United Press International … NEWSTRACK: A member of a Sicilian Mafia clan in Messina, Italy, shot his sister in an alleged honor killing attempt because she had a child by her lover.  Early results Monday in Ukraine's parliamentary election show President Viktor Yushchenko's party in third place …

Bush Was Set on Path to War, Memo by British Adviser Says  —  LONDON — In the weeks before the United States-led invasion of Iraq, as the United States and Britain pressed for a second United Nations resolution condemning Iraq, President Bush's public ultimatum to Saddam Hussein was blunt: Disarm or face war.

Groundswell of Protests Back Illegal Immigrants  —  When members of the Senate Judiciary Committee meet today to wrestle with the fate of more than 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, they can expect to do so against a backdrop of thousands of demonstrators …

On Stand, Moussaoui Says He Knew of Plan to Attack W.T.C.  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he and would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to hijack a fifth airplane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House.

Detainee Case Will Pose Delicate Question for Court  —  WASHINGTON, March 26 — The Supreme Court's announcement four months ago that it would rule on the validity of the military commission by which the Bush administration wants to try Osama bin Laden's former driver, on charges of conspiracy …

Shiite Officials Express Anger Over U.S. Clash With Militia  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 27 — Shiite officials reacted angrily today to a clash that pitted American and Iraqi government forces against Shiite militiamen in Baghdad on Sunday night.  —  Iraqi security officials Sunday night …

In Iran, Even Some On Right Warning Against Extremes  —  TEHRAN — Nine months after the election of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president, Iranian politics has shifted so sharply to the right that some traditional conservatives are warning of the dangers of radicalism.

Mr. Levin, Meet Ms. Rohbar  —  If Yale's president wants to educate a deserving Afghan, I've got just the woman for him.  —  NEW HAVEN, Conn.—The BBC calls Malalai Joya the most famous woman in Afghanistan.  On Thursday the 27-year-old women's rights activist, a member of the Afghan Parliament …

HILLARY'S 'TROOP' BUILDUP  —  March 27, 2006 — PREZ-ENT ARMS!  —  WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won't say if she's running for the White House - but she's already drafted a presidential-size army of campaign staffers that dwarfs John McCain's outfit and those of everyone else in the field.

FEC Won't Regulate Internet Politics  —  The Federal Election Commission decided Monday that the nation's new campaign finance law will not apply to most political activity on the Internet.  —  In a 6-0 vote, the commission decided to regulate only paid political ads placed on another person's Web site.

Today Tehran, Tomorrow the World  —  What's at stake in the dispute over Iranian nukes?  Ultimately, human survival  —  Like many physicists who worked on the Manhattan Project, Richard Feynman could not get the Bomb out of his mind after the war.  "I would see people building a bridge," he wrote.

Let me be buried on this spot!  (Updated continuously)  —  UPDATE: Welcome all new readers!  This BlogBurst effort was the brainchild of Fausta Wertz and is meant solely for the highlighting of the hunger strike for net access by Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez in fidel castro's Cuba.

On Iraq, Pointed Questions With an Edge  —  Have the media declared war on the war?  —  In increasingly aggressive questions to President Bush and Vice President Cheney, in a growing focus on the death toll in Iraq, in downbeat assessments on the invasion's third anniversary …

Evangelical teens rally in S.F.  —  More than 25,000 evangelical Christian youth landed Friday in San Francisco for a two-day rally at AT&T Park against "the virtue terrorism" of popular culture, and they were greeted by an official city condemnation and a clutch of protesters who said their event amounted to a "fascist mega-pep rally."