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 …

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.

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.

If only Iraq had — were capable of — a normal civil war  —  When the poker-faced co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group heard a commentator, who had been invited to advise the group, say that America's aim must be "victory," Baker's stony visage betrayed the bitter amusement that the word "victory" now occasions.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

National Health Care?  We're Halfway There  —  WHEN Democrats assume control of Congress next month, they may be dusting off some long-dormant proposals on how to deal with the growing disconnect between health insurance and employment.  From 2000 to 2005, the proportion of workers aged 18 …

Daschle Will Not Seek Presidency  —  He served as a senator representing South Dakotans in Washington for more than 25 years and has invested more than a year laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign.  —  Tom Daschle was expected to make a decision about running for president …

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.

Journalism School Probes Possible Cheating on Ethics Exam  —  Talk Is Tense at Columbia, but Some See Incident as Real-Life Lesson  —  NEW YORK — It was an ethics exam in a journalism class, and someone may have cheated.  —  Ironic?  Yes.  Unfortunate?  Certainly.

Venezuela's Chávez Wins Decisive Victory  —  Leftist President Given Another Six Years To Consolidate His 'Bolivarian Revolution'  —  By an overwhelming margin, Venezuelans reelected President Hugo Chávez on Sunday, further extending a presidency that began when the former paratrooper …