What I've Learned  —  Nearly 50 years ago, when I arrived in Minnesota as a student fresh from Africa, I had much to learn — starting with the fact that there is nothing wimpish about wearing earmuffs when it is 15 degrees below zero.  All my life since has been a learning experience.

Diana was bugged by secret service in U.S.  —  American intelligence agencies were bugging Princess Diana's telephone over her relationship with a US billionaire, the Mail's sister paper has learned.  —  Evening Standard reports that she was even forced to abandon a planned holiday with her sons …

Pelosi piques public's interest  —  As incoming head of the House, with more eyes on her, she intends to paint her own picture.  —  WASHINGTON — When Nancy Pelosi appeared on national television on the morning after voters returned the House to Democratic hands, Leon Rebibo's phone started ringing in Los Angeles.

Holocaust conference begins in Teheran  —  Iran opened a conference on the Holocaust on Monday, saying it would not be an attempt to deny the World War II genocide but merely to discuss it in an unrestricted atmosphere.  —  However, the conference was initiated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad …

Iran students heckle Ahmadinejad  —  Iranian students have disrupted a speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a prestigious Tehran university, setting fire to his picture and heckling him.  —  "Some students chanted radical slogans and inflamed the atmosphere of the meeting" …

Seeking Iran Intelligence, U.S. Tries Google  —  Internet Search Yields Names Cited in U.N. Draft Resolution  —  When the State Department recently asked the CIA for names of Iranians who could be sanctioned for their involvement in a clandestine nuclear weapons program, the agency refused …

Hamas confirms meeting with group of Democrats  —  Leader claims U.S. party willing to hold dialogue with terrorists  —  TEL AVIV - A key Hamas official has confirmed reports from last week the terror group held meetings with "important Democrats."  —  Ahmed Yousuf, chief political advisor …

Wanted: A Strong Wooden Stake and Several Garlic Bulbs  —  Those are some of the tools that are necessary to ensure that a vampire is really dead.  As one has died today and his truly vile regime was responsible for the deaths of thousands, the torture of many more thousands …

Outbreaks Reveal Food Safety Net's Holes  —  Produce Growers Balk At Calls for Regulation  —  First it was spinach.  Then tomatoes.  Now possibly green onions.  —  Over the past three months, fresh produce has been the culprit in one episode of food-borne illness after another …

LOOKING BACK.  In fall 2006, the United States turned on the NeoCommentators.  Their smug, wrongheaded chatter had helped lead the country into a catastrophic war and then, without missing a beat, turned to condemn those who sought to end it.  Infuriated, readers nationwide began agitating …

Good News, Everybody: We've Got a New Iraq Slogan!  —  Not surprisingly, the Bush administration is already backing away from most of the proposals put forth by the Iraq Study Group.  The New York Times, with unintended comic irony, noted it this way: "Administration officials …

Cow 'emissions' more damaging to planet than CO2 from cars  —  Meet the world's top destroyer of the environment.  It is not the car, or the plane,or even George Bush: it is the cow.  —  A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife.

GOP alienation marks turnabout for Bush  —  Dissent and calls for checks on the president have mushroomed since the party lost Congress in the midterm election.  —  WASHINGTON — President Bush, weakened by an unpopular war and the loss of Republican control in Congress …

Clinton makes S.A. stop to stir Rodriguez crowd  —  In a hot, crowded gymnasium Sunday, former President Clinton sought to wind up supporters of Democrat Ciro Rodriguez enough to unseat Rep. Henry Bonilla and strengthen the Democratic Party's hold on Congress.

Rapturous reception for Obama  —  Americans want new kind of leadership, Illinois senator says during visit  —  llinois Sen. Barack Obama made his first visit to New Hampshire yesterday, drawing the kinds of crowds and news media attention usually reserved for a sitting president or a presidential nominee.

Incoming House intelligence chief botches easy intel quiz  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, who incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped to head the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take over in January, failed a quiz of basic questions about al Qaeda and Hezbollah …