Reid pressured Blagojevich not to appoint Jackson Jr. to Obama's U.S. Senate seat  —  Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn't want in the post …

Israel launches ground offensive in the Gaza Strip  —  Palestinian witnesses said the artillery barrage caused a large explosion in Gaza City as well as a series of blasts stitching the nearby frontier with Israel.  —  Channel 10 television quoted a witness as saying that Israel …

U.S.-installed Iraqi ex-PM says Bush “utter failure”  —  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Former U.S.-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has denounced the policies of President George W. Bush as an “utter failure” that gave rise to the sectarian venom that ravaged his country.

American Recovery and Reinvestment  —  In this week's weekly address, President-elect Barack Obama lays out the challenges that face us in the new year, and his plan for taking them on.  —  “We need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that not only creates jobs in the short-term …

Rangel Pushed for a Donation; Insurer Pushed for a Tax Cut  —  On April 21, 2008, Representative Charles B. Rangel met with officials of the American International Group, the now-troubled insurance giant, to ask for a donation to a school of public service that City College of New York was building in his honor.

A New Cigarette Hazard: ‘Third-Hand Smoke’  —  Parents who smoke often open a window or turn on a fan to clear the air of second-hand smoke, but experts now have identified another smoking-related threat to children's health that isn't as easy to get rid of: third-hand smoke.

Ignoring the Oracles: You Are With the Free Markets, or Against Them  —  It's hard to tell what's more striking about Raghuram Rajan's 2005 presentation at the Kansas City Fed's Jackson Hole symposium — the way many of the dangers he laid out came to pass, or the way he was attacked, and then discounted.

Khat — is it more coffee or cocaine?  —  ‘FLOWER OF PARADISE’: In East African countries like Somalia, khat leaves have been used as a stimulant and social tonic.  But in the U.S. khat is illegal, and increased demand is leading to clashes between narcotics officers and immigrants.

Reinventing conservatism, one tweet at a time  —  Since the humbling results of the November election came in, the conservative movement has been scrambling to assess what happened—and to figure out how to prevent it from happening again.  Much of this effort, in light of the Obama campaign's …

Senate recount proceeds as high court seeks more ballot information  —  A statewide review that is adding wrongly rejected absentee ballots to the Senate recount moved toward a conclusion today.  Meanwhile, all were waiting for a decision by the state Supreme Court on a Coleman motion to modify the review procedure

Analysis: Bush's personality shapes his legacy  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will be judged on what he did.  He will also be remembered for what he's like: a fast-moving, phrase-mangling Texan who stays upbeat even though his country is not.

Some Forecasters See a Fast Economic Recovery  —  Economics as the dismal science?  Not in some quarters.  —  In the midst of the deepest recession in the experience of most Americans, many professional forecasters are optimistically heading into the new year declaring that the worst may soon be over.