Obama Freezes Pay for Federal Workers  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama announced a two-year pay freeze for civilian federal workers on Monday as he sought to address concerns over sky-high deficit spending and appeal to Republican leaders to find a common approach to restoring the nation's economic and fiscal health.

Answers to Readers' Questions About State's Secrets  —  The New York Times is publishing State's Secrets, a series of articles about a trove of more than 250,000 American diplomatic cables that were originally obtained by WikiLeaks, an organization devoted to exposing official secrets.

Serious Questions about the Obama Administration's Incompetence in the Wikileaks Fiasco  —  We all applaud the successful thwarting of the Christmas-Tree Bomber and hope our government continues to do all it can to keep us safe.  However, the latest round of publications …

Liberal groups blast Obama pay-freeze proposal, release alternative plan  —  Representatives of three liberal advocacy groups on Monday blasted President Obama's proposed two-year freeze on federal civilian worker pay.  —  John Irons of the Economic Policy Institute, Tamara Draut of Demos …

PRECEDENT AND PROLOGUE  —  Momentous Supreme Court cases tend to move quickly into the slipstream of the Court's history.  In the first ten years after Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 decision that ended the doctrine of separate but equal in public education, the Justices cited the case more than twenty-five times.

The Spanish Prisoner  —  The best thing about the Irish right now is that there are so few of them.  By itself, Ireland can't do all that much damage to Europe's prospects.  The same can be said of Greece and of Portugal, which is widely regarded as the next potential domino.  —  But then there's Spain.

Democrats warm to tax-cut compromise  —  A faction of congressional Democrats is making a push to persuade President Obama to consider a compromise on tax policy that would leave only the nation's 315,000 richest households facing higher taxes in January.  —  Over the past few days …

‘The criminalization of politics’  —  THERE IS LITTLE DOUBT that former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) schemed to get around a Texas law prohibiting corporate contributions to political campaigns.  Mr. DeLay's state political action committee accepted $190,000 in (legal) corporate contributions.

Blasts target Iranian nuclear scientists  —  One professor dies, another is injured on their morning commutes.  The attacks prompt a stern warning by the head of IranÂ's atomic energy agency.  —  Reporting from Beirut — Two separate explosions killed a nuclear scientist and injured another …

WikiLeaked: John Kerry calls for Israel to cede Golan Heights and East Jerusalem  —  On a February trip to the Middle East, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry (D-MA) told Qatari leaders that the Golan Heights should be returned to Syria, that a Palestinian capital …

APNewsBreak: NJ must pay $271M for killing tunnel  —  TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey owes the federal government more than $271 million after canceling a rail tunnel connecting the state with New York, according to a debt notice obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

What happens when Medicare controls costs too well  —  There's one school of thought that says Congress is incapable of controlling costs in Medicare, and then there's, well, this: … One of the dirty little secrets of the health-care system is that Medicare has done a much better job controlling costs …

Picasso's electrician reveals artist's ‘treasure trove’  —  The works include a portrait of the late artist's first wife, Olga  —  A retired electrician in southern France who worked for Pablo Picasso says he has hundreds of previously unknown works by the artist.

American exceptionalism: an old idea and a new political battle  —  Is this a great country or what?  —  “American exceptionalism” is a phrase that, until recently, was rarely heard outside the confines of think tanks, opinion journals and university history departments.

The Partisan Mind  —  Imagine, for a moment, that George W. Bush had been president when the Transportation Security Administration decided to let Thanksgiving travelers choose between exposing their nether regions to a body scanner or enduring a private security massage.

John Kampfner: Wikileaks shows up our media for their docility at the feet of authority  —  Mr Assange is an unconventional figure, a man who lives in the shadows and enjoys doing so  —  You should never shout “fire” in a crowded theatre.  Once you have accepted this old adage, you accept that there are limits to free expression.

Cancun climate change summit: scientists call for rationing in developed world  —  Global warming is now such a serious threat to mankind that climate change experts are calling for Second World War-style rationing in rich countries to bring down carbon emissions.

Palin not seen as electable  —  Sarah Palin might think she could get elected President in 2012, but few Americans agree.  Only 28% of voters in the country think that Palin is capable of defeating Barack Obama while 60% think she is not and 12% aren't sure.