Republican, Democratic Presidential Contests Strikingly Similar  —  Sen. Fred Thompson surges into tie with John McCain for second in GOP contest  —  PRINCETON, NJ — With no incumbent president or vice president running for the 2008 presidential nominations, it is perhaps not surprising …

Gaza's Christians fear for their lives  —  Christians living in Gaza City on Monday appealed to the international community to protect them against increased attacks by Muslim extremists.  Many Christians said they were prepared to leave the Gaza Strip as soon as the border crossings are reopened.

The Long View in Iraq  —  Let's face it folks, things are not going to be measurably better in Iraq by September.  —  To continue reading this article, you must be a subscriber to TimesSelect.  Log in now.  —  What is TimesSelect?  —  Newspaper subscribers, upgrade to TimesSelect for free now.

Bush's Veto Strategy  —  Addressing a Republican fundraising dinner at the Washington Convention Center on Wednesday night, President Bush declared: "If the Democrats want to test us, that's why they give the president the veto.  I'm looking forward to vetoing excessive spending …

Calling Michael Moore's Socialist Bluff  —  Sicko, Michael Moore's new movie about America's health care system (the one that glorifies the socialized medicine of Cuba) hasn't even hit theaters yet, but already it's been leaked to the internet.  —  Asked what he thought of that, Moore …

Richardson Is Counting on Nevada, a State He Has to Himself  —  LAS VEGAS — Gov. Bill Richardson has found a second home in Nevada.  —  The two-hour flight is not a short hop from the New Mexico governor's mansion in Santa Fe, but Richardson hopes Nevada will become a critical aspect …

U.S.-Led Airstrike Kills 7 Children in Afghanistan  —  U.S.-led coalition forces killed seven children in an airstrike against a suspected al-Qaeda hideout in Afghanistan on Sunday, adding to a civilian death toll that has become an increasing source of tension between the coalition and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Petraeus: Iraq 'Challenges' to Last for Years  —  Conditions in Iraq will not improve sufficiently by September to justify a drawdown of U.S. military forces, the top commander in Iraq said yesterday.  —  Asked whether he thought the job assigned to an additional 30,000 troops deployed …

Climate change behind Darfur killing: UN's Ban  —  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the slaughter in Darfur was triggered by global climate change and that more such conflicts may be on the horizon, in an article published Saturday.  —  "The Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis …

Their Own Defense  —  D.C.'s Clubby Attorneys Keep Corporate Work in the Flock  —  In the beginning, there was Bob.  —  Twenty years ago, lawyer Robert S. Bennett represented Boeing in a huge government bid-rigging investigation.  Conflicts barred him from handling all the work himself …

The Supreme Court's Bonus Babies  —  AFTER the Supreme Court's term ends this month, the nine justices will go their separate ways for the summer.  A few weeks later, their 36 law clerks — the young legal geniuses who spend a year assisting the justices in selecting cases for review …

The Great American Pants Suit  —  A judge pins a $67 million value on a pair of trousers—his own.  —  When attorney Roy Pearson filed suit demanding $67 million from the Chung family, whose Washington dry cleaners had mishandled his pair of trousers, he must have felt he was sitting pretty.

Ludicrous lawsuits  —  I WAS once sued in state court by a disgruntled reader who accused me of calling him a "crackpot."  Fortunately, the suit went nowhere; the plaintiff's nutty, hand-scrawled complaint was apparently all the court needed to dismiss the case.