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.

Early 'Maybe' From Obama Jolts '08 Field  —  Senator Barack Obama's announcement that he might run for president is altering the early dynamics of the 2008 Democratic nominating contest.  The move has created complications for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as she steps up her own preparations …

Why Military Calls to Raise Iraq Effort Grow  —  Rumsfeld Exit Revives Push to Boost Troops,  —  Money in One Last Effort to Stabilize Baghdad  —  WASHINGTON — As demands mount to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, a growing number of senior military officials are arguing that the only way to salvage …

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.

Bush Is Weighing Options for New Strategy in Iraq, Aide Says  —  Hadley Says Previously Rejected Ideas Are on Table, Including Suggestions in Rumsfeld's Memo  —  Nearly four years after invading Iraq, President Bush is sorting through an array of options — none of them easy — for a way out …

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.

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.

Sectarian clashes in West Beirut kill 1  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon - Violent clashes broke out Sunday between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the capital, leaving one man dead from gunshot wounds at a time when tensions throughout Lebanon threaten the country's fragile sectarian and political balance.

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 …

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.

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 …

Congress open to passing bill on immigration  —  Congress will approve an immigration bill that will grant citizenship rights to most of the 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. after Democrats take control next month, predict both sides on Capitol Hill.

'Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.  Know the line has held, your job is done.'  —  E very year for more than a decade, at the height of the season, Morrill Worcester would pack up a truckload of his Christmas wreaths and head down from Maine to Arlington National Cemetery.

Episcopal Churches To Vote on Departure  —  Fairfax Congregations Dismayed by Direction  —  Two of the country's largest and most historic Episcopal congregations — both in Fairfax County — will vote next week on whether to leave the U.S. church on ideological grounds and affiliate instead with a controversial Nigerian archbishop.

Bathing in Black Gold for Health and Profit in Azerbaijan  —  NAFTALAN, Azerbaijan — Outside this improbable spa in a remote part of the former Soviet Union, oil rigs bob on a hardscrabble plain of rocks, shrubs and rusting industrial equipment that could easily pass for a stretch of West Texas.

Hush, Mama, Don't You Cry, a New Yellow Wiggle Will Sing  —  The millions of families with preschool-age children around the world who have bought CDs and DVDs featuring the Wiggles, the Australian foursome known as much for their cheery color-coded jerseys as their catchy tunes …