Clinton, Obama Clearing The Field  —  Without Declaring, They Beat Back Would-Be Rivals  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), trading on star power, the capacity to raise tens of millions of dollars with relative ease and an ability to dominate media attention …

From Thong to Thesis: Monica Lewinsky Flashes Her Intellect  —  There are moments that make you question your fundamental assumptions about the world.  One of them took place a few days ago, when news emerged that Monica Lewinsky had just graduated from the London School of Economics.  —  She did not!!

Ethiopia attacks Somalia Islamic council  —  MOGADISHU, Somalia - Ethiopia launched an attack Sunday on Somalia's powerful Islamic movement, sending fighter jets across the border and bombarding several towns in a major escalation of the violence that threatens to engulf the Horn of Africa.

Channel tunnel is terror target  —  The Channel tunnel has been targeted by a group of Islamic militant terrorists aiming to cause maximum carnage during the holiday season, according to French and American secret services.  —  The plan, which the French DGSE foreign intelligence service became aware …

Wolfowitz owes us an explanation  —  ACCOUNTABILITY is one of those ideals, like justice or the triumph of right over might, that are wonderful in principle but usually disappointing in practice.  —  This is nowhere more true than in Washington, where one of the most powerful men …

Looking Back, One Year Later  —  After my first year as The Post's ombudsman, readers deserve a report on my job as their representative.  —  The Post stylebook says that "Ombudsmen provide . . . newsroom managers with another set of skeptical eyes to search out human error and incompetence …

America's Red Ink  —  The largest employer in the world announced on Dec. 15 that it lost about $450 billion in fiscal 2006.  Its auditor found that its financial statements were unreliable and that its controls were inadequate for the 10th straight year.  On top of that, the entity's total liabilities …

Peace In Our Time  —  John Kerry, stung when he attempted to mock President Bush by mocking the troops, has now taken to mocking himself as a means of mocking the president.  Safer course.  In this rambling Washington Post op-ed, actually titled "The Case for Flip-Flopping: When Resolve Turns Reckless …

Gender Pay Gap, Once Narrowing, Is Stuck in Place  —  Throughout the 1980s and early '90s, women of all economic levels — poor, middle class and rich — were steadily gaining ground on their male counterparts in the work force.  By the mid-'90s, women earned more than 75 cents for every dollar …

The $100 Million Barbecue  —  The weekend barbecue hosted by Ehud Olmert for his neighbor, Mahmoud Abbas, turned out to be more expensive than the cost of a beef brisket and a few brews.  The long-awaited meeting between the head of the Palestinian Authority and the PM of Israel resulted …

Sunday Talking Head Thread  —  Here is the Sunday Talking Head line-up.  Read it and weep.  —  C-Span's Washington Journal: 7:45am - Donald Lambro, Washington Times, Chief Political Correspondent; 8:30am - Phoner From Baghdad: Larry Kaplow, Cox Newspapers, Middle East Correspondent; 9am …

Putin to remain leader after leaving Kremlin: senior politician  —  President Vladimir Putin will retain a leadership role in Russia even if he steps down in 2008, as required by the constitution, a senior politician has said.  —  "He will not leave," Sergei Stepashin, head of Russia's accounting chamber …