Wave of retaliation sweeps Iraq  —  Shiite bloc's threatened walkout could lead to the government's collapse.  —  BAGHDAD — Iraq's civil war worsened Friday as Shiite and Sunni Arabs engaged in retaliatory attacks after coordinated car bombings that killed more than 200 people in a Shiite neighborhood the day before.

Iran and Syria Helping Hizballah Rearm  —  As Lebanon's government tries to maintain its shaky grip on power, sources tell TIME that Tehran and Damascus are shipping weapons to the militant Shi'ite group  —  Iran is smuggling weapons through Syria to re-arm Lebanese allies Hizballah …

Despite a Year of Ire and Angst, Little Has Changed on Wiretaps  —  When President Bush went on national television one Saturday morning last December to acknowledge the existence of a secret wiretapping program outside the courts, the fallout was fierce and immediate.

Islamic fears kill off children's thriller … A LEADING children's publisher has dumped a novel because of political sensitivity over Islamic issues.  —  Scholastic Australia pulled the plug on the Army of the Pure after booksellers and librarians said they would not stock the adventure thriller …

Take Your Time, Speaker Pelosi  —  I'm getting quite irritated at the immediate reaction among white male liberal DC kewl kidz (and Maureen Dowd) to discern catty motives on the part of Nancy Pelosi.  Digby's noted it before, but it's not stopping.  Look at the first two paragraphs in an email …

I am slightly miffed  —  Originally uploaded by dynamist.  —  The kid in the picture above doesn't look very harmful, right?  He's reasonably well-dressed, anyway.  But actually, he is quite a large fellow, and likes to assault random women with the help of an equally vile friend of his.

Stores revert to 'Merry Christmas'  —  Wal-Mart leads way, backing off from 'happy holidays'  —  Christmas is back at Wal-Mart - not that it really ever left.  —  After testing out a generic, yet all-inclusive, "happy holidays" theme last year, the nation's largest retailer announced …

How many more were poisoned?  —  As the deadliest poison known to man was revealed to have killed Russian exile Alexander Litvinenko, the question last night was: How many more lives could it claim?  —  The 43-year-old former KGB officer was the victim of polonium 210, a radioactive element used as a trigger in nuclear weapons.

What Grandma Would Say  —  We don't need to solve the immigration problem forever.  We need to solve it now.  —  It is July 10, 1858, a Saturday evening, and Lincoln is speaking in Chicago.  The night before his opponent in their race for the U.S. Senate, Stephen Douglas …

Energy Firms Come to Terms With Climate Change  —  While the political debate over global warming continues, top executives at many of the nation's largest energy companies have accepted the scientific consensus about climate change and see federal regulation to cut greenhouse gas emissions as inevitable.

FL-13: Who Is To Blame?  —  This will be an unpopular post with my Democratic brethren.  It is about who is to blame for frustrating the voters' intent in the House race in Florida's 13th Congressional district (Katherine Harris's old seat).  While it seems absolutely clear most voters wanted …