A Handpicked Obama Team for a Shift in Foreign Policy  —  WASHINGTON — When President-elect Barack Obama introduces his national security team on Monday, it will include two veteran cold warriors and a political rival whose records are all more hawkish than that of the new president who will face them in the White House Situation Room.

India Security Faulted as Survivors Tell of Terror  —  At Tourist Haunts and Train Station, Swiftly Launched Assault Overwhelmed Police; Home Affairs Minister Steps Down  —  MUMBAI — As waiters started setting dinner buffets in Mumbai's luxurious hotels, the killings that would ravage …

Sad News: Tanta Passes Away  —  My dear friend and co-blogger Doris “Tanta” Dungey passed away early this morning.  I would like to express my deepest condolences to her family and friends.  —  Photo: Tanta in 2004 (from her sister Cathy).  —  From David Streitfeld at the NY Times …

Deficits and the Future  —  Right now there's intense debate about how aggressive the United States government should be in its attempts to turn the economy around.  Many economists, myself included, are calling for a very large fiscal expansion to keep the economy from going into free fall.

Six degrees of Imran Khan  —  ANALYSIS/OPINION:  —  On the evening of Nov. 26, the biggest names in Bollywood walked the red carpet at the Bombay premiere of “The President Is Coming,” a comedy about six 20-somethings vying to win the right to shake hands with President Bush.

Jihad's True Face  —  Much of the reporting from Mumbai the last few days has been informative, gripping and often moving.  Some of the commentary, on the other hand, has been not just uninformative but counterinformative — if that's a term, and if it's not, I say it should be.

America's Other Auto Industry  —  There is such a thing as a profitable car maker in this country.  —  The men from Detroit will jet into Washington tomorrow — presumably going commercial this time — to make another pitch for a taxpayer rescue.  Meanwhile, in the other American auto industry …

AP IMPACT: US diluted loan rules before crash  —  WASHINGTON - The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed.

How to Combat a Banking Crisis: First, Round Up the Pessimists  —  Latvian Agents Detain a Gloomy Economist; ‘It Is a Form of Deterrence’  —  RIGA, Latvia — Hammered by economic woe, this former Soviet republic recently took a novel step to contain the crisis.

Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security  —  The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

CNN Pitches a Cheaper Wire Service to Newspapers  —  CNN, in the afterglow of an election season of record ratings for cable news, is elbowing in on a new line of business: catering to financially strained newspapers looking for an alternative to The Associated Press.

Senate Could Give New President Early Legislative Victories  —  As Senate Democrats prepare for next year's agenda, they are likely to have a working filibuster-proof majority on a variety of legislative issues that could provide early victories for President-elect Barack Obama.