Ahmadinejad in electoral setback  —  The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, of Iran faced electoral embarrassment today after the apparent failure of his supporters to win control of key local councils and block the political comeback of his most powerful opponent.

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 …

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 …

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.

TEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR 17-YEAR-OLD WHO HAD CONSENSUAL ORAL SEX WITH 15-YEAR-OLD: The Georgia Supreme Court just upheld this.  The sentence strikes me as unduly harsh even on its own terms, but it seems especially unjustifiable given that:  —  The age of consent in Georgia is 16.

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 …

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.

The Republican Identity Crisis  —  It was a year of turmoil, of ferment and of hope, as the Iraq war dragged on, the Democrats seized Capitol Hill and the 2008 presidential race began in earnest.  NEWSWEEK's columnists look back—and peer forward at where the country is heading.

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

Monday Morning Jamilgate  —  Nothing yet from Danzinger over at Winds of Change to further his claim of possibly finding the AP's missing Iraqi Police Officer Jamil Hussein, but Patrick Frey spoke with him last night, and seems to think there might be something there:

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 …

For Congress: Telling Sunni From Shiite  —  SURPRISE quiz: Is Al Qaeda Sunni or Shiite?  Which sect dominates Hezbollah?  —  Silvestre Reyes, the Democratic nominee to head the House Intelligence Committee, failed to answer both questions correctly last week when put to the test by Congressional Quarterly.