Al-Qaeda is driven from Mosul bastion after bloody last stand  —  The murder toll is dropping, the insurgents are on the run.  Our correspondent is on the front line as the Iraqi army takes control  —  The hunt began just after dawn.  Iraqi armoured personnel carriers surrounded …

Bill Clinton On Unstable ex-POWs  —  Bill Clinton is speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival, and he said just now, apropos of almost nothing (actually, during a long peroration on Nelson Mandela): “Every living soul on this planet has some highly-justified anger.  Everyone.

Fred Barnes's Advice To McCain: Revive Your Struggling Campaign By Using Gay-Bashing As A Wedge  —  Discussing Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) struggling campaign on Fox News Sunday today, Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes argued that McCain “needs to pay attention to the right.”

Lefty blogs got no lovin' for AP's Loven  —  Jennifer Loven of the Associated Press did a piece on Barack Obama's attempted dash for the center that made poor Josh Marshall's eyes bleed.  And a bunch of Marshall's fellow travelers bleed with him.  —  What really sets Marshall off is that Loven …

Moon mistaken for UFO  —  Police in Wales were called to investigate a mysterious flying saucer, only to discover it was the moon.  —  The moon was mistaken for a “bright, stationary” UFO which had been loitering for at least half an hour, by a confused local in South Wales who made a 999 call to the police.

American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Spigot  —  Correction Appended  —  JUST three years ago, with oil trading at a seemingly frothy $66 a barrel, David J. O'Reilly made what many experts considered a risky bet.  Outmaneuvering Chinese bidders and ignoring critics who said he overpaid …

Employers Fight Tough Measures on Immigration  —  Under pressure from the toughest crackdown on illegal immigration in two decades, employers across the country are fighting back in state legislatures, the federal courts and city halls.  —  Business groups have resisted measures that would revoke …

Wall-E for President  —  SO much for a July Fourth week spent in idyllic celebration of our country's birthday.  This year's festivities were marked instead by a debate — childish, not constitutional — over who is and isn't patriotic.  The fireworks were sparked by a verbally maladroit retired general …

As Web Traffic Grows, Crashes Take Bigger Toll  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Alex Payne, a 24-year-old Internet engineer here, has devised a way to answer a commonly asked question of the digital age: Is my favorite Web site working today?  —  In March, Mr. Payne created downforeveryoneorjustme.com, as in, “Down for everyone, or just me?”

Obama backtracks on late-term abortions.  —  Does he think we won't notice?  First, he limited the health exception to “serious physical” things: … Then, he switched!  He now wants a mental health exception! … So as long as a woman can get her “blues” classified by a medical health professional as …

Durbin slams Senate GOP for obstructing key bills  —  Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Saturday strongly criticized the chamber's Republicans, accusing them of stopping “efforts to bring change to Washington.”  —  Durbin, who delivered the Democratic radio address …

Veterans Hit the Battlegrounds  —  Sen. John McCain is getting battleground-state help this week from Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who will appear in a television commercial aimed at convincing the public that the United States is winning the Iraq war and should stay to finish the job.

Election 2008: Rhode Island Presidential Election  —  Rhode Island: Obama Enjoys Big Lead in Blue State  —  Barack Obama leads John McCain 55% to 31% in Rhode Island, according to the first Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state since the primaries.

Iran Says Nuclear Policy Is Unchanged  —  PARIS — Iran's nuclear policy has not changed, an Iranian government spokesman said Saturday in Tehran, confirming that Iran would not comply with Security Council resolutions requiring it to stop enriching uranium.