FiveThirtyEight Senate Forecast: GOP Is Slight Favorite in Race for Senate Control  —  When FiveThirtyEight last issued a U.S. Senate forecast — way back in July — we concluded the race for Senate control was a toss-up.  That was a little ahead of the conventional wisdom at the time …

Obama aide: US sanctions effectively weakening Russia  —  White House deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken argued Sunday the United States' sanctions are effectively hurting Russia's economy even though they haven't deterred Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Crying Wolf on Religious Liberty  —  This week, the owners of two secular, for-profit corporations will ask the Supreme Court to take a radical turn and allow them to impose their religious views on their employees — by refusing to permit them contraceptive coverage as required under the Affordable Care Act.

France may have found part of jet  —  PERTH, Australia — France on Sunday provided Malaysia with satellite images of objects that could be from a passenger jet that has been missing for more than two weeks, the latest word of such images that officials are hoping will help solve one of the world's great aviation mysteries.

Russia Without Illusions  —  SINCE the end of the Cold War, America's policy toward Russia has been shaped by two dangerous illusions.  —  The first was the conceit that with the right incentives, eyes-to-soul presidential connections and diplomatic reset buttons, Russia could become what we think of …

Study: Blacks with white friends are ‘less black’  —  WASHINGTON SECRETS VINCENT GRAY WASHINGTON RACE AND DIVERSITY  —  When Washington, D.C., councilman and former Mayor Marion Barry this week said that whites need to be “more open-minded” about African-American politicians, claiming …

Carter: ‘My own communications are probably monitored’  —  Former President Jimmy Carter says he corresponds with foreign leaders the old-fashioned way - through snail mail - because he suspects his communications are watched by intelligence agencies.  —  “I have felt that my own communications …

N.S.A. Breached Chinese Servers Seen as Security Threat  —  WASHINGTON — American officials have long considered Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, a security threat, blocking it from business deals in the United States for fear that the company would create “back doors” …

Islamic law is adopted by British legal chiefs  —  Solicitors told how to draw up Sharia-style wills penalising widows and non-believers  —  Islamic law is to be effectively enshrined in the British legal system for the first time under guidelines for solicitors on drawing up “Sharia compliant” wills.

Paul Has Ideas, but His Backers Want 2016 Plan  —  SAN FRANCISCO — In a ballroom at the Olympic Club, a grand, early-20th-century building at the foot of Nob Hill, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, pitched a gathering of venture capitalists last week in an effort to show them that he may be the next big thing.

Deep underground, federal employees process paperwork by hand in a long-outdated, inefficient system  —  In BOYERS, Pa. — The trucks full of paperwork come every day, turning off a country road north of Pittsburgh and descending through a gateway into the earth.

Kasich Declines to Rule Out 2016 Run  —  Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is running for re-election, defended policies that break with others pushed by some of his GOP colleagues, such as expanding Medicaid and investing in infrastructure spending, saying they are the right decisions for Ohio.