Terror suspect gets 9 months in plea deal  —  AUSTRALIAN WILL SERVE HIS SENTENCE IN HOMELAND, CAN'T ALLEGE ABUSE  —  Australian David Hicks pleaded guilty at the Guant‡namo Bay Navy Base yesterday to supporting terrorism in exchange for a nine-month prison sentence under a plea deal …

Gallery told to shut down chocolate Jesus display  —  NEW YORK — A planned Holy Week exhibition of a nude, anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ was canceled Friday after Cardinal Edward Egan and other outraged Roman Catholics complained.

Pelosi Going to Syria Despite Objections  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Syria, a country President Bush has shunned as a sponsor of terrorism, despite being asked by the administration not to go.  —  "In our view, it is not the right time to have these sort …

Paraded on TV again, their ordeal goes on  —  Fears were growing last night that the captured British sailors and Royal Marines would suffer a lengthy incarceration as the propaganda war took a menacing turn.  —  Diplomats are worried that the Government could find itself trapped …

At Walter Reed, Bush Offers an Apology  —  After Touring Hospital and Visiting Patients, He Vows to 'Fix the Problem'  —  President Bush yesterday paid his first visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center since the uproar over shoddy conditions at the facility and emerged after a two-hour tour …

Shiite Cleric Condemns U.S. as His Militia Takes to Streets  —  Religious leaders commanded by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr delivered a searing speech at Friday Prayer condemning the American presence in Iraq, while militiamen loyal to Mr. Sadr engaged in street battles against Iraqi Army soldiers …

Ex-Partner Of Giuliani May Face Charges  —  Kerik Counts Said To Include Deception During Cabinet Bid  —  Federal prosecutors have told Bernard B. Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, that he is likely to be charged with several felonies …

Olmert Rejects Right of Return for Palestinians  —  Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in interviews published Friday that Israel would not allow a single Palestinian refugee to return to what is now Israel, and that the country bore no responsibility for the refugees because their plight resulted …

'A Very Spartan Operation'  —  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who's running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, established a low bar for rivals to clear in disclosing his initial campaign contribution totals.  At a breakfast with reporters in Washington …

In Big Shift, U.S. Imposes Tariffs on Chinese Paper  —  The Bush administration, in a major escalation of trade pressure on China, said Friday that it would reverse more than 20 years of American policy and impose potentially steep tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods on the ground that China …

BAGHDAD DISPATCH: MIDNIGHT COMPANY  —  "I often find myself in arguments with people about the behavior of American soldiers when they search homes.  Many of the people I talk to base their argument and negative impression on the footage of some raids we see on TV or on experiences of presumed relatives or friends.

Iran will punish 'guilty' British sailors: diplomat  —  On video ... Nathan Thomas Summers, left, with other British captives in Iran.  —  IRANIAN authorities have started legal proceedings against the British military personnel it has seized and said they would be punished if found guilty, Iran's ambassador to Moscow said last night.

Joschka Fischer's Strange Trip  —  From street radical to the German foreign ministry—and now to Princeton.  —  PRINCETON, N.J.—"You have to try this," says the Frederick H. Schultz Class of 1951 Professor of International Economic Policy at Princeton, pushing his cup my way with an impish grin.

Yet More On Blogroll Purges  —  Terrance at the Republic of T comes late to the other PurgeGate controversy, the one about blogroll "amnesties" by key A-List progressive bloggers which turned out to be purges of the littler guys.  Still, in a long and thoughtful post he takes a lucid look …