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At the time of his death, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still trying to transform his organization from one focused on the Iraqi insurgency into a global operation capable of striking far beyond Iraq's borders, intelligence experts here and in the West agree. His recruiting efforts, according to high-ranking Jordanian security officials interviewed Saturday, were threefold: He sought volunteers to fight in Iraq and others to become suicide bombers there, but he also recruited about 300 who went to Iraq for terrorist training and sent them back to their home countries, where they await orders to carry out strikes. There have...

NEW Buddha Bar on Little West 12th Street has come up with a novel solution to the city's indoor smoking ban. The lavishly designed restaurant/lounge, the Meatpacking District's newest, features a glass-walled atrium, open to the sky, where smokers can enjoy their vice while they keep an eye on their friends, and strangers, inside...

...a few months ago the conventional wisdom was that President Bush would get his way on Social Security. ...Bush's privatization drive flopped so badly that the topic has almost disappeared from national discussion. ...I'd like to revisit Social Security... Many pundits and editorial boards still give Bush credit for trying to "reform" Social Security. ...Bush came to bury Social Security, not to save it. ...the Bush plan would have transformed Social Security from a social insurance program into a mutual fund, with nothing except a name in common with the system F.D.R. created. ...Bush repeatedly lied about the current system....

...After verifying her identity, ...man on the phone assured her that her son, Bobby Rosendahl, who was stationed in Iraq, was still alive. But he'd been badly wounded. With that Saturday night phone call, life as Ms. Olson had known it came to an end. Her family's long, long period of overwhelming sacrifice was under way. Bobby Rosendahl, a 24-year-old Army corporal (and avid golfer) from Tacoma, Wash., was literally blown into the air last March 12 when an improvised explosive device detonated beneath his Stryker armored vehicle. He remembers landing on his back, with fuel spilling all around him...

The Nebraska Commission on Judicial Qualifications has publicly reprimanded Douglas County Judge John Huber for snide comments he made from the bench. The commission said in one case, Huber made a litigant cry and, after the case was resolved, told her, "Stop it. Grow up. That doesn't make me feel bad for you in any way." Huber also was accused of expressing doubt that a witness would tell the truth. Huber's remarks came during a May 2004 civil trial in which a real estate company sought to evict two tenants from an apartment. The reprimand said: "Judge Huber expressed impatience...

...Bush has done so much for women. Not at home, of course. Women in jeans in America may have their rights eroded by an administration where faith trumps science, but women in burkas? Bush can't talk enough about how important their rights are. And in the administration's diplomacy-free foreign policy, five of its top spokesmen on the Muslim world are women: Condi Rice; Laura Bush; Liz Cheney, No. 2 in the Near East bureau of the State Department and head of the Middle East democracy project; Karen Hughes, the new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy; and her deputy, Dina...

If you criticize the Queen of Peace, Cindy Sheehan for her publicity stunt in front of President Bush’s home, you get called a neo-con. If you criticize President Bush for looks so far as misleading or false reasons for invading Iraq, you get called unpatriotic. Somewhere in the dust of Crawford Texas and in the minds of most thinking and caring Americans there is reality. The fact that Cindy Sheehan feels overwhelmed by the support she is getting and is even receiving some rock star coverage is not going to bring back her son. Even musicians who are planning to...

The economic viability of heavy oil, sometimes called non-conventional oil, had long been considered doubtful, but is now a reality owing to improved technologies that put Canada and Venezuela in the spotlight. Two years ago, Canada edged in between Saudi Arabia and Iraq as holder of the second largest reserves of oil according to the influential Oil and Gas Journal. Proven reserves were estimated at around 180 billion barrels, but 95 percent of that are tarsands found in the western province of Alberta. Until recently, bituminous substances such as shale oil and tarsands were not included in classifications such as...

Oil prices are surging, but they are not rattling the largest economy in the world -- at least as long the real estate market remains strong, analysts say. Oil prices shot up here over the past several days from 63 dollars a barrel on Monday to just under 67 dollars a barrel Friday. The market has moved far from prices averaging about 30 dollars a barrel registered just two years ago. Analysts say the price increase has undoubtedly put the brakes on economic growth somewhat, shaving between 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent off the leading economic indicator, according to Brian...

