When Do We Publish a Secret?  —  SINCE Sept. 11, 2001, newspaper editors have faced excruciating choices in covering the government's efforts to protect the country from terrorist agents.  Each of us has, on a number of occasions, withheld information because we were convinced that publishing it could put lives at risk.

GOP Seeks Advantage In Ruling On Trials  —  National Security Is Likely Rallying Cry, Leaders Indicate  —  Republicans yesterday looked to wrest a political victory from a legal defeat in the Supreme Court, serving notice to Democrats that they must back President Bush on how to try suspects …

Israel: Either free Shalit or we will act to free him  —  Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said mediation efforts by Egypt and other countries to resolve the crisis over abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit had yet to bear fruit mainly because it was unclear who in Hamas …

Poll: Good News Fails to Boost Bush's Job Approval  —  In a new TIME survey, Americans say the President is performing poorly and that the country is increasingly on the wrong track  —  A spate of good news at home and abroad has so far failed to boost how Americans feel about President Bush's job performance.

Weekends With the President's Men  —  There is a lens in the birdhouse at the driveway of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's home at St. Michaels, Md.  —  JUST an hour and a half from Washington, across the 4.3-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge, or less than 30 minutes in a government-issue Chinook helicopter …

G.I.'s Investigated in Slayings of 4 and Rape in Iraq  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 30 — The American military is investigating accusations that soldiers raped an Iraqi woman in her home and killed her and three family members, including a child, American officials said Friday.

Munitions Found in Iraq Renew Debate  —  Panel Is Divided Over Whether Troops Uncovered Weapons of Mass Destruction  —  Do the 20-year-old Iraqi chemical munitions found by U.S. and coalition forces support the prewar contention that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and justify the invasion of Iraq?

Troops Facing Murder Probe  —  Atrocities Against Iraqi Family Alleged  —  BAGHDAD, June 30 — The U.S. Army is investigating allegations that American soldiers raped and killed a woman and killed three of her family members in a town south of Baghdad, then reported the incident as an insurgent attack, a military official said Friday.

Only 483 Guard Working on Mexican Border  —  On the deadline to have 2,500 troops along the Mexican border, the National Guard said Friday that only 483 were in position and working with the U.S. Border Patrol as the Bush administration had directed.  —  But Guard officials said more than 2,000 others …