Latest Updates on Hudson Jet Rescue  —  [Refresh this post for continuing live blog updates.  Please also see complete coverage on NYTimes.com.]  —  A news conference with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. David A. Paterson is wrapping up.  Mayor Bloomberg said that it appeared …

The Elephant in the Room: McCain may be Obama's secret weapon  —  A desire by both men to secure their places in history might forge an unlikely pairing.  —  I have been to New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington in recent weeks.  In those cities, at least, you cannot watch the news …

Obama To Hold Fiscal Responsibility Summit  —  President-elect Barack Obama visits the Post newsroom after a meeting with the editorial board and Washington Post Co. Chairman Don Graham, right.  (Photo, The Washington Post)  —  President-elect Barack Obama will convene a “fiscal responsibility summit” …

Intelligence Court Rules Wiretapping Power Legal  —  WASHINGTON — A federal intelligence court, in a rare public opinion, issued a major ruling validating the power of the president and Congress to wiretap international phone calls and intercept e-mail messages without a specific court order …

Holder to Senate: ‘Waterboarding is torture’  —  Obama's nominee for attorney general vows break with controversial tactic  —  Attorney General-nominee Eric Holder and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., shake hands just prior to Holder's confirmation hearing on Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Commitee.

West Wing ‘Ghost Town’  —  From long-time ABC News White House correspondent Ann Compton:  —  President and Mrs. Bush fly to Camp David Friday afternoon for a final weekend in the rustic seclusion of “the Camp.”  Over the next 36 hours, White House staffers will go through the behind …

O'Reilly Freaks Out Over the Thought of Holding Bush Admin Torturers Culpable  —  Bill O'Reilly came briefly unhinged last night, but managed to keep himself from having one of his infamous all-out temper tantrums.  I thought for sure he was about to start shouting, “Do it live!  F—k it!

10 Take Aways From the Bush Years  —  There's actually a lot that President-elect Barack Obama can learn from the troubled presidency of George W. Bush.  Over the past eight years, I have interviewed President Bush for nearly 11 hours, spent hundreds of hours with his administration's key players …

Vince Foster, Fifteen Years Later  —  I was looking over a daily almanac and saw that Vincent Foster would have been 64 years old today.  In the 1990s, I spent a lot of time covering his death, beginning with trip to Fort Marcy Park the morning after his body was discovered.

Where Sweatshops Are a Dream  —  Before Barack Obama and his team act on their talk about “labor standards,” I'd like to offer them a tour of the vast garbage dump here in Phnom Penh.  —  This is a Dante-like vision of hell.  It's a mountain of festering refuse, a half-hour hike across …

Hamas minister Siam dies in IAF strike  —  The IDF stepped up pressure on Hamas on Thursday, killing Interior Minister Said Siam and pushing deep into Gaza City as defense officials predicted a cease-fire would begin soon.  —  Siam, the most senior Hamas political leader killed since Operation …

Follow Jesus Like Nazis Followed Hitler, Rick Warren Tells Stadium Crowd  —  On April 17, 2005, at the southern California Anaheim Angels sports stadium thirty thousand Saddleback Church members, more than ever gathered in one spot, assembled to celebrate Saddleback's 25th anniversary …

Filling Her Senate Seat: New Yorkers Favor Cuomo to Replace Clinton  —  This Marist Poll reports:  —  · New Yorkers Clamor for Cuomo...Kennedy Stagnates in Pool of Public Opinion: The tides of support have changed in the contest over who voters think should fill Hillary Clinton's vacant U.S. Senate seat.

EFCA in International Comparison  —  Seth Michaels notes that not only do countries with strong economies feature strong unions even according to the Heritage Foundation, but specifically they feature the kind of labor-friendly legal environment that progressives are trying to bring to the United States:

Report: Israel, Hamas agree on 2-week truce  —  Palestinian sources tell Ynet fighting in Gaza to cease within 72 hours for period of two weeks, during which sides will discuss supervision of crossings, IDF withdrawal from Strip and removal of blockade  —  Palestinian sources told Ynet …

What if I didn't pay taxes?  —  Would it be OK if I stopped paying my taxes until Barack Obama names me to be his secretary of the treasury?  —  That is a deal I would like to get.  That is the deal financial wizard Timothy Geithner got.  —  He didn't pay all of his federal taxes for years.

MOORE MISUSES WAR PICTURE  —  MICHAEL Moore may wind up in court with a prize-winning journalist who claims the mountain-size moviemaker ripped off his most famous photo to use in a George W. Bush-bashing rant.  —  Last year, to illustrate one of his anti-administration bombasts …

Questions for Panetta  —  Eli Lake has an excellent piece in the Washington Times today sifting through Leon Panetta's record on rendition as Clinton's chief of staff.  Panetta, Obama's nominee to head the CIA, will face confirmation hearings next week.  As Lake points out …

Welcome to the White House, Mr. Obama  —  The honeymoon doesn't last long.  —  On Tuesday, America can take pride in a special transfer of power as Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be sworn in as president.  —  Shortly after the ceremony, the new president's aides …

Of Judges, By Judges, For Judges  —  In November, 13,402,566 California voters expressed themselves for or against Proposition 8, which said that their state's Constitution should be amended to define marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman.  The voters, confident that they had a right …