Bush accepts Bolton's U.N. resignation  —  WASHINGTON - Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his temporary appointment expires within weeks, the White House said Monday.  —  Bolton's nomination has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee …

Clinton's Talks With Democrats May Signal Bid for President  —  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun a calculated series of meetings with top New York Democratic officials to signal that she is likely to run for the presidency in 2008 and to ask for their support if she does …

'Fear took over' in Baghdad raid  —  U.S. advisors lament Iraqi troops' conduct.  America's exit strategy hangs in the balance.  —  BURSTS of AK-47 fire hissed past them from several directions at once, showering the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers with pulverized cement and slapping spider-web fractures …

Will Bush Change on Iraq?  —  The debate that will engulf Washington and much of the country this week centers on a question that lurks at the intersection of war strategy and the personality of the commander in chief: after three and a half years, is President Bush ready to abandon his declaration …

Videotape Offers a Window Into a Terror Suspect's Isolation  —  One spring day during his three and a half years as an enemy combatant, Jose Padilla experienced a break from the monotony of his solitary confinement in a bare cell in the brig at the Naval Weapons Station in Charleston, S.C.

TRANSCRIPT: JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER SITS DOWN WITH 'FOX NEWS SUNDAY'  —  The following is a partial transcript of the Dec. 3, 2006, edition of "FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace":  —  "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" HOST CHRIS WALLACE: It's highly unusual for a member of the U.S. Supreme Court to come on a Sunday morning talk show.

Democrats Who Opposed War Move Into Key Positions  —  New Committee Chairmen Had Warned of Postwar Disorder  —  Although given little public credit at the time, or since, many of the 126 House Democrats who spoke out and voted against the October 2002 resolution that gave President Bush authority …

U.S. Report Finds Dismal Training of Afghan Police  —  Five years after the fall of the Taliban, a joint report by the Pentagon and the State Department has found that the American-trained police force in Afghanistan is largely incapable of carrying out routine law enforcement work …

Separating Hyperbole From Horror in Iraq  —  Over the course of last week, an Associated Press article — one subsequently challenged by the military — in which six Sunni worshipers were reportedly doused in kerosene and burned alive by Shiite attackers, became the worst kind of totem.

Biden charms local GOP  —  It was unlike most Columbia Rotary Club luncheons.  —  The speaker was U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a likely candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.  —  The chief topic: the Iraq war.  —  The audience: predominantly Republican.

Look Me Up Under 'Missing Link'  —  On Wikipedia, Oblivion Looms for the Non-Notable  —  The Shiny Diamonds, a spunky band from Canada, make music they call "mind-blowing thrash folk."  On Wednesday, the lads and their songs were tagged with a less flattering description: "non-notable."

Global Warming Gag Order  —  Senators to Exxon: Shut up, and pay up.  —  Washington has no shortage of bullies, but even we can't quite believe an October 27 letter that Senators Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe sent to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.  Its message: Start toeing the Senators' line on climate change, or else.

Chavez wins re-election by wide margin  —  CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez won re-election by a wide margin Sunday, giving the firebrand leftist six more years to redistribute Venezuela's vast oil wealth to the poor and press his campaign to counter U.S. influence in Latin America and beyond.

A Split in the GOP Tent  —  Republicans are good at reinvention.  They have appealed to voters' dark side (Nixon's Southern strategy) as well as to their sunny side (Reagan's "Morning in America").  They have skipped from anti-government populism (Newt Gingrich and the leave-us-alone coalition) …

Censorship fears rise as Iran blocks access to top websites  —  Iran yesterday shut down access to some of the world's most popular websites.  Users were unable to open popular sites including Amazon.com and YouTube following instructions to service providers to filter them.