Hussein's half-brother decapitated during hanging … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Iraq hanged two of Saddam Hussein's aides early Monday, and one of the men was decapitated in the process.  —  The official video of the hangings showed Hussein's half-brother lying headless below the gallows …

HILL JABS AT JOHN  —  TAKES HER FIRST SHOT VS. AN '08 PREZ FOE  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last night ripped into 2008 White House contender John Edwards - her first direct assault on any of her potential Democratic presidential rivals.  —  Clinton's surprising broadside came just hours after Edwards …

Opening a New Front in the War, Against Iranians in Iraq  —  For more than two years after Saddam Hussein's fall, the war in Iraq was about chasing down insurgents and Al Qaeda in Iraq.  Last year it expanded to tamping down sectarian warfare.  —  Over the past three weeks …

Allard: No third term  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Wayne Allard said today he will honor his term-limits pledge and leave at the end of 2008, creating a replacement fight that should turn Colorado into one of the country's biggest electoral battlegrounds.  —  "I just didn't think I could back away from the (term limits) commitment.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  —  (CBS) On Jan. 12, 2007, two days after President George W. Bush told the country that he would send 21,000 more troops into Iraq, the president sat down with 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley for a candid conversation.  The two met in Camp David's Laurel Cabin …

Nevada U.S. attorney given walking papers  —  The Bush administration has forced Daniel Bogden out of his position as U.S. attorney for the District of Nevada, Nevada's two senators said Sunday.  —  It was unclear whether Bogden was fired or asked to resign and for what reason.

Sandy Berger: What Did He Take and Why Did He Take It?  —  Some things cry out for explanation.  Like finding $90,000 in marked bills in a Congressman's freezer.  Or finding out that a blue-chip lawyer who held one of the most important jobs in the nation was willing to risk his career …

Romney, McCain Tout New Backers  —  In the escalating behind-the-scenes battle between Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), both men scored coups of a sort over the weekend.  —  Romney has landed Vin Weber, a former Minnesota Republican Congressman …

How Australia confronts militant Islam  —  A nation's blunt refusal to back down to terror  —  Australians are sometimes accused of being direct, even blunt.  But this way of going about things seems to have worked well enough when dealing with the threat of radical Islamism Down Under.

Cheney Defends Efforts to Obtain Financial Records  —  Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday defended efforts by the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency to obtain financial records of Americans suspected of terrorism or espionage, calling the practice a "perfectly legitimate activity" …

France and UK considered 1950s 'merger'  —  Staff and agencies  —  Britain and France talked about a "union" in the 1950s, even discussing the possibility of the Queen becoming the French head of state, it was reported today.  —  On September 10 1956, Guy Mollet, the then French prime minister …

At Libby Trial, Power Players Face Uncomfortable Spotlight  —  When Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff goes on trial Tuesday on charges of lying about the disclosure of a CIA officer's identity, members of Washington's government and media elite will be answering some embarrassing questions as well.

Will Saudis Ban the Letter 'X'?  —  The letter "X" soon may be banned in Saudi Arabia because it resembles the mother of all banned religious symbols in the oil kingdom: the cross.  —  The new development came with the issuing of another mind-bending fatwa, or religious edict …