Exclusive: E-mails between Sanford, woman  —  Woman in affair declines interview  —  Below are excerpts of e-mails, obtained by The State newspaper in December, between Gov. Mark Sanford's personal e-mail account and Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

EXCLUSIVE: President Obama Defends Right to Choose Best Care  —  In ABC News Health Care Forum, President Answers Questions About Reform  —  President Obama struggled to explain today whether his health care reform proposals would force normal Americans to make sacrifices that wealthier …

Iran crisis: live  —  Another opposition protest is planned today amid signs of behind-the-scenes manoeuvring to calm anger about Iran's disputed election and reports that Britons have been arrested in the latest crackdown.  Follow live updates  —  2.45pm:

MPs ‘snub’ Ahmadinejad party  —  More than 100 MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, local press reports say.  —  All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night but 105 did not turn up, the reports say.

Stunning pictures of the volcano that blew a hole in the sky as astronauts witness eruption from International Space Station  —  Framed by a circle of clouds, this is a stunning illustration of Nature's powerful force.  —  A plume of smoke, ash and steam soars five miles into the sky from an erupting volcano.

Palin blasts Alaska blogger over Trig photo  —  Sarah Palin is again responding forcefully to a perceived attack on one of her children, this time attacking an Alaska blogger who edited a picture of her and her baby son, Trig, to replace Trig's face with the image of a conservative Alaska talk show host, Eddie Burke.

Unimaginable Horror In Tehran Today  —  Iran has executed its Tiananmen Square.  Baharestan Square has become synonymous with barbarity, cruelty, massacre and inhumanity.  —  An Iranian blogger (whose URL I will not publish) live blogging from Baharestan Square in central Tehran today captures …

HuffPo's Question at Obama News Conference Sparks a Media Flap  —  It may seem unseemly, given the apparent bloodshed in Iran today, to dwell on fallout among the media and bloggers about the Obama administration's selective process for taking questions at a presidential news conference.

Obama Plays Hardball With Watchdogs  —  Gerald Walpin has quickly become the most famous of the three inspector generals who've left their jobs in recent weeks, exposing what appears to be a pattern of pressure from the Obama administration.  —  In radio and television interviews …

Bush administration leaks bolstered Rick Renzi's reelection bid  —  In the fall of 2006, one day after the Justice Department granted permission to a U.S. attorney to place a wiretap on a Republican congressman suspected of corruption, existence of the investigation was leaked to the press …

Iran opposition leader blasts rulers; 70 professors arrested  —  Mousavi says the supreme leader's actions are not ‘in the interests of the country,’ and the crackdown imperils the Islamic Republic.  —  Reporting from Tehran — Iran's leading opposition figurehead, Mir-Hossein Mousavi …

Hillary Is Wrong About the Settlements  —  The U.S. and Israel reached a clear understanding about natural growth.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Despite fervent denials by Obama administration officials, there were indeed agreements between Israel and the United States regarding the growth of Israeli settlements on the West Bank.