Obama, With Reluctance, Returns to Action in Iraq  —  WASHINGTON — In sending warplanes back into the skies over Iraq, President Obama on Thursday night found himself exactly where he did not want to be.  Hoping to end the war in Iraq, Mr. Obama became the fourth president in a row …

Cease-Fire in Gaza Expires, and Strikes Resume  —  JERUSALEM — As a 72-hour truce in Gaza expired at 8 a.m. Friday, Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets into Israel and the Israeli military responded with airstrikes, one of which killed a 10-year-old boy, according to relatives.

Ask Andrew W.K.: My Dad Is a Right-Wing A**hole  —  [Editor's note: Every Wednesday New York City's own Andrew W.K. takes your life questions, and sets you safely down the right path to a solution, a purpose or — no surprise here — a party.  Need his help?  Just ask: AskAWK@villagevoice.com]

Caution needed with Gaza casualty figures  —  War zones are not easy places to collect statistics.  —  In the Gaza conflict, most news organisations have been quoting from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which leads a group of humanitarian organisations known as the Protection Cluster.

Rep. DesJarlais, challenger trade leads in Tenn.  —  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Scandal-plagued Tennessee Rep. Scott DesJarlais (day-zhar-LAY') and challenger Jim Tracy's race is still too close to call as election officials in the largely rural 4th Congressional District tally outstanding votes.

Wolfowitz: We ‘won’ the Iraq War  —  Paul Wolfowitz, a former senior George W. Bush administration official and one of the chief Iraq War architects, said on Tuesday that the U.S. “won” the war in Iraq.  —  When asked his thoughts about the current situation in Iraq and whether the war was a mistake …

U.S. drops bombs on ISIS  —  This late-breaking news from NBC's Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube: U.S. officials tell NBC News that two US Navy FA-18's dropped two five-hundred pound bombs on ISIS enemy forces outside Erbil this morning.  No word on casualties.

Family says Tampa church canceled funeral because son was gay  —  Julie Atwood was standing at her son's casket when the phone rang.  The church where her son's funeral was scheduled to be held the next day decided to abruptly cancel the service, after the pastor learned the deceased was gay …

The U.N. Handmaiden of Hamas  —  The relief agency in Gaza, financed in part by the U.S., has become a patron of Palestinian grievance.

Smiling Young White People Make App for Avoiding Black Neighborhoods  —  Is there any way to keep white people from using computers, before this whole planet is ruined?  I ask because the two enterprising white entrepreneurs above just made yet another app for avoiding non-white areas of your town—and it's really taking off!

Ex-councilman who quit in Klingon running for U.S. Senate  —  The Indian Trail councilman who wrote his resignation letter in Klingon wants to beam up to Capitol Hill.  David Waddell is running as a write-in candidate for U.S. Senate.  —  The N.C. Board of Elections certified this week …

Tennesseans vote to retain Supreme Court justices  —  In a major defeat for Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, voters on Thursday voted to keep all three Tennessee Supreme Court justices in retention elections.  —  Chief Justice Gary Wade and Justices Connie Clark and Sharon Lee all survived to win …

A high-speed train wreck for Obama and liberalism  —  CALIFORNIA BIG GOVERNMENT ECONOMY LIBERALISM RAILROADS  —  Few of President Obama's initiatives are more emblematic of his early ambitions to be a transformational liberal leader than his vision for connecting the nation with a vast high-speed rail network.

New jellyfish discovered: giant venomous species found off Australia  —  WA specimen of new irukandji jellyfish sparks particular scientific interest because it has no tentacles  —  A giant and extremely venomous jellyfish found off Western Australia's north-west coast has researchers stumped because it appears to have no tentacles.

Don't Give Booker a Pass  —  Cory Booker may be the most puzzling man in the Senate.  We don't know where he lives.  We don't know whom, if anyone, he lives with.  And he's been caught in lie after lie about his heroics.  Yet, this enigma of a man has emerged as the king of odd-couple bromance …