Saddam Asks U.S. to Block Execution  —  Lawyers for Saddam Hussein on Friday made a last-minute appeal to an American court to avert execution in Iraq, asking a judge to block his transfer from U.S. custody to the hands of Iraqi officials.  —  Hussein's lawyers filed documents Friday afternoon asking …

Why We Need More Troops in Iraq  —  I've just spent 10 days traveling in the Middle East and speaking to leaders there, all of which has made one thing clearer to me than ever: While we are naturally focused on Iraq, a larger war is emerging.  On one side are extremists and terrorists led …

Kay la Nansa - Kuwait's "Not to Forget Museum"  —  Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Kuwait's "Not to Forget Museum," a small complex devoted to archiving the history of the Invasion of Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm and the atrocities by and ultimate fate of Saddam Hussein and his regime.

Housework cuts breast cancer risk  —  Women who exercise by doing the housework can reduce their risk of breast cancer, a study suggests.  —  The research on more than 200,000 women from nine European countries found doing household chores was far more cancer protective than playing sport.

SOME THOUGHTS ON MOONBATTERY  —  A few days ago, radio talk show host Scott Hennen posted an email he received from a soldier in Iraq who witnessed John Kerry's visit to the troops in Baghdad.  This soldier offered his own observations to the effect that Kerry's welcome was less than warm …

End of Another Year...  You know your country is in trouble when:  —  The UN has to open a special branch just to keep track of the chaos and bloodshed, UNAMI.  —  Abovementioned branch cannot be run from your country.  —  The politicians who worked to put your country in this sorry state …

Ethiopians are split over their foreign invasion  —  The military strike on Somalia's Islamists may backfire, some worry.  —  ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — The headline in an Ethiopian newspaper drew familiar, if unflattering, comparisons to another nation's faster-thanexpected victory in a war abroad.

BUCKING RUBINOMICS.... Last week, Paul Krugman offered the incoming Democratic majority some advice: do not place deficit reduction at the top of the priority list.  —  As Krugman explained, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin helped convince the party in the 1990s that deficit reduction was key to fiscal and budgetary policy.

THE SITUATION ROOM  —  Saddam Hussein's Final Hours; James Brown's Life Celebrated at the Apollo  —  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.  —  ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Christine.  And to our viewers …

How America's Mayor can beat America's maverick  —  Pundits who have written off Rudy Giuliani are nuts.  As he explores a 2008 bid for President, Giuliani sits atop the Republican pack in most polls - with support that will not quickly erode, despite his stance on some social issues.

Middle School Girls Gone Wild  —  It's hard to write this without sounding like a prig.  But it's just as hard to erase the images that planted the idea for this essay, so here goes.  The scene is a middle school auditorium, where girls in teams of three or four are bopping to pop songs at a student talent show.