Winfrey wows crowd  —  29,000 attend Columbia rally for Obama  —  In what Sen. Barack Obama described as the best-attended rally of the political season for any candidate, more than 29,000 attendees jammed Williams-Brice Stadium Sunday.  —  Media mogul Oprah Winfrey rallied the crowd of supporters …

The Paygo Farce  —  Democrats admit it was all a big confidence game. … Well, as Emily Littela, the half-witted Gilder Radner character on Saturday Night Live, would have put it: "Never mind."  Last week Congressional Democrats formally renounced their ballyhooed budget pledge to offset …

Republican Candidates Firm on Immigration  —  In front of what will probably be their most pro-immigration audience, Republican candidates toned down their rhetoric but told Spanish-language television viewers in a debate on Sunday that they would take strong measures to close off the country's borders to illegal immigration.

Students stone police in Iran riot  —  Students defied a clampdown on protests in Iran yesterday by tearing down the gates of Tehran university.  —  They chanted slogans against President Ahmadinejad and carried placards saying "Live free or die", "No war, no fascism" and "Women must decide their fate, not the state."

'Meet the Press' transcript for Dec. 9, 2007  —  Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-N.Y.  —  MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Our Meet the Candidates 2008 series continues, an exclusive interview with Republican Rudy Giuliani.  He has served as associate attorney general in Washington …

Sunday horror: Church shootings in Colorado; gunman killed by armed female church security staffer  —  Update 12/10 8:30am.  The gunman was wearing a tactical helmet and body armor.  —  By now, you've read about the two tragic church shootings incidents in Colorado earlier today.

Henry Paulson's Priorities  —  By Bush administration standards, Henry Paulson, the Treasury secretary, is a good guy.  He isn't conspicuously incompetent; and he isn't trying to mislead us into war, justify torture or protect corrupt contractors.  —  But Mr. Paulson's actions reflect the priorities of the administration he serves.

U.S. Mortgage Crisis Rivals S&L Meltdown  —  Toll of Economic Shocks May Linger for Years; A Global Credit Crunch  —  The home has long been the bedrock asset of most American families.  Now, its value has become the biggest question mark hanging over the global economy and financial system.

Tancredo: GOP Candidates 'Pandering' At Spanish-Language Debate  —  DENVER — Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo is boycotting a Spanish-language debate with his fellow GOP presidential candidates in Miami on Sunday, saying it has no place in presidential race and accusing his rivals of "pandering."

Philharmonic Agrees to Play in North Korea  —  Adding a cultural wrinkle to the diplomatic engagement between the United States and North Korea, the New York Philharmonic plans to visit Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, in February, taking the legacy of Beethoven, Bach and Bernstein to one of the world's most isolated nations.

PULITZER PRIZE IN TERRORISM?  —  The Associated Press won a 2005 Pulitzer for Breaking News Photography for its team coverage of the Iraq War.  But the US Military discovered at least one team member - Bilal Hussein - had been a little too cozy with the terrorists when he got that coverage.

Paul turns down invitation to seek Libertarian Party nomination  —  Lake Jackson congressman won't run for president on third-party ticket.  —  WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Ron Paul turned down a Libertarian Party invitation on Sunday that could have kept him in the 2008 presidential race …

Disability Cases Last Longer as Backlog Rises  —  RALEIGH, N.C. — Steadily lengthening delays in the resolution of Social Security disability claims have left hundreds of thousands of people in a kind of purgatory, now waiting as long as three years for a decision.

A Year Later, Signs of Progress Around the World  —  The world looks safer, friendlier, more hopeful than it did as we approached Christmastime last year.  —  Then, we were on the defensive, perhaps on the verge of defeat, in Iraq.  The Europeans' attempts to persuade Iran to renounce nuclear weapons seemed to have failed.