FEDS ARREST MAN THEY SAY PLANNED TO DETONATE GRENADES IN ILLINOIS SHOPPING MALL  —  Dec. 8: Courtroom artist's drawing is a man identified by authorities as Derrick Shareef, 22, of Rockford, Ill., as he appeared before a judge.  —  CHICAGO — A man has been arrested by federal agents …

AP Stands By Disputed Iraq Story, Calls Charges 'Plain Wrong'  —  NEW YORK Charges that The Associated Press had been duped into running a false story on six Iraqis who were allegedly set on fire two weeks ago — and had used as a source a supposedly fictional Iraqi police captain …

A True American Hero  —  Jeane Kirkpatrick, 1926-2006.  —  When I first met Jeane Kirkpatrick in 1972, she was an academic political scientist mainly interested in domestic politics.  She was also a Democrat and a close associate of Hubert Humphrey who, both as a senator …

President slips to all-time low in the Zogby Poll as key demographic groups jump ship  —  The national job approval rating of President Bush has plummeted to 30%, an all-time low in the latest Zogby International telephone poll, sinking below the 31% approval rating he dropped to in early June.

Foley panel: GOP didn't protect pages  —  WASHINGTON - The House ethics committee reported Friday that Republican lawmakers and aides failed to protect young male pages from former Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record)'s improper advances, concluding an investigation into a scandal …

Speaking frankly about Israel and Palestine  —  Jimmy Carter says his recent book is drawing knee-jerk accusations of anti-Israel bias.  —  I SIGNED A CONTRACT with Simon & Schuster two years ago to write a book about the Middle East, based on my personal observations as the Carter Center …

Bush Reaction to Report Worries Father's Aides  —  Former White House advisers to George H.W. Bush are keenly disappointed and concerned about the current President Bush's initial reaction to the report by the Iraq Study Group.  —  They consider him rather dismissive of the group's conclusions …

Sherrod Brown: First We Go After Big Pharma  —  WASHINGTON DISPATCH: The senator-elect from Ohio weighs in on drug-pricing reform, Iraq, the '08 campaign, and (oh yeah, that!) trade.  —  Fresh from victory in Ohio's knock-down drag-out Senate race, Sherrod Brown is happily preparing to exit …

Firefly Reborn as Online Universe  —  Like Capt. Mal Reynolds stumbling in after a bar fight, the short-lived but much beloved sci-fi series Firefly will soon make an unexpected return, not as a TV show, but as a massively multiplayer online game.  —  Now that's shiny.

Condoms 'too big' for Indian men  —  A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men.  —  The study found that more than half of the men measured had penises that were shorter than international standards for condoms.

GOP senator criticizes Iraq war in emotional speech  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — In an emotional speech on the Senate floor Thursday night, Sen Gordon Smith, a moderate Republican from Oregon who has been a supporter of the war in Iraq, said the U.S. military's "tactics have failed" and he "cannot support that anymore."

Same-sex marriage file closed for good, PM says  —  Tory attempt to restore traditional definition fails in House; social conservatives cry foul as Harper declares debate over  —  OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has declared the contentious issue of same-sex marriage to be permanently closed.

Defense secretary laments Abu Ghraib in farewell  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaving office, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld bade a sometimes emotional farewell Friday, saying the single worst day of his nearly six years there was when he learned of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse in Iraq.