US plans last big push in Iraq  —  Strategy document calls for extra 20,000 troops, aid for Iraqi army and regional summit  —  President George Bush has told senior advisers that the US and its allies must make "a last big push" to win the war in Iraq and that instead of beginning …

CNN Political Ticker AM  —  For the latest, breaking political news, check for updates throughout the day on the CNN Political Ticker.  All politics, all the time.  —  Compiled by Stephen Bach  —  Making news today...  - House Dems meet to elect leaders by secret ballot this morning …

Democratic leadership hopefuls marked by ethical questions  —  The two candidates for House majority leader know how to leverage their connections.  —  WASHINGTON — Though incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises to push through ethical reforms in Congress, both of the Democrats vying …

Sectarian Strife in Iraq Imperils Entire Region, Analysts Warn  —  BAGHDAD — While American commanders have suggested that civil war is possible in Iraq, many leaders, experts and ordinary people in Baghdad and around the Middle East say it is already underway, and that the real worry ahead …

A Confession?  —  With a new book and TV special, O. J. Simpson is reviving the controversy over his acquittal for the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman 12 years ago.  —  Is O. J. Simpson confessing?  That's what powerhouse publisher Judith Regan teasingly promises from a new book …

The Social Responsibility in Teaching Sociobiology  —  Socrates was made to drink hemlock for having "corrupted the youth of Athens."  Is sociobiology or — as it is more commonly called these days — "evolutionary psychology" similarly corrupting?  Although the study of evolution is …

Airport Arrest Turns Up Nuclear Info  —  A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying more than $78,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide.  —  Sisayehiticha Dinssa, an unemployed U.S. citizen …

Turkey ends French military ties  —  The commander of the Turkish army says his country has suspended all military ties with France.  —  Gen Ilker Basbug said this was in protest at a bill passed by the French National Assembly to make it a crime to deny the Armenian "genocide".

Larry King Admits He's Never Used The Internet: 'Do You Punch Little Buttons and Things?'  »  —  Last night CNN's Larry King confessed to Roseanne Barr that he's never used the Internet.  King expressed doubt that the Internet was a viable political medium because "there's 80 billion things on it."

Election signals decline of old school liberalism  —  It's more glacial shift than radical revolution, but change is afoot in the Democratic Party. … In a low point in Democratic Party history, Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey was banned from speaking at the 1992 Democratic Convention for being opposed to abortion rights.

Soldier pleads guilty in Iraq rape and killings  —  FORT CAMPBELL, Kentucky (AP) — One of four U.S. soldiers accused of raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her family, pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Kentucky military court.  —  Spc. James P. Barker also agreed to testify …