Iraq Panel Calls Conditions 'Grave and Deteriorating'  —  Conditions in Iraq are "grave and deteriorating," with the prospect that a "slide toward chaos" could topple the U.S.-backed government and trigger a regional war unless the United States changes course and seeks a broader diplomatic …

Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week  —  Forget the minimum wage.  Or outsourcing jobs overseas.  The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own: They will have to work five days a week starting in January.  —  The horror.

On a Wing and a Prayer  —  Grievance theater at Minneapolis International Airport. … Those are the words that started it all.  Six bearded imams are said to have shouted them out while offering evening prayers as they and 141 other passengers waited at the gate for their flight out of Minneapolis International Airport.

ERRORS, OMISSIONS, INVENTIONS AND FALSEHOODS  —  A reader writes that he received the email message below sent by Professor Kenneth Stein of Emory University and the Carter Center.  Professor Stein's expertise lies in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Does water STILL flow on Mars?  —  Dramatic new photographs of Mars have revealed the possible existence of water on its surface.  —  The images - released for the first time on Wednesday by the US space agency NASA - were taken earlier this year in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the Red Planet.

Mary Cheney and Partner Are About to Be Moms  —  Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter, is pregnant.  She and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, are "ecstatic" about the baby, due in late spring, said a source close to the couple.  —  It's a baby boom for grandparents Dick …

Some Republicans Take a Scorched-Hill Tack  —  Leaving Budget Decisions  —  To Democrats Could Disrupt  —  New Leadership's Agenda  —  WASHINGTON — Like a retreating army, Republicans are tearing up railroad track and planting legislative land mines to make it harder for Democrats …

The Trippy Dream Factory of David Lynch  —  There are, in the movies, few places creepier to spend time than in David Lynch's head.  It is a head where the wild things grow, twisting and spreading like vines, like fingers, and taking us in their captive embrace.

Hospital company agrees to let Las Vegas nurses return to work  —  LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nurses would return to work at two Las Vegas hospitals under an agreement brokered Tuesday by elected officials who said they wanted to avoid a prolonged strike.  —  "The labor strife is over, at least temporarily …

Hawaii Schools' Racial Enrollment Upheld  —  The Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii, private schools with an endowment of more than $6 billion, are entitled to limit their enrollment to Native Hawaiian children, a federal appeals court panel in San Francisco ruled yesterday by a vote of 8 to 7.

Why We Persevere  —  BAGHDAD — I don't see a civil war in Iraq.  I don't see a constituency for civil war.  The vast majority of the people want hope for their families, not to massacre their neighbors or divide their country.  A poll conducted in June by the International Republican Institute …

Recreating 'A Christmas Story' for Tourists in Cleveland  —  If Denny Renz were a boy again, he said, he would love nothing more than to re-enact Ralphie Parker's childhood.  —  He would crawl under the kitchen sink the way Ralphie's brother, Randy, did to hide from Mr. Parker, their father in the 1983 movie "A Christmas Story."