The Pirates of Tehran  —  Oil prices fell.  The stock market rose.  Video images of smiling British soldiers with Iranian President Ahmadinejad were everywhere.  So were pictures of the 15 freed hostages embracing family members back home.  The relief over the return of the Brits was so tremendous …

Iraqi, US forces sweep through volatile city, fight Sadr backers  —  DIWANIYA, Iraq: Iraqi and US forces clashed with Shia militia loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday in a dawn operation aimed at returning the volatile city of Diwaniya to government control.

Fury as the hostages sell stories  —  The 15 British military captives who were released by the Iranians have been authorised by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to sell their stories.  —  MoD officials claimed that the move to lift the ban on military personnel selling their stories …

An iPod for every kid?  Are they !#$!ing idiots?  —  We have come to the conclusion that the crisis Michigan faces is not a shortage of revenue, but an excess of idiocy.  Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy …

North Koreans Arm Ethiopians as U.S. Assents  —  Three months after the United States successfully pressed the United Nations to impose strict sanctions on North Korea because of the country's nuclear test, Bush administration officials allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from the North …

President Carter: Bush Ordered Me Not to Go to Damascus  —  More evidence of the White House's partisan manipulation of relations with Syria emerged yesterday, as President Jimmy Carter told a gathering in New York about his recent request to visit Syrian President Assad.  The former president stated:

On the ranch, Bush has a perfect escape  —  CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush's getaway in central Texas is just about everything Washington is not.  There may be no better way to explain why he loves it so much.  —  Life is remarkably different here for a president struggling through his second term.

White House Looked Past Alarms on Kerik  —  Giuliani, Gonzales Pushed DHS Bid Forward  —  When former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani urged President Bush to make Bernard B. Kerik the next secretary of homeland security, White House aides knew Kerik as the take-charge top cop from Sept. 11, 2001.

Bush: Democrats Jeopardizing Service Members' Safety  —  President Says Democrats Using Spending Bill as Way to Oppose War  —  President Bush used his Easter weekend radio address to suggest that while Americans are "blessed" to have so many brave, volunteer military service members …

Piracy Move on China Seen as Near  —  After months of prodding China to crack down on pirated copies of American movies, music and software, the Bush administration appears ready to escalate the dispute into a legal confrontation.  —  In recent weeks, administration officials have strongly hinted …

Baghdad in the Midwest cornfields  —  What an outing to a market in Indiana would look like if a congressman's observations were correct.  —  The delegation arrived at the market [in Baghdad], which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees …

Scientists Detail Climate Changes, Poles to Tropics  —  From the poles to the tropics, the earth's climate and ecosystems are already being shaped by the atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gases and face inevitable, possibly profound, alteration, the world's leading scientific panel on climate change said Friday.

no, glenn . . .  . . . he's in Nashville.  —  Nashvillians didn't need to read the Tennessean to learn that Al Gore flew into town last night.  They knew by the time they reached the end of their driveways to get the paper that the Gore Effect had caused temperatures to dramatically drop here this Easter weekend.

Missile-Defense System Test Succeeds  —  HONOLULU (AP) - The military shot down a Scud-type missile in this year's second successful test of a new technology meant to knock down ballistic missiles in their final minute of flight, the Missile Defense Agency said Friday.

Who's the Boss?  —  HOW PAT ROBERTSON'S LAW SCHOOL IS CHANGING AMERICA.  —  Monica Goodling has a problem.  As senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Justice Department liaison to the White House, Goodling no longer seems to know what the truth is.

Clinton gladly plays the gender card  —  Leading in polls among female Democratic voters, the senator works to build on that support, lining up feminist leaders and appealing to working women.  —  WASHINGTON — A gender gap is growing in the Democratic presidential race, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton aims to widen it into a chasm.