Rapid response speeds up  —  The presidential campaigns in both parties have begun reacting ferociously to real or perceived attacks from rivals, goaded by a tight campaign calendar that leaves no room for error, and a determination to show they're tougher than John F. Kerry was in 2004.

Protesters arrested at Gonzales speech  —  In his first appearance at a university since resigning in August, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was met at UF on Monday with a mixture of cheers, boos and scattered interruptions by protesters, two of whom were arrested.

U.N. to Cut Estimate Of AIDS Epidemic  —  Population With Virus Overstated by Millions  —  The United Nations' top AIDS scientists plan to acknowledge this week that they have long overestimated both the size and the course of the epidemic, which they now believe has been slowing for nearly a decade …

Young voters dig Giuliani's moderate views  —  Zachary Zhengyi Lim, a freshman at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, is a self-described political moderate.  A 17-year-old who will turn 18 in time to vote in the Granite State's presidential primary, Lim said he registered Republican on a whim.

Iraqis Joining Insurgency Less for Cause Than Cash  —  MOSUL, Iraq — Abu Nawall, a captured al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, said he didn't join the Sunni insurgent group here to kill Americans or to form a Muslim caliphate.  He signed up for the cash.  —  "I was out of work and needed the money …

Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves  —  Five months ago, Suhaila al-Aasan lived in an oxygen tank factory with her husband and two sons, convinced that they would never go back to their apartment in Dora, a middle-class neighborhood in southern Baghdad.

A myth in the unmaking  —  Fox News's status as a politically impartial channel is at last being exposed as a fiction  —  Britons may be familiar with Rupert Murdoch, but I don't think the UK has a beast quite like the American Fox News Channel.  Celebrating its 11th year on the air, Fox is a breathtaking institution.

At White House behest, NYT sat on scoop  —  When the New York Times published a front page story Sunday about the United States' and Pakistan's joint clandestine efforts to protect nuclear weapons, the newspaper offered a glimpse into a "highly classified program" the Bush administration long objected to seeing in print.

DHS Erred in $475 Million Contract Given to Native Firm  —  The Department of Homeland Security improperly awarded a half-billion-dollar, no-bid contract in 2003 to a little-known company to maintain thousands of X-ray, radiation and other screening machines at U.S. border checkpoints …

Wrestler Ric Flair supporting Mike Huckabee  —  COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - In the race for presidential endorsements, Mike Huckabee has the kitschy pop culture celebrity vote on lockdown.  —  First it was martial arts hero and "Walker, Texas Ranger" star Chuck Norris, who appears with Huckabee in his first TV ad.

A gap in GOP candidates' healthcare proposals  —  Giuliani, McCain and Thompson are offering plans to help the uninsured — but their aversion to regulations would mean that many of their fellow cancer survivors would be left out.  —  WASHINGTON — When Rudolph W. Giuliani was diagnosed …

Deputies Raid Wrong Address, Kill Couple's Dog  —  An Accokeek couple is demanding an apology after Prince George's County Sheriff's Deputies burst into their home and killed their dog - all because deputies went to the wrong address.  —  Pam and Frank Myers were tucked away …

Staticidal Zealotry  —  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is behaving like a zealot.  In her ever-more-rash pursuit of a Palestinian state, she is exhibiting the syndrome defined by the philosopher George Santana, as one who redoubles her efforts upon losing sight of the objective.