Artist Admits Using Other Photo for ‘Hope’ Poster  —  Shepard Fairey, the controversial artist whose “Hope” poster of Barack Obama became an iconic emblem of the presidential campaign, admitted on Friday that he lied about which photograph from The Associated Press he used as his source …

Obama Threatens Insurers' Anti-Trust Exemption  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama mounted a frontal assault on the insurance industry on Saturday, accusing it of airing “deceptive and dishonest ads” to derail his health care legislation and threatening to strip the industry of its longstanding exemption from federal anti-trust laws.

Sharpton threatens suit against Limbaugh  —  WASHINGTON (CNN)- Reverend Al Sharpton and his lawyers say they are preparing to file a defamation lawsuit against conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for an op-ed published Saturday, which Sharpton alleges “erroneously” characterizes his …

Harris poll puts Obama approval at 45%  —  Barack Obama might have hoped that an unexpected Nobel Peace Prize might halt his slide in the polls.  Not so, says the latest Harris interactive poll, conducted over the last week.  The survey contacted over 2200 adults on line …

Superfreakonomics on climate, part 1  —  OK, I'm working my way through the climate chapter — and the first five pages, by themselves, are enough to discredit the whole thing.  Why?  Because they grossly misrepresent other peoples' research, in both climate science and economics.

Brown leads poll in Houston mayor's race  —  Poll shows Brown with lead, Parker trailing closely behind  —  City Councilman Peter Brown, who has blanketed the airwaves for months with an evergreen message about his “blueprint” for Houston, has emerged as the front-runner in the Nov. 3 mayoral race …

7 Months, 10 Days in Captivity  —  THE car's engine roared as the gunman punched the accelerator and we crossed into the open Afghan desert.  I was seated in the back between two Afghan colleagues who were accompanying me on a reporting trip when armed men surrounded our car and took us hostage.

In Shift for Obama, U.S. Settles On Modulated Policy for Sudan  —  After lengthy debate, the Obama administration has settled on a policy toward Sudan that offers a dramatically softer approach than the president had advocated on the campaign trail — but steers clear of the conciliatory tone advocated …

How Turkey Was Lost to the West  —  Once the apotheosis of a pro-Western, dependable Muslim democracy, this week Turkey officially left the Western alliance and became a full member of the Iranian axis.  —  It isn't that Ankara's behavior changed fundamentally in recent days.

Morehouse College bans cross-dressing  —  ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — An all-male college in Atlanta, Georgia, has banned the wearing of women's clothes, makeup, high heels and purses as part of a new crackdown on what the institution calls inappropriate attire.

British High Court rejects U.S./British cover-up of torture evidence  —  (updated below)  —  There is a vital development — a new ruling from the British High Court — in a story about which I've written many times before: the extraordinary joint British/U.S. effort to cover up the brutal torture …

Pakistan Opens Offensive in a Militant Stronghold  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan moved large contingents of its troops into the militant stronghold of South Waziristan on Saturday, the army said, beginning a long-anticipated ground offensive against militants from Al Qaeda and the Taliban …

Record-High Deficit May Dash Big Plans  —  $1.4 Trillion in Red Ink Means Less to Spend On Obama's Ambitious Jobs, Stimulus Policies  —  The federal budget deficit soared to a record $1.4 trillion in the fiscal year that ended in September, a chasm of red ink unequaled in the postwar era …