Senior al Qaeda leader killed in Iraq: ministry  —  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed the head of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, an al Qaeda-led militant group that has claimed many major attacks in the country, Iraq's deputy interior minister said on Thursday.

Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable  —  Compromise Bill in Works After Veto Override Fails  —  President Bush and congressional leaders began negotiating a second war funding bill yesterday, with Democrats offering the first major concession: an agreement to drop their demand for a timeline to bring troops home from Iraq.

Ex-Aide to Gonzales Accused Of Bias  —  Justice Department Scrutinizes Role of Politics in Hiring  —  The Justice Department has launched an internal investigation into whether Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's former White House liaison illegally took party affiliation into account …

Obama Camp Takes Control of MySpace Page  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - Is MySpace always mine or can it belong to someone else?  At the cost of losing 160,000 friends, Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign has taken over control of the MySpace page listed under his name on the popular social networking site.

Police action on journalists at melee is assailed  —  Some news outlets whose reporters and camera operators were hurt in melee mull legal claims against LAPD.  —  One day after several reporters and camera operators were injured while covering an altercation at an immigrant rights rally in MacArthur Park …

Fred Thompson: MoveOn, Reid Are Taking 'Extremist Positions And Doing Extremist Things'  —  Last night on Hannity & Colmes, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) claimed that congressional leaders are "adhering, to the extent they can, to the most left-wing element of their base.

Content analysis of O'Reilly's rhetoric finds spin to be a 'factor'  —  Commentator uses name-calling more than once every seven seconds in 'Talking Points Memo'  —  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  —  BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Bill O'Reilly may proclaim at the beginning of his program that viewers are entering the …

24 For Kids  —  Ann Coulter: set your Tivo.  Money quote: … That's a strong "enhanced" message.  Just like Mr Tenet says.

Russia Tries Its Usual Extortion Against Estonia  —  Estonia angered the Russians by recently removing a monument to the Red Army which occupied the Baltic state for decades.  Vladimir Putin has poured gasoline on the fire of the controversy, demanding the restoral of the monument, and threatening Estonia if they fail to do so.

G.O.P. Contenders Ponder What to Say About Bush  —  As they gather Thursday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for their first debate, the Republican presidential candidates are thrilled at the chance to associate themselves with Reagan.  But they may not be able to escape …

Bush: "I'm the Commander Guy"  —  WASHINGTON, May 2-And you thought he was still "the decider."  —  President Bush coined a new nickname for himself — ''the commander guy" — on Wednesday, as he criticized Congressional Democrats in a speech to the annual gathering of the Associated General Contractors …

Ahmadinejad under fire for embracing his old teacher  —  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been accused of indecency after he publicly embraced and kissed on the hand an elderly woman who used to be his schoolteacher.  —  At a ceremony on Tuesday ahead of Iranian teachers' day …

Man Dies of Thirst During Survival Test  —  us-news, of, new-jersey, thirst, by-day, dave-buschow, dead-of-thirst, of-thirst  —  BOULDER, UTAH — By Day 2 in the blazing Utah desert, Dave Buschow was in bad shape.  Pale, wracked by cramps, his speech slurred, the 29-year-old New Jersey man …

The Crazy Middle East  —  All Eyes on Baghdad  —  All the pros and cons on the war have been aired.  We've read all the tell-all books by Woodward, Ricks, Gordon, Trainor and the rest that now contradict the arguments and theses of what they wrote about the 1991 war—that then we should have done …