What 'That Regan Woman' Knows  —  NEW Yorkers who remember Rudy Giuliani as the bullying New York mayor, not as the terminally cheerful "America's Mayor" cooing to babies in New Hampshire, have always banked on one certainty: his presidential candidacy was so preposterous it would implode before he got anywhere near the White House.

Shake, Rattle and Roll  —  The debate dominatrix knows how to rattle Obambi.  —  Mistress Hillary started disciplining her fellow senator last winter, after he began exploring a presidential bid.  When he winked at her, took her elbow and tried to say hello on the Senate floor, she did not melt, as many women do.

Does Death Penalty Save Lives?  A New Debate  —  For the first time in a generation, the question of whether the death penalty deters murders has captured the attention of scholars in law and economics, setting off an intense new debate about one of the central justifications for capital punishment.

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.

Someone planting questions for John McCain?  —  HANOVER, N.H. - Could someone be planting questions for Sen. John McCain?  —  On the heels of the Iowa controversy in which a campaign staffer told a college student what to ask Sen. Hillary Clinton, McCain received at least five highly suspicious questions.

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 …

Under Siege, Life in Gaza Just Shrinks  —  IT'S a miserable time to be a Gazan.  —  Hopes were high in 2005, when Israel unilaterally withdrew its troops and 9,000 Jewish settlers, and the international community lined up to help the Palestinians make Gaza a model for their potential state.

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.

Do endorsements by papers matter?  —  Are the Denver newspapers' endorsements of candidates credible?  Do they matter?  Last week, a reader complained to me that The Denver Post had endorsed candidates for Lakewood City Council without interviewing them.  So I asked editorial page editors Dan Haley …

McCain Stakes His Campaign on New Hampshire  —  John McCain's campaign caravan rolled through the North Country's first snowstorm of the year this weekend, the start of a last-ditch effort in the state that will once again make or break his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

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.

The dollar's decline: from symbol of hegemony to shunned currency  —  The decline of the dollar, symbol of US global hegemony for the best part of a century, may have become so entrenched that some experts now fear it is irreversible.  —  After months of huge and sustained turmoil on the money markets …

Jefferson Accused of Two More Schemes  —  Federal prosecutors on Friday accused Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) of soliciting bribes in two alleged schemes that had not been previously disclosed.  —  The allegations, detailed in a seven-page document filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria …

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.