Can 'Magazines' of The Times Subsidize News Coverage?  —  A PERFUME critic?  Yes, The Times now has one.  Chandler Burr's Scent Strip column appears in the high-gloss T: The New York Times Style Magazine, where the often-fluffy lifestyle coverage is a world apart from the kind of journalism in the daily sections of the paper.

How I Came to Love the Veil  —  I used to look at veiled women as quiet, oppressed creatures — until I was captured by the Taliban.  —  In September 2001, just 15 days after the terrorist attacks on the United States, I snuck into Afghanistan, clad in a head-to-toe blue burqa …

Lamont Donates $2 Million To Effort  —  Ned Lamont donated another $2 million to his Senate campaign Saturday - and questioned huge cash expenditures reported by the campaign of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman.  —  The latest donation by Lamont, a wealthy businessman, brings his personal investment in the campaign to $12.7 million.

Bush: 'We've Never Been Stay The Course'  —  During an interview today on ABC's This Week, President Bush tried to distance himself from what has been his core strategy in Iraq for the last three years.  George Stephanopoulos asked about James Baker's plan to develop a strategy for Iraq that is …

Sen. Obama says he's weighing 2008 run  —  WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged Sunday he was considering a run for president in 2008, backing off previous statements that he would not do so.  —  The Illinois Democrat said he could no longer stand by the statements he made after his 2004 election …

Diplomat: U.S. arrogant, stupid in Iraq … (CNN) — A senior U.S. State Department diplomat told Arab satellite network Al Jazeera that there is a strong possibility history will show the United States displayed "arrogance" and "stupidity" in its handling of the Iraq war.

US in secret truce talks with insurgency chiefs  —  AMERICAN officials held secret talks with leaders of the Iraqi insurgency last week after admitting that their two-month clampdown on violence in Baghdad had failed.  —  Few details of the discussions in the Jordanian capital Amman …

Newsweek poll puts Democrats far ahead in Congress  —Text+WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half of Americans, 55 percent, would like to see Democrats take control of Congress, according to a poll by Newsweek magazine released on Saturday.  —  The poll of 1,000 likely voters found …

If we had known then...  WAS IT a mistake to go to war in Iraq?  The latest voice to say so is that of conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online's shrewd editor-at-large and, until last week, a supporter of the war.  —  Goldberg hasn't become a John Murtha clone …

Britain 'risking defeat in Afghanistan'  —  Field Marshal Sir Peter Inge, the former head of Britain's armed forces, has broken ranks to launch an attack on the current military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, warning that British forces risk defeat in Afghanistan.

Christopher Booker's Notebook  —  US firms will fall foul of EU's metric obsession  —  An extraordinary row, involving major European and US industries, is blowing up over the European Commission's determination to make it illegal, in three years' time, for any products made in or imported …