Secret American talks with insurgents break down  —  SECRET talks in which senior American officials came face-to-face with some of their most bitter enemies in the Iraqi insurgency broke down after two months of meetings, rebel commanders have disclosed.  —  The meetings, hosted by Iyad Allawi …

POISON SPY: IT WAS IN HIS TEA  —  Cups were 'nuked'  —  POISONED former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko WAS murdered by radioactive tea, it was revealed yesterday.  —  Scotland Yard detectives have quarantined cups and saucers which show signs of being heavily contaminated with polonium 210 …

US bugged Diana's phone on night of death crash  —  The American secret service was bugging Princess Diana's telephone conversations without the approval of the British security services on the night she died, according to the most comprehensive report on her death, to be published this week.

Jefferson swarms back to win re-election  —  Confounding political pundits and a slew of rivals who had become confident of his defeat, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, neatly sidestepped a roiling federal corruption probe to win re-election on Saturday to his ninth term in Congress.

ISG Prescribes Vietnam All Over Again  —  "...[Y]ou have my assurance of continued assistance in the post-settlement period and that we will respond with full force should the settlement be violated by North Vietnam."  —  That was a pledge by President Richard M. Nixon to Republic …

Wounded to get millions in compensation  —  Hundreds of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be awarded millions of pounds in compensation following a ruling by the Government that they are victims of crime not war.  —  Forty injured servicemen are to receive payments of up to £500,000 each in a series of test cases.

Bolton's successor  —  WASHINGTON — Zalmay Khalilzad, who was announced this week as leaving as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, is the leading prospect to replace John Bolton as envoy to the United Nations.  —  President Bush was reported by aides as looking for someone who approximates Bolton's combination …

Imam, a U.S. citizen, denies terrorism links  —  An Arizona man at the center of a controversy defended his Islamic fundraising activities and his group's actions on the flight from which they were removed.  —  A Phoenix imam who was one of six Muslim men removed from a US Airways flight …

Assad regime to kill Berri if he convenes parliament  —  The Assad regime is in a hurry.  Nasrallah hasn't been able to deliver quickly enough.  The Grand Serail is a fortress, and the Lebanese street is slowly turning against the protestors, who don't even have safe passage back to their homes now.

Defeating Terrorism: An Oddly Simple First Step  —  Funny how neo-cons want to say that everything about the Sixties was meaningless, insignificant, silly, indulgent and un-American, except the Vietnam war.  —  The war in Iraq has pushed a lot of buttons with this crowd, but it all seems to be wired, to some degree, to Southeast Asia.

Remembering Daniel Faulkner  —  We mark the 25th anniversary of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner's murder over at Hot Air.  —  Widow Maureen Faulkner keeps the flame alive: … Michael Smerconish's book preview is here.  More on the memorials being held this weekend.

"If I quit blogging, it will be because I get tired of having to pay attention to the news all the time."  —  Glenn Reynolds says he said that back in 2002.  He's talking about blogger burnout with Bob Wright on Bloggingheads.tv.  The point is that the news is "fundamentally depressing," …

Islam advisor cites 'calmer' Guantanamo  —  The Arab American, a layman, says prisoners' behavior has improved since he began helping alter military practices.  —  GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — Some prisoners call him "Brother."  Others call him an enemy of God.  Some don't speak to him at all.