Justices Rule for White Firefighters in Bias Case  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.

Obama Picks Camp David Church — Not a D.C. Congregation  —  For the past five months, White House aides and friends of the Obamas have been quietly visiting local churches and vetting the sermons of prospective first ministers in a search for a new — and uncontroversial — church home.

Honduras Defends Its Democracy  —  Fidel Castro and Hillary Clinton object.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Hugo Chávez's coalition-building efforts suffered a setback yesterday when the Honduran military sent its president packing for abusing the nation's constitution.

Betraying the Planet  —  So the House passed the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill.  In political terms, it was a remarkable achievement.  —  But 212 representatives voted no. A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill …

Madoff Sentenced to 150 Years in Prison for Ponzi Scheme  —  A federal judge sentenced Bernard L. Madoff to 150 years in prison on Monday for operating a huge Ponzi scheme that devastated thousands of people, calling his crimes “extraordinarily evil.”  —  In pronouncing the sentence …

Chambliss blocks regulatory pick over animal lawsuits  —  Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) has blocked President Obama's candidate for regulation czar, Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein, because Sunstein has argued that animals should have the right to sue humans in court.

Aide's tale of John Edwards sex tape  —  Former presidential candidate John Edwards is out of luck if he hoped that the extramarital affairs of Gov. Mark Sanford and Sen. John Ensign would take people's minds off his own cheating scandal.  —  Former Edwards aide Andrew Young says the ex-senator …

Keeping News of Kidnapping Off Wikipedia  —  For seven months, The New York Times managed to keep out of the news the fact that one of its reporters, David Rohde, had been kidnapped by the Taliban.  —  But that was pretty straightforward compared with keeping it off Wikipedia.

Wonkette Goes After Trig Palin Again  —  It really is hard to understand why some adults feel the need to make fun of Trig Palin, a one-year old who has Down Syndrome.  Politics alone cannot explain it.  If you don't like Sarah Palin, fine, but why go after Trig?

HORRIFIC Video Captures Basij Thugs Shooting At Protesters From Rooftop  —  Busted!  Regime thugs shoot down at democracy protesters on the street from a rooftop in Tehran.  —  This is one of those videos that you will not forget.  What kind of regime fires on its own people peacefully demonstrating for freedom?

Paper Avalanche Buries Plan to Stem Foreclosures  —  LOS ANGELES — Somewhere on earth, there must be a more difficult task than this: persuading American mortgage companies to lower payments for homeowners who can no longer afford their loans.  But as Karina Montenegro struggles to accomplish …

The Way We Love Now  —  It's been a good month for reckless romance in America.  The nation's most famous reality-television father, Jon Gosselin of “Jon and Kate Plus Eight,” threw over his marriage for a fling with a 23-year-old schoolteacher.  Not one but two prominent conservative politicians torpedoed …

Loophole Helps GE Benefit From Bank Rescue Program  —  Industrial Giant Becomes Top Recipient in Debt-Guarantee Program  —  General Electric, the world's largest industrial company, has quietly become the biggest beneficiary of one of the government's key rescue programs for banks.

A what-man?  —  When the Sony Walkman was launched, 30 years ago this week, is started a revolution in portable music.  But how does it compare with its digital successors?  The Magazine invited 13-year-old Scott Campbell to swap his iPod for a Walkman for a week.  —  My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day.

Washington to California: Drop dead  —  Members from California know that a California-specific bailout wouldn't be popular with their colleagues from the not-so-Golden states — and even less so since the White House isn't on board.  —  And analysts say the California delegation isn't quite as a powerful as it looks.

Israel May Shift on Settlements Freeze Amid Broader Effort  —  JERUSALEM — Israel would be open to a complete freeze of settlement building in the West Bank for three to six months as part of a broad Middle East peace endeavor that included a Palestinian agreement to negotiate an end …

Obama is choosing to be weak  —  As he promised last year, Barack Obama has brought climate change and healthcare reform to the centre of the nation's attention.  As well as evangelising, he is pressing Congress to act.  Last week the House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey cap …

Microsoft puts Razorfish up for sale  —  By Tim Bradshaw in Cannes and Richard Waters in San Francisco  —  Microsoft has appointed Morgan Stanley to find a potential buyer for Razorfish, its digital agency.  —  Publicis, the French marketing company that says it is planning more acquisitions …

Recovery threatened by toxic assets  —  • Governments too slow to act, warn central bankers  —  • CBI sounds warning over ‘worrying’ bad debt levels  —  Taxpayers around the world still face potentially large losses because governments have failed to act quickly enough …