Spanish Court Weighs Inquiry on Torture for 6 Bush-Era Officials  —  LONDON — A high-level Spanish court has taken the first steps toward opening a criminal investigation against six former Bush administration officials, including former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales …

Obama order worries speech groups  —  Free speech advocates from across the political spectrum are accusing President Barack Obama of impinging on First Amendment rights and are gearing up to take their case public.  —  At issue is an unprecedented directive that Obama …

Do New Bulbs Save Energy if They Don't Work?  —  SAN FRANCISCO — It sounds like such a simple thing to do: buy some new light bulbs, screw them in, save the planet.  —  But a lot of people these days are finding the new compact fluorescent bulbs anything but simple.

Obama Town Hall Questioners Were Campaign Backers  —  President Obama has promised to change the way the government does business, but in at least one respect he is taking a page from the Bush playbook, stocking his town hall Thursday with supporters whose soft — though far from planted …

Krugman: the left's new anti-Obama  —  A stark image of Paul Krugman, the bearded New York Times op-ed columnist and Princeton economist, appears on the cover of next week's Newsweek, with the headline “OBAMA IS WRONG: The Loyal Opposition of Paul Krugman.”  —  Krugman, who won the Nobel Prize …

CNN in third place in prime time for first time  —  NEW YORK - CNN is poised to finish March third in the prime-time weeknight ratings behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC, the first time this has ever happened for the channel that pioneered the cable news genre nearly three decades ago.

White House Debate Led to Plan to Widen Afghan Effort  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama's plan to widen United States involvement in Afghanistan came after an internal debate in which Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. warned against getting into a political and military quagmire …

Obama Will Face a Defiant World on Foreign Visit  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is facing challenges to American power on multiple fronts as he prepares for his first trip overseas since taking office, with the nation's economic woes emboldening allies and adversaries alike.

We Did It!  —  The good guys win!  Ayers is out!  Because you spoke out, got on the phones and sent the emails, Boston College did the right thing and told unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers to take a hike.  —  Here's how the Boston Herald reports it today:

Biden: U.S. ready for ‘collaboration’  —  Vice President Joe Biden and Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner at the Progressive Governance Leaders' Summit today in Vina del Mar, Chile.  (Photo by Martin Bernett / AFP / Getty Images.)  —  by Mark Silva

White House finalizing plan for more auto aid  —  WASHINGTON - The Obama administration was finishing work on a plan to give more financial aid to two Detroit automakers in return for tough cost-cutting measures that will ensure the companies' survival.  —  President Barack Obama's auto …

Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries  —  TORONTO — A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded.

In Exposing the Identity of Mudflats, Rep. Mike Doogan Exposes Himself.  —  Anonymity is an interesting thing.  Anyone who has read my “About” page knows that Mudflats popped out of my head and on to my keyboard last May.  I, like many of you, get frustrated with my government.

Obama's Man on the Budget: Just 40 and Going Like 60  —  WASHINGTON — At 6 in the morning, Peter R. Orszag is racing: across wet pavement for a 35-minute run, into a shower and a suit, and through a living room that looks rather like an office, the walls painted presidential gold and hung with pictures of federal monuments.

The Missing Mahatma  —  Searching for a Gandhi or a Martin Luther King in the West Bank.  —  They marched southward from Ramallah one windy morning in March 2012.  Sheikh Nasser a-Din al-Masri led them—a slim man with a short black beard that half-hid a puckered scar on his neck.

OMINOUS CANARY SONGS.... Count me among the skeptical of Obama's new Afghanistan strategy.  What really worries me is what I'll call the “reverse canary” problem.  Simply put, the wrong people are too happy.  —  You're all familiar with the phrase “canary in the coal mine.”

Weekly Address: Crisis and Service  —  This week the President dedicates his address to the people of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota as they face down disastrous flooding.  He speaks of what the government is doing, but also stresses that times of crisis like this are reminders …