W.H. to Reid: Cut deal with Lieberman  —  The White House is encouraging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to cut a deal with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and eliminate the proposed Medicare expansion in the health reform bill, according to an official close to the negotiations.

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 …

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.

This Is Huge: Rep. Bart Gordon Will Not Run For Re-Election  —  Boom goes the press release: … There really isn't anyway to spin as anything but bad for Democrats.  Whatever their reasons, the retirement of both John Tanner and Bart Gordon mean that only two years before redistricting …

The 150,000-life health-care plan  —  By now, you're probably used to hearing about the $900 billion health-care bill.  But what about the 150,000-life health-care bill?  —  Oddly, that label hasn't made its way into the conversation.  But it is, if anything, a conservative estimate.

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.

Banks: We'll ‘step up now’  —  Facing White House pressure to increase lending, bank CEOs plan to tell President Barack Obama in a meeting on Monday that they are ready to “step up” and take additional steps to promote economic recovery, industry officials tell POLITICO.

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 …

Torture, Chrysler cases ended; 3 grants  —  The Supreme Court refused on Monday to hear a major new case involving a claim of torture by four Britons while they were held at Guantanamo Bay.  It also wiped out the last remaining challenge to the deal that saved the automaker Chrysler, and it granted three new cases.

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.