Losing Ground In Iowa, Clinton Assails Obama  —  With a new poll showing her losing ground in the Iowa caucus race, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) mounted a new, more aggressive attack against Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Sunday, raising direct questions about his character …

U.S. Says Iran Ended Atomic Arms Work  —  A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold, contradicting an assessment two years ago that Tehran was working inexorably toward building a bomb.

Sudan's President Pardons British Teacher  —  A British school teacher jailed in Sudan for two weeks after allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad was freed Monday following a pardon by the Sudanese president.  —  President Omar al-Bahir's pardon of Gillian Gibbons allowed …

Imus Is Back!  —  Highlights in bold.  —  6:00 A.M.: Charles McCord opens the program.  "The Imus in the Morning program has returned to the air following a hiatus of nearly 8 months."  Wild applause from the live audience assembled in Times Square's Town Hall.

Subprime Debacle Traps Even Very Credit-Worthy  —  As Housing Boomed,  —  Industry Pushed Loans  —  To a Broader Market  —  One common assumption about the subprime mortgage crisis is that it revolves around borrowers with sketchy credit who couldn't have bought a home without paying punitively high interest rates.

Venezuela Hands Narrow Defeat to Chávez Plan  —  Voters in this country narrowly defeated a proposed overhaul to the constitution in a contentious referendum over granting President Hugo Chávez sweeping new powers, the Election Commission announced early Monday.

Democratic Primary Preview: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina  —  Summary of Findings  —  Democrats enter the presidential primary campaign upbeat about their candidates and united in their views on major issues.  Sen. Hillary Clinton is the clear frontrunner in New Hampshire and South Carolina …

Shocked  —  It took five months and almost 7,000 words, but The New Republic and its editor Franklin Foer have finally retracted the piece "Shock Troops."  —  As most of the blog world knows by now, TNR published "Shock Troops" on July 13 under the byline Scott Thomas …

Lashing Justice  —  Muslims who wonder why non-Muslims are often baffled, angered, even frightened by some governments' interpretation of Islamic law need only look to the cases of two women in Saudi Arabia and Sudan threatened with barbaric lashings.  —  In Saudi Arabia, a woman who was gang-raped was sentenced to 90 lashes.

Expect to hear more of such stories next year...  Democrats' failure to patch the AMT until after the deadline for printing IRS forms will result in tens of millions of late tax refunds.  This is all about Democrats failing to get their act together and pass an AMT patch that doesn't massively raise taxes …

The Meaning of Fiscal Conservatism  —  With economic uncertainty weighing on the minds of many Americans, Congress is preparing to recess after another year of profligate spending, protectionist talk and promises of higher taxes.  No wonder some people feel like we're moving in the wrong direction.

Pro-Huckabee negative calls flood Iowa  —  A newly-formed group claiming to support Mike Huckabee hit the phones of Iowa Republicans tonight with an automated push-poll attacking Huckabee's GOP opponents and praising the former Arkansas governor.  —  Officials representing the Iowa campaigns …

Innovating Our Way to Financial Crisis  —  The financial crisis that began late last summer, then took a brief vacation in September and October, is back with a vengeance.  —  How bad is it?  Well, I've never seen financial insiders this spooked — not even during the Asian crisis of 1997-98 …