.  Except that she happens to be obsessed with Dick Cheney.  —  "I really, really like him," says Grace …

U.S. Faces Obstacles To Freeing Detainees  —  BERLIN — British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett last week issued the latest European demand to close down the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  The existence of the prison is "unacceptable" and fuels Islamic radicalism around the world …

Hamas official: Is violence Palestinian "disease?"  —  GAZA (Reuters) - A senior figure in Hamas, the Islamist group that heads the Palestinian government, published an article on Tuesday condemning internal violence and questioning whether it had become a "Palestinian disease."

Minnesota Poll: Wetterling is ahead of Bachmann 48% to 40%  —  The congressional page scandal might have influenced some respondents for the DFLer.  —  DFLer Patty Wetterling leads Republican Michele Bachmann 48 to 40 percent in the hot race for Congress in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District …

MATIER AND ROSS  —  Has the mayor's new girlfriend, who is only 20, been drinking?  —  San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's new squeeze, Brittanie Mountz, just turned 20 last month — and that raises a couple of questions about the couple's nights on the town.

Relatives have 'inside track' in lobbying for tax dollars  —  Members of Congress and their staffs are barred from using their positions for personal profit.  But their spouses and other relatives can — and often do — cash in when lawmakers spend taxpayer dollars.

North Korean Fuel Identified as Plutonium  —  American intelligence agencies have concluded that North Korea's test explosion last week was powered by plutonium that North Korea harvested from its small nuclear reactor, according to officials who have reviewed the results of atmospheric sampling since the blast.

Look Out for Party Switchers  —  The morning after the 1994 election, while Democrats were licking their wounds, they got kicked again when Sen. Richard Shelby announced that he was switching his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.  Shortly after Shelby's switch, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell jumped to the GOP side too.

Giant-Killer Lamont Stumbles  —  Democrat Will Need Republican Help to Unseat Lieberman  —  Democratic Senate nominee Ned Lamont and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) met here Monday for their first general election debate, and the insurgent candidate did not get one direct question …