C.I.A. Was Urged to Keep Interrogation Videotapes  —  White House and Justice Department officials, along with senior members of Congress, advised the Central Intelligence Agency in 2003 against a plan to destroy hundreds of hours of videotapes showing the interrogations of two operatives of Al Qaeda, government officials said Friday.

Huckabee wanted to isolate AIDS patients  —  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could "pose a dangerous public health risk."

Clinton Team Turns Iowa Focus to Women  —  DES MOINES — Seeking to steady her campaign in Iowa, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will bring a wave of prominent women to blanket the state and target female voters in the final weeks before its first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Hill Close To Deal on War Funds  —  Plan Includes Boost In Domestic Spending  —  House Democratic leaders could complete work as soon as Monday on a half-trillion-dollar spending package that will include billions of dollars for the war effort in Iraq without the timelines for the withdrawal …

Gates Calls Iran a Threat to Regional Security  —  Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates declared today that Iran is a grave threat to regional security, even without nuclear weapons, and called on Tehran to account for the full range of intelligence describing its support for terrorism and instability around the world.

Refuting, or Feeding, the Rumor Mill?  —  Stories about rumors are tricky and easily misconstrued.  A Nov. 29 story and headline that explored Barack Obama's "connections to the Muslim world" and rumors that he is Muslim were met with a swift Internet reaction that left some staffers stunned at its ferocity.

Rudy ducks questions on Judi's car use  —  Rudy Giuliani tried to ride out new questions Friday over taxpayer-funded chauffeur services that witnesses and sources said were provided to Judith Nathan before her affair to the former mayor was revealed in 2000.

Krauthammer On Fox  —  It's refreshing, actually.  I just listened to Charles say that the torture of terror suspects in 2002 was justified because the United States was flying blind and had no knowledge of what al Qaeda was planning.  He won't say "torture", of course, although the law is clear that it is torture.

Let's have a free market for housing and religion  —  Last week the Bush administration decided to "freeze" for five years the interest rates of certain types of mortgages.  You've probably caught the tail end of news stories about "subprime" home loans, lots of foreclosures, etc.

Fragile success for US Iraq surge  —  BBC correspondent Mark Urban has just returned from a second spell embedded with US soldiers on tour in Iraq to assess Washington's claims of an improving security situation.  —  For the American soldiers patrolling Baghdad's southern suburb of Dora these are days of trial by tea.

Iran Curveball  —  This latest intelligence fiasco is Mr. Bush's fault.  —  President Bush has been scrambling to rescue his Iran policy after this week's intelligence switcheroo, but the fact that the White House has had to spin so furiously is a sign of how badly it has bungled this episode.