Iraq Panel to Urge Pullout Of Combat Troops by '08  —  The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend withdrawing nearly all U.S. combat units from Iraq by early 2008 while leaving behind troops to train, advise and support the Iraqis, setting the first goal for a major drawdown of U.S. forces …

Radiation Hits Second Man  —  An Italian academic who met a former Russian spy on the day he was allegedly poisoned has tested positive for radiation.  —  Mario Scaramella was found to have isotope Polonium-210 in his body.  —  He had lunch with ex-security agent Alexander Litvinenko …

TSA's revealing X-ray screening raises privacy concerns  —  WASHINGTON — The federal government plans this month to launch the nation's first airport screening system that takes potentially revealing X-ray photos of travelers in an effort to find bombs and other weapons.

McCain Courts Crucial Support of Governors  —  Last anyone checked, Senator John McCain of Arizona is not — and has never been — a governor.  —  But no matter.  Mr. McCain turned up on Thursday morning at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa here for a guerrillalike visit to the annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association.

Illegal immigrants toiled for governor  —  Guatemalans say firm hired them  —  This story was reported by Jonathan Saltzman and Maria Cramer of the Globe staff and by Globe correspondent Connie Paige and was written by Saltzman.  —  SUCHITEPEQUEZ, Guatemala — Outside his aqua-colored concrete house here …

Aides: Pelosi taps Reyes to head intelligence committee … WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has chosen a Border-Patrol-agent-turned-congressman to lead the House intelligence committee, according to congressional aides.  —  Democratic leaders are contacting congressional …

As Obama Moves, Clinton Team Starts To Interview, Quietly  —  Select members of Sen. Hillary Clinton's political team have started to interview Democrats who might one day fill senior and mid-level positions in Clinton's yet-to-be-announced presidential campaign.

Democratic Power Struggle  —  The most important tension within the new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives is not between liberals and conservatives or free traders and fair traders.  It is between older members who once enjoyed the power and perks of majority status …

Dollar slides as US business slows  —  The dollar suffered sharp falls on Thursday, hit by reports of weak US business activity and a benign inflation picture.  —  The euro rose .7 per cent against the dollar to $1.3247 by late afternoon in New York after data from Chicago purchasing managers indicated …

Political Constraints  —  Josh Marshall is chronicling the rapidly emerging rightwing "stab in the back" meme in which George W. Churchill was betrayed by both the American and Iraqi people.  Big surprise.  It's an interesting series of posts and I urge you to read them all.  Here's an excerpt from one:

Calderon takes oath as Mexican president amid catcalls … MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) — Felipe Calderon took the oath of office as Mexico's president Friday amid jeers and whistles in a chaotic ceremony reflecting a divided nation.  —  Physically protected by ruling party lawmakers and flanked …

MSM bias: "Everybody knows ..."  —  Michelle Malkin, Flopping Aces and many others have spent days chronicling how the Associated Press has been bamboozled into reporting an apparently fictitious (or, at least, greatly exaggerated) atrocity in Iraq.  Yet AP continues to defend both its dubious story and its equally dubious sources.