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 …

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 …

Iran target of US Gulf military moves, Gates says  —  Mark Tran and agencies  —  Increased US military activity in the Gulf is aimed at Iran's "very negative" behaviour, the Bush administration said today.  —  The defence secretary, Robert Gates, told reporters that the decision to deploy …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

IRAQ: WHY THE MEDIA MISSTEP  —  JUST outside Um al-Qasar, a port in south east Iraq, a crowd had gathered around a British armored car with a crew of four.  An argument seemed to be heating up through an interpreter.  —  The interpreter told the Brits that the crowd was angry and wanted U.K. forces out of Iraq.

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 …

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" …

State Bar has letter from lawyer warning prosecutor of ethical violations  —  In the first weeks of the Duke lacrosse case, Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong continued to disparage lacrosse players in public after a defense attorney had put him on notice that he was violating ethical rules governing the conduct of lawyers.

Bush: It's all 'unacceptable'  —  In six years in office, President Bush has found a lot of things to be unacceptable - most recently, the situation in Iraq.  Sometimes the president has accepted responsibility for the situation, as he has in Iraq, and sometimes he has attempted to hold others accountable for all that is unacceptable.