At least eight dead in Tehran street battles  —  At least eight anti-government protesters, including a nephew of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Iran's opposition leader, were shot dead yesterday as the smouldering confrontation between the regime and the so-called Green Movement finally erupted.

The Terror This Time  —  Janet Napolitano says the system worked.  No, we were brave and lucky.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  A U.S. government that has barred the phrase “war on terror” has nonetheless acknowledged that a failed Christmas day bomb attack on an airliner was a terrorist attempt.

U.S. Widens Terror War to Yemen, a Qaeda Bastion  —  WASHINGTON — In the midst of two unfinished major wars, the United States has quietly opened a third, largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen.  —  A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent several of its top field operatives …

The Big Zero  —  Maybe we knew, at some unconscious, instinctive level, that it would be an era best forgotten.  Whatever the reason, we got through the first decade of the new millennium without ever agreeing on what to call it.  The aughts?  The naughties?  Whatever.

Mary Matalin claims President Bush ‘inherited’ the September 11th terror attacks.  —  On CNN today, GOP strategist and former Dick Cheney adviser Mary Matalin argued that President Obama is speaking too much about the severe debt, deficits, and economic recession he inherited from the previous administration.

Memphis Man Arrested: Accused of Making Bomb Threats & Threatening to Start “Holy War”  —  MEMPHIS, TN - Tonight, Mohamed Ibrahim is out after posting $100 bond.  Earlier in the day, he was arrested after police say he walked into several Memphis businesses and threatened to blow them up.

Winners and Losers: Political toll of 2009  —  Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and Sonia Sotomayor:  —  “Winners.”  —  So say a majority of Americans asked to assess the political  —  winners of 2009 - with the first lady leading the list.  —  Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed …

The Odds of Airborne Terror  —  Not going to do any editorializing here; just going to do some non-fancy math.  James Joyner asks: … Let's expand Joyner's scope out to the past decade.  Over the past decade, there have been, by my count, six attempted terrorist incidents on board …

They still don't love us  —  If you thought America would quickly regain the world's love, admiration and — most important — it's willingness to follow the U.S. lead once Barack Obama came to power, the news is disappointing.  A useful guide to what has transpired comes from Venezuela's president and his most peculiar sulfurometer.

New Detroit scare declared ‘non-serious’  —  (CNN) — The security alert aboard a Northwest Airlines jet Sunday was the result of a “non-serious” incident, and the man questioned in connection with the scare does not appear to be a threat, a law enforcement source said Sunday.