World should give thanks for America  —  Speaking as a misfit unassimilated foreigner, I think of Thanksgiving as the most American of holidays.  —  Christmas is celebrated elsewhere, even if there are significant local variations: In Continental Europe, naughty children get left rods …

Bush Failed to See Musharraf's Faults, Critics Contend  —  In the six years since Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, joined President Bush in the fight against Al Qaeda, it has been an unlikely partnership: a president intent on promoting democracy and a military commander who seized power in a bloodless coup.

U.N. Chief Seeks More Climate Change Leadership  —  Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, describing climate change as "the defining challenge of our age," released the final report of a United Nations panel on climate change here on Saturday and called on the United States and China to play "a more constructive role."

Hillary vs. Obama  —  WASHINGTON — Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it.  The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed.

8 Million Stories In the Naked City, And One Character Keeps Popping Up  —  Before deciding to run for president, Rudy Giuliani might have consulted the late William Faulkner, who studiously said, "The past is not dead.  In fact, it's not even past."  If America's mayor didn't know that before, he certainly knows it now.

Watchdog cancels Russian poll review  —  By Catherine Belton in Moscow and Stefan Wagstyl in London  —  Europe's main election monitoring group said on Friday it was scrapping plans to deploy observers to Russia's forthcoming parliamentary elections in a decision that could cast doubt on the integrity of the poll.

CNN's Las Vegas Post Debate Analysis— A Clinton Reunion  —  UPDATE: Even The New York Times and Daily Kos are reporting on the imbalance in the CNN post debate analysis... Now, that's bad!  —  It's hard to have a bad debate performance when:  —  ** The audience is planted in your favor

9/11 Firefighters and Family Members Plot Anti-Giuliani Ad Campaign  —  Group Considering Swift-Boat-Style Television Attack  —  A group of 9/11 firefighters and victims' family members with eyes on derailing Republican Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign is close to a decision on forming …

Thirty Years Ago  —  The young man on the left of this shot is me, in the spring of 1977, a few months before coming to work at NR full time.  The young man on the right of the frame is Walter Olsen, libertarian legal writer.  —  Despite our haircuts, we were not headlining for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band …

How to Beat Hillary (Next) November  —  Republicans who think she'll be easy to defeat are wrong.  What they should do.  —  I've seen up close the two Clintons America knows.  He's a big smile, hand locked on your arm and lots of charms.  "Hey, come down and speak at my library.

Progress, Progress And More Progress  —  Winning: News from Iraq gets better by the day, but the media have done their best to downplay the turnaround and congressional Democrats have basically pulled the covers over their heads and pretended it doesn't exist.  —  There's an eery silence out there about what's going on in Iraq.

For Clinton, More Time and More Advertising  —  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has nearly doubled the size of her staff in Iowa and has substantially increased her advertising here as her campaign reinforces its effort to prevent Democrats from coalescing around a single alternative to her candidacy.

What Does Iraq Cost?  Even More Than You Think.  —  You may recall that you got rid of your loyal White House economic adviser Lawrence B. Lindsey back in 2002 after, among other sins, he claimed that a war in Iraq might cost as much as $200 billion.  At the time, White House staffers sneered that Lindsey was being alarmist.

Illegal immigrant demands to be flown home because Britons are 'rude and unfriendly'  —  An illegal immigrant has demanded to be flown home after saying he was fed up with British people - because they are "rude and unfriendly".  —  Speaking today, Mokhtar Tabet, 30 - who has been given a home …

Pakistan Troops Launch Major Assault on Militants  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The army said Saturday that it has massed 15,000 troops for a major assault on Islamic militants in a scenic northern valley, whose fall has raised concern about Pakistan's ability to withstand rising extremism.

T. Boone Pickens Responds to Letter From U.S. Senator John Kerry  —  The following is a copy of a letter mailed by T. Boone Pickens in response to a letter from U.S. Senator John Kerry regarding the Senator's military record and ads in the 2004 presidential election by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.