Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study  —  Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.  —  Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute …

Eleven Palestinians killed in ferocious Gaza fighting  —  Eleven Palestinians were killed, including two children - aged eight and five - in ferocious fighting Friday between Hamas and Fatah gunmen.  —  Also among the dead were a Palestinian Authority intelligence commander, his bodyguard …

Majority in Senate support 'stay the course' resolution  —  A bipartisan majority in the Senate yesterday united behind a firm "stay the course" resolution on the war in Iraq, despite searing public criticism from both sides in Congress over President Bush's handling of the war.

Police praise Muslim soldiers who acted as 'bait' for beheading gang  —  Two British Muslim soldiers targeted by the alleged beheading gang were used in an extraordinary "sting" operation to snare their assassins, it has emerged.  —  The courageous pair agreed to act like "tethered goats" …

Exxon and Shell Report Record Profits for 2006  —  Oil prices have fallen, but Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell left their smaller competitors in the dust and reported record annual profits Thursday.  —  By making $180 million a day between them, the two largest publicly traded oil companies displayed …

Dr. Coburn Votes to Protect Salaries of Low-Income Families from Flawed Wage Bill  —  (WASHINGTON, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released the following statement today regarding his vote against, H.R. 2, the Minimum Wage Act:  —  "This bill is unfair to workers and …

Molly Ivins Shook the Walls With Her Clarion Call  —  The walls have not come down, but they have been given a serious shaking.  —  That Jericho voice is stilled now.  —  Molly Ivins has been quieted.  —  The writer and journalist, dearly loved and admired by many, hated and feared by many …

A Failed Cover-Up  —  Why was the White House so nervous in the summer of 2003 about the CIA's reporting on alleged Iraqi attempts to buy uranium from Niger to build a nuclear bomb?  That's the big question that runs through the many little details that have emerged in the perjury trial …

Who's to Blame for The Killing  —  This week the internecine warfare in Iraq, already bewildering — Sunni vs. Shiite, Kurd vs. Arab, jihadist vs. infidel, with various Iranians, Syrians and assorted freelancers thrown into the maelstrom — went bizarre.  In one of the biggest battles of the war …

Iraq at Risk of Further Strife, Intelligence Report Warns  —  A long-awaited National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, presented to President Bush by the intelligence community yesterday, outlines an increasingly perilous situation in which the United States has little control …

Punxsutawney Phil predicts early spring  —  PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. - A new pair of hands pulled Punxsutawney Phil from his stump this year, so it was only fitting that the groundhog offered a new prediction.  —  Phil did not see his shadow on Friday, which, according to German folklore …

An Inarticulate Kickoff  —  What is it, exactly, that white people mean when they call a black person "articulate"?  —  I'll leave it to Joe Biden to explain (or figure out) why he used "clean" as one of a logorrheic string of adjectives describing his Senate colleague Barack Obama.

Border Policy's Success Strains Resources  —  Tent City in Texas Among Immigrant Holding Sites Drawing Criticism  —  RAYMONDVILLE, Tex. — Ringed by barbed wire, a futuristic tent city rises from the Rio Grande Valley in the remote southern tip of Texas, the largest camp …

Anti-Blog Hysteria In The State Capitols  —  First Texas, now Tennessee.  There's something strange in the state legisaltive air, as lawmakers keep introducing anti-blog bills and then backing down when bloggers start screaming.  —  I mentioned the Texas story in passing a couple of months ago in one of my blog bits roundups.

Gore ex-campaign chief wishes on her star  —  'Wait till Oscar night,' Donna Brazile says of a possible 2008 run.  —  By Daryl Nerl Of The Morning Call  —  Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are the hot early front-runners, while 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry has already bowed out.