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!!

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 …

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 …

Man sets self aflame in Calif. protest  —  BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A man used flammable liquid to light himself on fire, apparently to protest a San Joaquin Valley school district's decision to change the names of winter and spring breaks to Christmas and Easter vacation.

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 …

Iraqi Shiites resist isolating Sadr  —  Politicians and clerics support the leader and view U.S. opposition to him as interference.  —  NAJAF, Iraq — One of Iraq's most influential Shiite clerics rejected a U.S.-backed proposal to isolate Shiite extremists in the national government …

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 …

Lynne Cheney: Putting Scooter Libby On Trial 'Does Not Reflect Well On Our Judicial System'  —  Scooter Libby, the former Chief of Staff for Vice President Cheney, has been charged with "obstruction of justice, lying to the FBI and committing perjury before a grand jury."  His trial is scheduled to start in January.

Commander Said to Be Open to More Troops  —  The American military command in Iraq is now willing to back a temporary increase in American troops in Baghdad as part of a broader Iraqi and United States effort to stem the slide toward chaos, senior American officials said Saturday.

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 …

When Resolve Turns Reckless  —  There's something much worse than being accused of "flip-flopping": refusing to flip when it's obvious that your course of action is a flop.  —  I say this to President Bush as someone who learned the hard way how embracing the world's complexity can be twisted into a crude political shorthand.