Not So Fast  —  Why Barack Obama may not run.  —  Just about everybody seems convinced that Sen. Barack Obama is going to run for president.  The Chicago Sun-Times, his hometown paper, is writing as if his candidacy is an established fact.  Newsweek magazine cites sources close to him who claim that he's …

Iranian students hide in fear for lives after venting fury at Ahmadinejad  —  Iranian student activists who staged an angry protest against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week have gone into hiding in fear for their lives after his supporters threatened them with revenge.

Former U.S. Detainee in Iraq Recalls Torment  —  One night in mid-April, the steel door clanked shut on detainee No. 200343 at Camp Cropper, the United States military's maximum-security detention site in Baghdad.  —  American guards arrived at the man's cell periodically over the next several days …

Blood and Money  —  In what might be called the mother of all surprises, Iraq's economy is growing strong, even booming in places.  —  Newsweek International  —  It may sound unreal, given the daily images of carnage and chaos.  But for a certain plucky breed of businessmen, there's good money to be made in Iraq.

After Bankruptcy Filing, Recriminations Fly at Air America  —  In its search for a new chief executive this past summer, Air America Radio interviewed seasoned media executives in an effort to revive the faltering network.  One interview took a bizarre turn, however, when the executive got …

Judith Regan's Attorney Vows 'War' As Sparks Fly Over Publisher's Firing  —  Even though Judith Regan made a book publishing mistake of epic proportions when she commissioned O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It," few in the book industry thought she would lose her job over the incident.

Talk in Class Turns to God, Setting Off Public Debate on Rights  —  KEARNY, N.J. — Before David Paszkiewicz got to teach his accelerated 11th-grade history class about the United States Constitution this fall, he was accused of violating it.  —  Shortly after school began in September …

Vt. Woman Is an Unlikely Peace Activist … BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Meet the anti-war movement's newest folk hero: 69-year-old Rosemarie Jackowski, whose arrest during an anti-war protest has made her a cause celebre.  —  A prosecutor's plan to retry her for blocking traffic while protesting …

Conservatives' Grip on Key Virginia Court Is at Risk  —  A growing list of vacancies on the federal appeals court in Richmond is heightening concern among Republicans that one of the nation's most conservative and influential courts could soon come under moderate or even liberal control, Republicans and legal scholars say.

Pot is called biggest cash crop  —  The $35-billion market value of U.S.-grown cannabis tops that of such heartland staples as corn and hay, a marijuana activist says.  —  SACRAMENTO — For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop.

Litvinenko's killers used polonium worth $10m to give massive overdose  —  British investigators believe that Alexander Litvinenko's killers used more than $10 million of polonium-210 to poison him.  Preliminary findings from the post mortem examination on the former KGB spy suggest …

How Foreign Aid Hurts Rather Than Helps  —  For long-term disasters like famines, one can usually find a political problem that keeps food and medicine from the people who need it, rather than a purely environmental issue.  This has been true of African catastrophes like Ethiopa and Somalia …

Saudis report Shi'ite 'state' inside of Iraq  —  Iran has effectively created a Shi'ite "state within a state" in neighboring Iraq, defying both Iraqi Sunnis and neighboring Sunni nations, according to a Saudi security report.  —  Iranian military forces are providing Shi'ite militias …

Disney tells Santa clone ho-ho no  —  When James Worley paid a visit to Disney World in Florida his portly frame and white beard soon had kids asking: "Are you Santa Claus?"  —  Not wanting to disappoint, Mr Worley, 60, played along with some "ho-ho-hos".  —  But Disney officials descended …

MTP Transcript for Dec. 17  —  MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: the president explores new options for Iraq.  —  (Videotape):  —  PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: I'm not going to be rushed into making a difficult decision.  —  MR. RUSSERT: The tension between the First Amendment and the war on terror.

Don't Cry for Pinochet  —  Chile succeeded despite him.  —  The death of Augusto Pinochet Ugarte marks the definitive end of his efforts to associate himself with conservatism.  It also marks the ultimate success of his efforts to avoid accountability for his murderous behavior as a leader …