Poll: In Gaza, Hamas popularity wanes  —  The violent takeover of the Gaza Strip has cost Hamas some support there and bolstered its rival, Fatah, according to a poll released Sunday.  —  Hamas swept through Gaza last month, vanquishing numerically superior forces aligned with Fatah leader …

Cheney pushes Bush to act on Iran  —  Ewen MacAskill in Washington and Julian Borger  —  The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months, the Guardian has learned.

Hungering for Thompson  —  The sound of silence tells an interesting tale when it comes to Fred Thompson.  A week after reports emerged suggesting that the former Tennessee senator once lobbied for an abortion rights group, few leaders of the GOP's conservative wing have expressed concern.

A GOP comeback strategy  —  Way behind in the polls, the party should exploit the anti-politician mood and offer a hopeful message.  —  ALL THE BIG questions for 2008 are on the Democratic side: Can Hillary Clinton show her humanity?  Does Obama have enough experience?  Will Edwards find a cheaper barber?

Execution Of Ga. Man Near Despite Recantations  —  SAVANNAH, Ga. — A Georgia man is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday for killing a police officer in 1989, even though the case against him has withered in recent years as most of the key witnesses at his trial have recanted …

Clinton, Obama, Edwards bank almost $100 million  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — The three Democratic presidential frontrunners have amassed nearly $100 million in their combined campaign warchests, almost triple the amount of their Republican counterparts, according to reports filed Sunday night with the Federal Election Commission.

IAEA confirms N. Korea has shut reactor  —  SEOUL, South Korea - U.N. inspectors have verified that North Korea shut down its nuclear reactor, the watchdog agency's chief said Monday, the first on-the-ground achievement toward scaling back Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions since the international standoff began in late 2002.

On the Front Line in the War on Terrorism  —  Cops in New York and Los Angeles offer America two models for preventing another 9/11.  —  Three time zones, 3,000 miles, and a cultural galaxy apart, New York and Los Angeles face a common threat: along with Washington, D.C., they're the chief American targets of Islamic terror.

New Populism Is Spurring Democrats on the Economy  —  On Capitol Hill and on the presidential campaign trail, Democrats are increasingly moving toward a full-throated populist critique of the current economy.  —  Clearly influenced by some of their most successful candidates …

John Edwards Vows To End All Bad Things By 2011  —  AMES, IA—In an effort to jump-start a presidential campaign that still has not broken into the top Democratic tier, former Sen. John Edwards made his most ambitious policy announcement yet at a campaign event in Iowa Monday …

Hamas Goes 'on Trial' in Texas in Case Over Muslim Charity  —  The federal government's largest and most aggressive effort to prosecute alleged Hamas financiers in America is to be put to the test beginning today in a Dallas courtroom.  —  Five officials of what was once …

Breaking Al-Qaeda Code Islamically: New OBL Video Possibly Announcement Of His Death  —  Osama Bin Laden recently emerged in a new video from Al-Qaeda in a 37 second clip, praising martyrdom.  The rest of the forty minutes of the video was some kind of collage/montage of Al-Qaeda activity.

Some Democratic Senators Still Not On Board To Restore Habeas Corpus  —  That title alone should send shivers down your spine.  —  Bob Geiger: … Again, I put it to you that it lies with us to pierce through the Beltway bubble.  Please contact these Democrats (especially if you're in their district) …

Did Military and Media Mislead Us?  Most Outside Insurgents in Iraq Come from Saudi Arabia  —  NEW YORK For years, polls have shown that very large numbers of Americans continue to falsely believe that some of the 9/11 hijackers came from Iraq.  In reality, the overwhelming number hailed from the land of a U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia.