Former Republican Sen. Warns GOP May ‘Have Gone So Far Overboard That We Are Beyond Redemption’  —  In an age when far-right tea party activists have taken over the Republican Party and demanded lockstep allegiance, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) has been one of the few GOP lawmakers to step out of line.

Feds: Somali-born teen plotted car-bombing in Ore.  —  PORTLAND, Ore. - Federal agents in a sting operation arrested a Somali-born teenager just as he tried blowing up a van he believed was loaded with explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, authorities said.

Charles Krauthammer Rips Liberal Media for Being Obsessed with Sarah Palin  —  Charles Krauthammer on Friday tore into the liberal media for being obsessed with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.  —  After Krauthammer scolded the “editorial judgment” of the producers of PBS's “Inside Washington” …

Simon Says  —  That Fat Lip Might Give Obama Some Street Cred … Gauze in hand, President Barack Obama walks to his car after the game of basketball Friday at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.  —  Just three weeks after getting a shellacking in the midterm elections, President Obama got a fat lip.

Demonstrators in Ireland Protest Austerity Plan  —  DUBLIN — After a week that brought Ireland a pledge of an $114 billion international rescue package and the toughest austerity program of any country in Europe, thousands of demonstrators took to Dublin's streets on Saturday to protest wide cuts …

The Taliban Call a Time-Out  —  For months, NEWSWEEK has reported emphatic denials by senior Afghan Taliban officials that they were engaged in secret peace talks with the government in Kabul.  Those denials received further weight last week when The New York Times exposed …

Mystery Surrounds Cyber Missile That Crippled Iran's Nuclear Weapons Ambitions  —  An aerial view of Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz.  —  In the 20th century, this would have been a job for James Bond.  —  The mission: Infiltrate the highly advanced, securely guarded enemy headquarters …

Number of the Week: 492 Days From Default to Foreclosure  —  492: The number of days since the average borrower in foreclosure last made a mortgage payment.  —  Banks can't foreclose fast enough to keep up with all the people defaulting on their mortgage loans.

A Nuclear Standoff With Libya  —  In November 2009, six years after the government of Libya first agreed to disarm its nuclear weapons program, Libyan nuclear workers wheeled the last of their country's highly enriched uranium out in front of the Tajoura nuclear facility, just east of Tripoli.

United Nations climate talks in limbo  —  Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), co-author of several unsuccessful cap-and-trade bills over the past decade, suggested an under-the-radar approach could yield results.  —  “Perhaps what Copenhagen has contributed to this moment, pre-Cancun, is low expectations,” Lieberman said.

The Trouble With Asking China to Act Like the U.S.  —  WASHINGTON — A fundamental tenet of foreign policy says that nations will seldom voluntarily act against what they have determined, for whatever reason, to be their own national interest.  —  Somebody needs to tell that to the United States …

Willie Nelson Freed After Drug Arrest  —  SIERRA BLANCA, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol spokesman says country singer Willie Nelson was charged with marijuana possession after 6 ounces was found aboard his tour bus in Texas.  —  Patrol spokesman Bill Brooks says the bus pulled into the Sierra Blanca …