Bin Laden in video calls for martyrdom  —  (CNN) — Osama bin Laden stresses the importance of martyrdom for Muslim causes in a videotape that purportedly contains a 50-second message from the al Qaeda leader.  —  The 40-minute videotape, whose audio was being translated from Arabic by CNN …

Democrats block amendment to prevent Fairness Doctrine  —  Senate Democrats on Friday blocked an amendment that would have prevented the return of the Fairness Doctrine, a federal rule requiring broadcasters to air opposing views on issues.  —  Although no legislation has been offered …

Gilmore drops out of the race  —  Former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III is dropping his underdog bid for the Republican presidential nomination today, he told The Politico in an interview.  —  Gilmore said he has been approached about running for Virginia governor a second time …

Iraq PM: Country Can Manage Without U.S.  —  BAGHDAD -  —  Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave "any time they want," though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and training.

Bill Moyers Journal  —  BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the Journal.  —  Impeachment...the word feared and loathed by every sitting president is back.  It's in the air and on your computer screen, a growing clamor aimed at both President Bush and Vice-President Cheney.  —  This week's news only agitated the clamor.

White House Denies Request for Documents in Ex-NFL Player's Death  —  The White House has refused to give Congress documents about the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman, with White House counsel Fred F. Fielding saying that certain papers relating to discussion of the friendly-fire shooting …

Muslim heads stuck firmly in the sand  —  Hassan Butt, a former jihadist, demands some fresh thinking  —  In the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings I remember having a passionate discussion with some friends about who was responsible for the attacks.  "It's the work of the security services; I can put my life on it!" one said.

Fear of a global 'coldening'  —  Decrease Increase -  —  Submit comment:  —  LAST month Australians endured our coldest June since 1950.  Imagine that; all those trillions of tonnes of evil carbon we've horked up into the atmosphere over six decades of rampant industrialisation …

Iraq PM: Country can manage without U.S. AP - 15 minutes ago  —  Include Photos

Blue America Welcomes Darcy Burner (What Took Us So Long?)  —  The most astounding thing about Blue America endorsing Darcy Burner is that we're just getting around to it now.  Darcy is the quintessential Blue America candidate and we missed her last year.  Let's make up for it this year …

Rove Strategy Paper Found in Nixon Archive  —  The year was 1973, and Karl Rove was looking for help — from the Nixon White House.  —  Tucked away inside 78,000 pages of documents from the Nixon administration, released by the National Archives earlier this week, is a little gem …

Here is the news (as we want to report it)  —  This week the BBC was forced to apologise to the Queen for falsely claiming that she stormed out of a photo shoot.  We shouldn't be surprised, says former producer Antony Jay.  In this exclusive extract from a brilliant new CPS pamphlet …

Clinton on Obama on Iraq: "But That Was Five Years Ago"  —  Well she didn't quite say that, but it's her basic retort to Obama's critique.  I just did a Google search for 'Obama antiwar', and an Obama ad tailored to an antiwar Democrat popped up.  There is no Clinton ad, no Edwards ad, and no Richardson ad.

The Plame Game  —  It has been four years since you were catapulted into the headlines for outing the C.I.A. officer Valerie Plame in your syndicated column, yet the story lives on, most recently in the uproar over the commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence.  Would you like to see him pardoned?