Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran  —  Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:  —  The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Democrats Pull Troop Deadline From Iraq Bill  —  Congressional Democrats relented Tuesday on their insistence that a war spending measure set a date for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraq.  Instead, they moved toward a deal with President Bush that would impose new conditions on the Iraqi government.

Justice aide who took the Fifth to testify in attorney firings … (CNN) — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former link to the White House will testify on Capitol Hill Wednesday, speaking out for the first time on her role in the controversial U.S. Attorney firings.

Freshmen fail first ethics test  —  Despite last week's media blitz promoting tougher ethics enforcement, a group of freshmen Congressmen failed their first practical test Tuesday night, when they refused to reprimand one of their colleagues for an apparent ethics violation.

Survey: U.S. Muslims Assimilated, Opposed to Extremism  —  Unlike Muslim minorities in many European countries, U.S. Muslims are highly assimilated, close to parity with other Americans in income and overwhelmingly opposed to Islamic extremism, according to the first major, nationwide random survey of Muslims.

McCain Turns Focus To His Fundraising  —  As the Senate debate over immigration raged yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had breakfast, brunch and lunch fundraisers in Houston before heading north to gather money at a supporter's home in Dallas and, later, from young professionals at a gourmet Mexican restaurant.

U.S. checking if body found in river is missing soldier … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Iraqi police found the body of what they said was a Western-looking man, apparently dressed in U.S. military uniform, floating in the Euphrates River south of Baghdad on Wednesday, an official said.

Guest-worker program dodges its first bullet  —  The guest-worker program in the new immigration bill survived its first test late yesterday but remains under siege.  —  The debate pits resurgent Democratic populists against negotiators determined to hold together the tenuous immigration reform deal.

Bush: Bin Laden ordered non-Iraq attacks  —  WASHINGTON - Seeking to rally support for the war, President Bush released intelligence asserting that Osama bin Laden in 2005 ordered creation of a terrorist unit to hit targets outside Iraq, including the United States.

Fred Thompson Inks Another GOP Insider  —  Fred Thompson has inked former Federal Elections Commission Chairman Michael Toner to serve as the lead lawyer for his increasingly likely campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.  —  Toner is the second major Thompson hire to become public in recent days.

New Strategy for War Stresses Iraqi Politics  —  U.S. Aims to Oust Sectarians From Key Roles  —  Top U.S. commanders and diplomats in Iraq are completing a far-reaching campaign plan for a new U.S. strategy, laying out military and political goals and endorsing the selective removal …

WOLFOWITZ AND GAL PAL SPLIT UP  —  PAUL Wolfowitz has really had a bad couple of weeks.  He not only lost his job, he lost his girlfriend, too.  —  Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, was pushed out as president of the World Bank over a controversial pay and promotion package …