NSA Spying Part of Broader Effort  —  Intelligence Chief Says Bush Authorized Secret Activities Under One Order  —  The Bush administration's chief intelligence official said yesterday that President Bush authorized a series of secret surveillance activities under a single executive order in late 2001.

U.S. Attorney Became Target After Rebuffing Justice Dept.  —  The night before the government secured a guilty plea from the manufacturer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin, a senior Justice Department official called the U.S. attorney handling the case and, at the behest of an executive for the drugmaker …

Obama might send troops into Pakistan  —  WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would possibly send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists, an attempt to show strength when his chief rival has described his foreign policy skills as naive.

Spectrum Auction Won't Bring Needed Broadband Competition  —  FCC's auction rules unlock mobile devices but ignore larger broadband crisis  —  WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission today set the rules governing the auction of the highly valued 700 MHz band of spectrum.

Rather than deny funding for Bush's initiatives, Congress should provide it now . . . * Congress should also give the president the money and support that he requests.  —  In February, O'Hanlon went to the Wall St. Journal Editorial Page to argue that Congressional Democrats were wrong to oppose …

A New Owner  —  A change in control won't change Journal standards.  —  Rupert Murdoch's courtship of the Bancroft family appears to have triumphed, with enough shares pledged to make News Corp. the owner of the newspaper whose Web site you are now reading.

Analysis says war could cost $1 trillion  —  Budget office sees effect on taxpayers for decade  —  WASHINGTON — The war in Iraq could ultimately cost well over a trillion dollars — at least double what has already been spent — including the long-term costs of replacing damaged equipment …

GOP slams 'giant leap' to social health care  —  Republicans and the White House say Democrats are pursuing a "giant leap" toward socialized health care by trying to draw middle-class families into a federally funded health insurance program for low-income children.

Late Nite FDL: Why the Republicans are Running From YouTube  —  Let's get something straight here.  The reason the Republicans are running from a YouTube debate has nothing to do with embarrassing themselves and everything to do with the horror that is the Republican base (see video above).

Cheney admits was wrong about "last throes" in Iraq  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledged on Tuesday he was wrong in 2005 when he insisted the insurgency in Iraq was in its "last throes."  —  It was Cheney's most direct public admission of how badly …

U.S. checking possibility of pumping oil from northern Iraq to Haifa, via Jordan  —  The United States has asked Israel to check the possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to the oil refineries in Haifa.  The request came in a telegram last week from a senior Pentagon official to a top Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem.

Roberts Facing Medical Option on 2nd Seizure  —  Despite his quick recovery from the seizure he suffered on Monday, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. faces a complex diagnosis and a difficult decision.  —  Because the seizure was his second — he had a similar one in 1993 …

Ethics Questions Plague Other Alaska Senator  —  Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, has been drawn into a swirl of ethics accusations that have already brought F.B.I. scrutiny to the two other members of the state's Congressional delegation and resulted in a raid this week on the home of Senator Ted Stevens.

This Time, Bill to Raise Yuan Might Pass  —  It has become a Capitol Hill ritual: A few senators, always including the New York Democrat Charles E. Schumer, introduce a bill to punish China if its leaders do not raise the value of the nation's currency.  Photos are taken, news releases are issued, but nothing really happens.

Britain can't have two best friends  —  Gordon Brown's first Washington visit as Britain's prime minister has prompted tea-leaf reading about the strengths and weaknesses of the US-UK relationship.  Momentarily diverting - and probably unavoidable - as the frenzy of speculation is, the real tests lie ahead.

Amid War, Passion for TV Chefs, Soaps and Idols  —  Seven years ago, during a very different time in a very different Afghanistan, a medical student named Daoud Sediqi was bicycling from campus when he was stopped by the Taliban's whip-wielding religious police.

Edwards's Campaign Tries to Harness Internet  —  Most presidential campaigns mark their progress by how they are doing in the polls and how much money they are raising.  —  John Edwards's campaign has another barometer of success: a 90-day calendar that tracks, in a jumble of red …