GOP hits Pelosi's 'hypocrisy' on wage bill  —  House Republicans yesterday declared "something fishy" about the major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week.

Blast at U.S. embassy called 'terrorism'  —  ATHENS, Greece - An anti-tank shell was fired at the U.S. Embassy early Friday, striking the front of the building but causing no injuries.  A senior police official said the blast was an act of terrorism, raising fears of a resurgence of far-left Greek militant groups.

BOXER'S LOW BLOW  —  Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, an appalling scold from California, wasted no time yesterday in dragging the debate over Iraq about as low as it can go - attacking Secre tary of State Condoleezza Rice for being a childless woman.  —  Boxer was wholly in character for her party …

Bush's Best Democratic Buddy  —  Joe Lieberman gives the president a pass on Katrina.  —  Sen. Joe Lieberman, the only Democrat to endorse President Bush's new plan for Iraq, has quietly backed away from his pre-election demands that the White House turn over potentially embarrassing documents relating …

Hillary's status as front-runner slipping in key states  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's popularity in Democratic presidential-preference polls has fallen in the nation's first caucus and primary states in the face of increasing support for her chief rivals for the 2008 nomination.

Getting Iraq to Work  —  New York City's successes have lessons for Baghdad.  —  The American mission in Iraq must succeed.  Our goal—promoting a stable, accountable democracy in the heart of the Middle East—cannot be achieved by purely military means.  —  Iraqis need to establish a civil society.

Duke LAX Accuser Changes Story - Again  —  Motions filed to drop charges against Seligmann  —  (01/11/07 — DURHAM) - The accuser in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case told prosecutors in December that one of the three players charged did not commit any sex act on her during the alleged attack …

The Two Vacuums  —  Neither Iraqis nor Democrats seem ready to do what's required of them.  —  I had the odd and wholly unexpected experience of feeling supportive of a troop increase until I saw the president's speech arguing for it.  What a jarring, furtive-seeming thing it was.

THIS IS FOOTAGE from surveillance cameras at Madrid's Barajas airport in the very moment that the ETA car bomb exploded.  Look at the people in the walkway above: they're miraculously alive.  —  UPDATE.  For some reason the video is not showing properly in the homepage, but it does in the individual post page.

In Baghdad, Bush Policy Is Met With Resentment  —  Iraq's Shiite-led government offered only a grudging endorsement on Thursday of President Bush's proposal to deploy more than 20,000 additional troops in an effort to curb sectarian violence and regain control of Baghdad.