Pakistani leader escapes attempt on life  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Gunners fired after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's plane took off from a military base on Friday in what one official described as a failed assassination attempt.  —  Security forces quickly raided a nearby home …

Iran's Proxy War  —  Tehran is on the offensive against us throughout the Middle East.  Will Congress respond?  —  Earlier this week, the U.S. military made public new and disturbing information about the proxy war that Iran is waging against American soldiers and our allies in Iraq.

exclusive: rupert murdoch buys dow jones, owners of the wall street journal  —  Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones.  Negotiations are now complete and a formal announcement is expected next week.  —  Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones …

G.O.P. Support for Iraq Policy Erodes Further  —  Support among Republicans for President Bush's Iraq policy eroded further on Thursday as another senior lawmaker, Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, broke with the White House just as Congressional Democrats prepared to renew their challenge to the war.

Republican enters race for ill senator's seat  —  South Dakota state Rep. Joel Dykstra (R) has officially entered the race for the Republican nomination to face Sen. Tim Johnson (D) in 2008.  —  Dykstra filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday and declared himself a "candidate for U.S. Senate."

White House questions Dems' zeal for oversight  —  The White House Thursday raised questions about the level of Democratic oversight, saying that the time the majority spends on investigating the Bush administration could be used to pass bills.  —  Bush spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters during …

Washington Talk Radio Station Drops Bill O'Reilly  —  The Washington Post reports today that O'Reilly's cancellation is a "case in point" of how poorly conservative radio programs have fared in DC: … Yet despite their underwhelming performance, numerous right-wing radio hosts have been given repeated opportunities to succeed in DC.

Baqubah Update: 05 July 2007  —  Today marks "D +16" of Operation "Arrowhead Ripper," the Battle for Baqubah.  Arrowhead Ripper kicked off on 19 June 07.  I have several dispatches in the works about the major events since that time.  Although the serious fighting seems to be over …

Live Earth Concert to Be Held in Washington on Saturday  —  Live Earth will be live in Washington, after all.  —  Al Gore's global-warming concert series — previously given the cold shoulder here — will touch down for a satellite show at the National Museum of the American Indian tomorrow morning …

2008 Candidates Vow to Overhaul U.S. Health Care  —  There is no better measure of the power of the health care issue than this: Sixteen months before Election Day, presidential candidates in both parties are promising to overhaul the system and cover more — if not all — of the 44.8 million people without insurance.

Court nixes suit against spying program  —  CINCINNATI - A federal appeals court on Friday ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging President Bush's domestic spying program, saying the plaintiffs had no standing to sue.  —  The 2-1 ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel …

Anti-American July 4th  —  July 4th in San Francisco.  So many things to do!  —  After attending the AK Press "F**k the Fourth" party as a pre-holiday warm-up, I was hungry for some more Independence Day patriotism — San Francisco style.  —  I was tempted at first by a public event celebrating the …

Ellen Goodman: The segregationist  —  Clarence Thomas now sits at the right edge of a conservative court  —  BOSTON - Let me wish the Supreme Court justices a fond farewell as they set out on their summer vacation.  We can all rest assured now that they won't do any more damage until the first week in October.

Hamas won the propaganda war this week  —  Our columnist says freeing Alan Johnston was no good deed  —  How do you like your jihadi?  Is yours the avenging physician sort; self-immolating practitioner of weird medicine outside nightclubs and airport terminals who hopes to take hundreds …

Where the Avatars Roam  —  I am not usually found at bars during the day, though the state of the Republican Party would justify it.  But here I was at a bar talking to this fox — I mean an actual fox, with fluffy tail and whiskers.  It turns out that, in the online world of Second Life …