Lewd photo was hack, Weiner says  —  Rep. Anthony Weiner says social networking identity hacking is to blame for the lewd material that a conservative news website reported was sent from his Twitter and yfrog handles to an unidentified woman from Seattle, Washington.

McCain: Palin can beat Obama  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has said he thinks Sarah Palin could defeat President Obama in next year's presidential election, but he's far from certain that she will actually jump into the race.  —  The GOP's standard-bearer in 2008 also shrugged off …

Pro-Obama media always shocked by bad economic news  — TAGS: - Barack Obama - Bloomberg News - Business Insider - Christina Romer - cnbc.com - commerce department - Congressional Budget Office - Council of Economics Advisers - David Leonhardt - durable goods - George W. Bush - Glenn Reynolds …

THE ARTS  —  Cutbacks, changes in Philadelphia Orchestra's new strategic plan  —  The Philadelphia Orchestra will shrink the number of its subscription concerts 15 percent and cut its artistic budget an equal amount.  —  International touring will go on hiatus unless it can be fully funded …

Republican Legislators Push to Tighten Voting Rules  —  MIAMI — Less than 18 months before the next presidential election, Republican-controlled statehouses around the country are rewriting voting laws to require photo identification at the polls, reduce the number of days of early voting or tighten registration rules.

Gen. James Cartwright, on tap to lead Pentagon, became target for criticism  —  President Obama summoned one of his favorite and most trusted military advisers, Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, to the White House on May 21 for a one-on-one meeting.  It was a Saturday, less than three weeks since …

Mitch Daniels Says He Could Have Beaten Obama If He Had Run  —  ABC News' Jessica Desvarieux reports:  —  Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels says he has no regrets about his recent decision not to run for the Republican presidential nomination, but says he believes he could have beaten President Obama if he had run.

Shields, Brooks on Patriot Act, N.Y. Race Upset, Medicare Politics, Palin Tour  —  Transcript  —  JUDY WOODRUFF: Now it's time for our weekly analysis from Shields and Brooks.  That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.  —  Welcome, gentlemen.

UK training Saudi forces used to crush Arab spring  —  • British military personnel run courses for snipers  —  • Human rights groups furious over Riyadh link  —  Britain is training Saudi Arabia's national guard - the elite security force deployed during the recent protests in Bahrain …

Iran Vows to Unplug Internet  —  An Iranian engineer who helped design and run the country's Internet filters says he subtly undermined some censorship until fleeing into exile  —  Iran is taking steps toward an aggressive new form of censorship: a so-called national Internet that could …