Conflicts Shaped Two Presidencies  —  U.S., Iraq Continue to Experience Aftereffects of Their Confrontations  —  The day after he ordered a cease-fire and brought the Persian Gulf War to a close, President George H.W. Bush ruminated about the status quo he had left behind in Iraq.

SADDAM'S HANGING — UNCUT  —  Several hours after Saddam Hussein was hanged this morning in Baghdad, the state-run television channel, Iraqia, began to run edited video, without sound, of the run-up to the hanging.  The video shows Saddam being guided up the steps to the top of the gallows …

Science told: hands off gay sheep  —  Experiments that claim to 'cure' homosexual rams spark anger  —  SCIENTISTS are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of "gay" sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans.

Truth, Justice, Abortion and the Times Magazine  —  THE cover story on abortion in El Salvador in The New York Times Magazine on April 9 contained prominent references to an attention-grabbing fact.  "A few" women, the first paragraph indicated, were serving 30-year jail terms for having had abortions.

Air Force enlists Stonewall for gay recruits  —  The Royal Air Force has called in a gay pressure group to help solve its recruitment crisis.  The Service will take advice from Stonewall on how to make itself more attractive to homosexual and bisexual men and women, and is aiming to spend tens …

And Now, a Word From Chile ...  Everyone who followed the debate about privatizing Social Security back in 2005 has vivid memories of the Chilean model.  Sometimes it seemed impossible to get through any discussion of fixing Social Security without hearing a free-market paean to the way Chile …

Localities Operate Intelligence Centers To Pool Terror Data  —  'Fusion' Facilities Raise Privacy Worries As Wide Range of Information Is Collected  —  Frustrated by poor federal cooperation, U.S. states and cities are building their own network of intelligence centers led by police to help detect and disrupt terrorist plots.

While You Were at War . . .  In every administration, there are usually only about a dozen barons who can really initiate and manage meaningful changes in national security policy.  For most of 2006, some of these critical slots in the Bush administration have been vacant …

THE 10 MOST OUTRAGEOUS CIVIL LIBERTIES VIOLATIONS OF 2006.  —  I love those year-end roundups—ubiquitous annual lists of greatest films and albums and lip glosses and tractors.  It's reassuring that all human information can be wrestled into bundles of 10.

Labour's NHS is a real tonic for the Tories  —  The sight of Hazel Blears standing on a picket line outside a Salford hospital seemed a traditional scene from the last days of a Labour government.  From 1929 to 1974, radical politicians would come to power determined to make the lives of the majority a little bit better.

HEZ PAY-PER-SLAY  —  'REWARDS' ROCKETS VS. ISRAEL  —  Hezbollah and its Iranian backers are rewarding Palestinian terrorists with thousands of dollars for each homemade rocket that hits southern Israel, according to Israeli intelligence.  —  The size of the payoffs depends on the number …

Ford's Long Shadow  —  An unlikely president, Gerald Ford steadied America and, in an unpublished interview, mused about her fate.  —  Vice President Gerald Ford and wife Betty escort First Lady Pat Nixon and President Richard Nixon across the South Lawn to Marine 1 following Nixon's farewell statement on Aug. 9, 1974.

Hunt for Al-Qaeda men in Mogadishu  —  SOMALIA's prime minister has asked clan elders in Mogadishu to surrender Al-Qaeda suspects who are believed to be sheltering in the city after his forces, with Ethiopian military support, drove out Islamic militias which controlled the capital.