Ford Disagreed With Bush About Invading Iraq  —  Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified.  "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated …

Islamists Seem to Give Up Grip on Somali City  —  The Islamist forces who have controlled much of Somalia in recent months suddenly vanished from the streets of the capital, Mogadishu, residents said Wednesday night, just as thousands of rival troops massed 15 miles away.

Close Adviser to Sadr Dies in U.S.-Iraqi Raid  —  A top deputy of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was killed Wednesday during a raid by U.S. and Iraqi troops in the southern holy city of Najaf, sparking protests from Sadr's followers and complicating an already tense relationship with the powerful anti-American leader.

Reid to miss Ford funeral  —  WASHINGTON - Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will miss the state funeral for former President Gerald Ford at the Capitol Rotunda on Saturday night, opting instead to lead a delegation to South America with an expected stop at the Machu Picchu Inca ruins.

State Department declassifies report on 1973 terror attack in Khartoum  —  WASHINGTON - After 33 years of secrecy, the U.S. State Department has finally declassified a document admitting it knew the late Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, plotted and supervised …

Edwards's Theme: U.S. Poverty  —  Amid Iraq Talk, White House Hopeful Sticks to '04 Issue in '08 Run  —  For the roughly two dozen candidates considering a run for the White House, it is perhaps the jackpot question: What might be the winning message in a contest whose first nominating vote is still more than a year away?

Blair on Islam: Standard-Bearer of Tolerance  —  A quote from Tony Blair in Foreign Affairs, January/February 2007  —  To me, the most remarkable thing about the Koran is how progressive it is.  I write with great humility as a member of another faith.  As an outsider, the Koran strikes …

Exclusive: Hizbullah paying terrorists for Kassam attacks  —  Hizbullah is paying Palestinian splinter groups "thousands of dollars" for each Kassam rocket fired at the western Negev, The Jerusalem Post has learned.  —  According to Israeli intelligence information, Hizbullah is smuggling cash …

Olivier Guitta: Plan B: Syria's forgotten — but dangerous — nuclear program  —  WASHINGTON - The Iraq Survey Group is calling for open negotiations with Syria, but new reports show that Damascus is up to no good.  Indeed, while world attention is rightly focused on the nuclear capabilities …

US holding two Iranians in Iraq  —  US forces are holding two Iranian nationals detained last week in the Iraqi capital on suspicion of weapons smuggling, military spokesman General William Caldwell has confirmed.  —  "There was an operation on the morning of December 21 based on intelligence.

As Minds Age, What's Next?  Brain Calisthenics  —  PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Is there hope for your hippocampus, a new lease for your temporal lobe?  —  Science is not sure yet, but across the country, brain health programs are springing up, offering the possibility of a cognitive fountain of youth.

Attorney General Receives 400 Complaints Against Nifong  —  RALEIGH — The North Carolina Attorney General's Office has received more than 400 complaints about Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, according to an attorney general's representative.  —  Nifong, who critics …

G.O.P. Senator in Spotlight After a Critical Iraq Speech  —  At the close of the Senate's lame-duck session, in between formulaic tributes to senators departing voluntarily or otherwise, a Republican backbencher suddenly rose to give one of the most passionate and surprising speeches about the war in Iraq yet delivered in Congress.

Universal 401(k) Accounts Would Bring the Poor Into the Ownership Society  —  Of the current proposals to address income inequality, the universal 401(k) is the most likely to bring general prosperity.  —  The core idea is simple.  The federal government creates tax-free retirement accounts …