South Dakota senator hospitalized  —  WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson (news, bio, voting record) of South Dakota was hospitalized after becoming disoriented Wednesday, weeks before his party is to take control of the Senate by a one-vote margin.  —  Johnson, who turns 60 on Dec. 28 …

McCain Inc.?  —  Some 30 invited corporate representatives and other lobbyists gathered at the Phoenix Park Hotel on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to hear two senior mainstream Republican senators pitch the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain.  They were selling him to establishment Republicans …

Joint Chiefs Advise Change In War Strategy  —  Leaders Seek No Major Troop Increase, Urge Shift in Focus to Support of Iraqi Army  —  The nation's top uniformed leaders are recommending that the United States change its main military mission in Iraq from combating insurgents to supporting Iraqi troops …

Male circumcision greatly reduces HIV risk: studies  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Circumcising men cuts their risk of being infected with the AIDS virus in half, and could prevent hundreds of thousands or even millions of new infections, researchers said on Wednesday.

Judge Upholds Detainee Law  —  In an important victory for the Bush administration, a Clinton appointee to the federal bench upheld the new detainee law that bars Guantanamo prisoners from using American civil courts to challenge their detention.  The same judge, James Robertson …

The End of Pax Americana?  —  WASHINGTON — With hindsight, we may see 2006 as the end of Pax Americana.  Ever since World War II, the United States has used its military and economic superiority to promote a stable world order that has, on the whole, kept the peace and spread prosperity.

Former CNN News Chief To Launch 'IraqSlogger' Site  —  NEW YORK For the past four years there has been no shortage of news and views on Iraq and the long-running war there.  What's been missing: a one-stop-shopping clearinghouse for nonpartisan information, including material coming …

The real purpose behind the imam publicity blitz  —  On Dec. 1, a curious report on the grounded-imams incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport appeared on the website of the Iranian Quran News Agency.  The report quoted extensively from Madhi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.

An Online Newscaster's Appealing Bafflement  —  Amanda Congdon, the comely online newsreader, has a new job.  After her whirlwind departure from the webcast news show Rocketboom, in July, Ms. Congdon — a droll, blond Rosalind Russell for the digital generation — has at last landed at ABCNews.com.

Democrats Plan to Take Control of Iraq Spending  —  Frustrated by the Bush administration's piecemeal financing of the Iraq war, Democrats are planning to assert more control over the billions of dollars a month being spent on the conflict when they take charge of Congress in January.

Peter Boyle, Father on 'Raymond,' Dies at 71  —  Peter Boyle, who left the life of a monk to study acting and went on to become one of the most successful character actors of his time in films like "The Candidate," "Young Frankenstein" and "Monster's Ball," then capped his career with a long stint …

Video: David Duke calls Wolf Blitzer a Jewish extremist  —  Never a dull moment in the Situation Room.  Here's the former Imperial Wizard and analingus expert, live from Tehran, trying hard to distinguish between Jews and Zionists and not succeeding.  At one point, in fact, he actually starts to say …