White House apologizes for low-flying plane  —  NEW YORK (CNN) — A White House official apologized Monday after a low-flying Boeing 747 spotted above the Manhattan skyline frightened workers and residents into evacuating buildings.  —  The aircraft was a White House plane taking part in a classified …

Cheney for President  —  Watching Dick Cheney defend the Bush administration's interrogation policies, it's been hard to escape the impression that both the Republican Party and the country would be better off today if Cheney, rather than John McCain, had been a candidate for president in 2008.

Pianist stops show with anti-US rant  —  • ‘Get your hands off my country’ audience told  —  • Polish player protests over missile defence shield  —  Krystian Zimerman, the great Polish concert pianist, is usually a man of few words.  He doesn't, as a rule, talk to the audience during performances.

Obama Acts to Ease Flu Fears; U.S. Says It Is Prepared  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration dispatched high-level officials from several agencies Monday to allay concerns about swine flu and to demonstrate that it was fully prepared to confront the outbreak even as the president said there was “not a cause for alarm.”

Declining Notre Dame: A Letter from Mary Ann Glendon  —  The Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.  —  President  —  University of Notre Dame  —  Dear Father Jenkins,  —  When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved.

The Politics of Liberal Amnesia  —  Nancy Pelosi is “pushing back” against charges that she was aware of — and acquiesced in — the CIA's harsh interrogations of terrorist detainees nearly from the moment the practice began, reports the Politico Web site.  Maybe she's suffering from amnesia.

Fox rejects Obama's request for airtime  —  Is the honeymoon over?  —  For the first time since Barack Obama took office, a major broadcast network is refusing to grant the president's request for primetime coverage.  —  Fox has issued a statement saying it will air regular programming …

Another GOP Defeat  —  Albany lifers are lousy candidates.  —  Republicans lost another Congressional race on Friday, as Democratic newcomer Scott Murphy was declared the victor by some 400 votes in the March 31 special House election in New York state.  But you wouldn't know it from the response …

Muslimowned shop bans customers wearing veils  —  A Muslim-owned jewellery shop has decided to ban customers wearing veils after being targeted by robbers disguised as Islamic women.  —  Everyone entering ATAA Jewellers in Glasgow must reveal their faces under planned new rules to protect staff from further attacks.

How libertarian dogma led the Fed astray  —  The Federal Reserve has been hobbled by at least two major shortcomings that were primarily responsible for the current and several previous credit crises.  Its failure to spot the importance of changing financial markets and its commitment …

How '07 ABC Interview Tilted a Torture Debate  —  In late 2007, there was the first crack of daylight into the government's use of waterboarding during interrogations of Al Qaeda detainees.  On Dec. 10, John Kiriakou, a former C.I.A. officer who had participated in the capture …

Swine Influenza (Flu)  —  Human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection have been identified in the United States.  Human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection also have been identified internationally.  The current U.S. case count is provided below.

Swine flu: what did you expect?  —  Usually “What did you expect?” is a rhetorical question, but we have a more serious point to make.  Let's start with the familiar and move on to the less familiar.  Many of you are coming here to find the latest news about swine flu.

Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson OC Register: 'There's no evidence CO2 is harmful.'  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) recently downplayed the threat of global warming by arguing that the harmful pollutant carbon dioxide is simply a “natural byproduct of nature.”