GOP Losses Span Nearly All Demographic Groups  —  Only frequent churchgoers show no decline in support since 2001  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The decline in Republican Party affiliation among Americans in recent years is well documented, but a Gallup analysis now shows that this movement away …

‘US special squad killed Benazir’  —  NEW YORK (Online) - Former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on the orders of the special death squad formed by former US vice-president Dick Cheney, which had already killed the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafique Al Hariri and the army chief of that country.

Credit Card Industry Aims to Profit From Sterling Payers  —  Credit cards have long been a very good deal for people who pay their bills on time and in full.  Even as card companies imposed punitive fees and penalties on those late with their payments, the best customers racked up cash-back rewards …

CNN Poll: Pelosi facing Gingrich-like approval ratings  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — As Nancy Pelosi continues to face a firestorm over what she may have known about aggressive government interrogation techniques, and when, a new survey has more unpleasant news for the House Speaker.

Obama's $1,300 car tax  —  Nobody in the White House is going to call the president's “mileage and pollution” plan what it is.  —  It's a $1,300 car tax.  On the working class.  On the middle class.  On everyone who has responded to the government's consumption-mania incentives …

MPs' expenses: Michael Martin ‘to stand down’  —  Michael Martin, the Commons Speaker, will this afternoon announce that he is to stand down over the MPs' expenses scandal.  —  Mr Martin is expected to inform MPs of his departure in a statement to the Commons at 2.30pm …

Netanyahu stands firm against demands from Obama  —  Israel stood firm against demands from Barack Obama on Monday to cease the construction of Jewish settlements and embrace the “two-state solution” to achieving peace in the Middle East.  —  Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister …

Palin camp eyed Clinton alliance  —  In an unusual attempt to forge an alliance between two of the most prominent families in American politics, John Coale, a Washington-area Democratic donor and onetime adviser to Sarah Palin, urged the conservative Alaska governor to use her political action committee …

CIA Officials Fear That New Rules May Hinder Interrogations  —  Intelligence Officials Privately Warn That New Rules May Hinder Their Interrogations  —  Battered by recriminations over waterboarding and other harsh techniques sanctioned by the Bush administration, the CIA is girding itself …

Housing Starts Hit Record Low in April  —  This is not a green shoot: … That said, I don't really see this as “disappointing” or much of a “sign for the future.”  The supply of new housing ought to be fairly fundamentals-driven.  There are so many people in the country …

Poll: Reid's re-election numbers don't add up  —  CARSON CITY — Nearly half of Nevadans have had enough of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as the powerful Democrat heads into his re-election campaign, a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll finds.  —  About a third of the state's voters …

FIRST THOUGHTS: THE GREEN MILE  —  *** The Green Mile: In covering this young Obama administration, the news never seems to stop, does it?  A day after President Obama discussed Iran and Middle East peace with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, he today will unveil new regulations on auto emissions …

Obama Avoids Test on Gays in Military  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided to accept an appeals-court ruling that could undermine the military's ban on service members found to be gay.  —  A federal appeals court in San Francisco last year ruled that the government must justify …

Talk of insurance mandate growing  —  Health care could soon go the way of the automobile, with users having no choice but to buy insurance coverage.  —  Within four years, every American could be required to own health insurance or pay their way through tax penalties.

Steelers' Harrison won't visit Obama … PITTSBURGH — James Harrison plans to pass on another trip to the White House with the Pittsburgh Steelers.  —  Harrison, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, says he'll skip the Super Bowl champion's visit to the White House to meet President Barack Obama …

Dan Brown's America  —  The movie treatment of his novel, “Angels and Demons,” is cleaning up at the box office this week.  The sequel to “The DaVinci Code,” due out in November, might bouy the publishing industry through the recession.  And if you want to understand the state of American religion …