Today on Face the Nation, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean thoughtfully laid out the Democratic Party's positive agenda for America in four simple words: we can do better. He answered tough questions from host Bob Schieffer and the Washington Post's John Harris on a number different topics, including: Iraq: "The question is, what is a reasonable way to get out? And that's - we have no answers from the President on that at all. He keeps - his Administration appears divided. Some of the generals have said we can withdraw some of the troops, perhaps as many as 30,000...

What do you say to the working-class guy from the south side of San Antonio? He feels his wages are stagnating because he has to compete against illegal immigrants. He watches thousands of people streaming across the border, bankrupting his schools and health care system, while he plays by the rules. He's no racist. Many of his favorite neighbors are kind, neat and hard-working Latinos. But his neighborhood now has homes with five cars rotting in the front yard and 12 single men living in one house. Now there are loud parties until 2 a.m. and gang graffiti on the...

Even by the scenic route, past the weathered stone walls and long driveways of some of New York City's wealthiest suburbs, it's only 14 miles from Hillary Rodham Clinton's big colonial in Chappaqua to Jeanine Pirro's modern mansion in Harrison. The homes are different, but not far apart - a lot like Clinton and Pirro, the leading candidates in the 2006 election for U.S. senator. Both are forceful, powerful, ambitious women in their mid-50s with husbands who have publicly caused them pain. Of course, Clinton attracts attention wherever she goes, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is popular around...

With a nudge from Congress, federal regulators are intensifying their efforts to sweep up the remaining fallout from California's energy crisis. Five years after consumers in San Diego started feeling the pinch of rising electricity prices -- a symptom of a larger crisis that ultimately cost the state billions of dollars and unmasked widespread price manipulation -- the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission appears determined to close the books on the issue. "I want to accelerate California refunds. I want to close out the California proceedings," Joseph Kelliher, the new FERC chairman, said during his first day on the job last...

The woman who would beat Hillary got off to a rocky start... As soon as she jumped into the NY Senate race, DA Jeanine Pirro was accused of backing off her support for abortion rights, was criticized by conservatives for not going far enough on the issue, was occasionally eclipsed by stories about her ex-convict husband and even paused for an excruciating 32 seconds when she couldn’t find page 10... ...tough first week. What was going through your head when you couldn’t find that page of your speech? --...things happen. ...32 seconds or whatever it was doesn’t compare to 5yrs...

Critics say Hillary Clinton needs vision for her expected tilt at the presidency to succeed. Dan Balz reports from Washington. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been a diligent legislator for nearly five years, introducing a blizzard of bills and amendments, forging relationships across party lines, establishing credentials on national security and boosting her approval rating at home by paying close attention to all regions of her state of New York. What she has lacked, according to some of her advisers and other Democrats, is a broader, more imaginative frame, a forward-looking national message that Democrats say they badly need in the...

All the research shows that eating a good breakfast is critical to a healthy lifestyle. Skipping this important meal only ensures that you'll be hungrier when lunch rolls around. According to a study reported in the "American Journal of Epidemiology," people who skip breakfast are four-and-a-half times more likely to be overweight than those who don't. That all sounds splendid, but in the meantime, your cell phone is ringing and you're trying to get the kids to school, all while making a mad dash to work. Even when experts are faced with the question, "Is it better to eat nothing...

One valley businessman is leading efforts to get donations into the hands of American war widows. NewsChannel 3 has his story and how you can help. How much is a soldier's life worth? Right after 9/11, it was worth $6,000. That's what the federal government paid the spouses of soldiers killed in the early days of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Palm Springs businessman William Bryne recalls what an army friend told him in 2003. “’I've just talked to some of my boy's widows. They're hurting really bad. They're getting 6,000 dollars, a flag to bury their husbands with...

A Mississippi judge on Friday granted bail to 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen, who was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers in a case that inspired the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning." Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon granted Killen's release on bond of $600,000 pending appeal of his manslaughter conviction, Neshoba County court clerk Patti Duncan Lee said. Killen had not posted bond as of early afternoon. "The judge granted bond of $600,000, $200,000 for each count," Lee said. Killen was convicted by a multiracial jury on June 21 on...

With the stroke of a pen, Illinois communities regained the ability to consider smoking regulations for workplaces on Wednesday, August 10th. In a major victory for public health, Illinois Governor Blagojevich signed legislation making Illinois only the second state to repeal a tobacco industry law that banned cities from enacting smoking regulations. When the Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act passed in 1989, tobacco industry interests added a "preemption" provision to the bill, which stripped communities of their right to pass local smokefree workplace ordinances. For the past sixteen years, Illinois residents have struggled with a weak law that offers little...