Lieberman Rules Out Voting for Health Bill  —  WASHINGTON — In a surprise setback for Democratic leaders, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, said on Sunday that he would vote against the health care legislation in its current form.  —  The bill's supporters had said earlier …

Obama Slams ‘Fat Cat’ Bankers  —  President Voices Frustration, Escalating Tensions With Wall Street on Eve of Meeting  —  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama lashed out at Wall Street, calling bankers “fat cats” who don't get it, in an escalation of tensions with the industry.

Secret document exposes Iran's nuclear trigger  —  Confidential intelligence documents obtained by The Times show that Iran is working on testing a key final component of a nuclear bomb.  —  The notes, from Iran's most sensitive military nuclear project, describe a four-year plan to test …

Climate talks row sees negotiations ‘suspended’  —  Negotiations at the UN climate summit have been suspended after developing countries withdrew their co-operation.  —  Delegations were angry at what they saw as moves by the Danish host government to sideline talks on more emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.

Morning Fix: Obama's tough love for bankers  —  1. President Obama will sit down today with the chief executives of the nation's biggest banks — see full list below — to give them a bit of tough love.  Asked what the president's message will be, one senior administration official pointed …

Man charged for hitting Berlusconi with cathedral  —  Rome, Italy (CNN) — Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will remain in the hospital at least “another 36 hours,” his doctor Alberto Zangrillo said Monday, following an attack that left Berlusconi with broken teeth and a fractured nose.

Disaster and Denial  —  When I first began writing for The Times, I was naïve about many things.  But my biggest misconception was this: I actually believed that influential people could be moved by evidence, that they would change their views if events completely refuted their beliefs.

President Obama tells Oprah Winfrey: I deserve a B+ for my first 11 months in White House  —  President Obama told Oprah Winfrey on Sunday night he gives himself a “good, solid B-plus” for his first 11 months in the Oval Office.  —  On what was billed as Oprah's “White House Christmas Special …

Under Murdoch, Tilting Rightward at The Journal  —  Sunday was the second anniversary of the sale of The Wall Street Journal to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.  At that time, a chorus of journalism church ladies (I was among them) warned that one of the crown jewels of American journalism …

Did AmeriCorps official lie about possible First Lady link to IG firing?  —  Congressional investigators looking into the abrupt firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin have discovered that the head of AmeriCorps met with a top aide to First Lady Michelle Obama the day before Walpin was removed.

Taliban can be admired for their faith and loyalty, says bishop  —  The Taliban can be admired for their conviction to their faith and their sense of loyalty to one another, the new bishop for the Armed Forces has claimed.  —  The Rt Rev Stephen Venner called for a more sympathetic approach …

Our Interview with Paul Samuelson (1915 - 2009)  —  Paul Samuelson, the Nobel Prize-winning giant of modern Keynesian economics, died today at the age of 94.  A few months ago, Atlantic Business writer Conor Clarke interviewed Samuelson about how the economics field failed to prepare us for the financial crisis and the Great Recession.