Rice Deputy Quits After Query Over Escort Service  —  Randall Tobias Oversaw U.S. Foreign Aid Programs  —  Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said.

Annual terrorism report will show 29% rise in attacks  —  WASHINGTON - A State Department report on terrorism due out next week will show a nearly 30 percent increase in terrorist attacks worldwide in 2006 to more than 14,000, almost all of the boost due to growing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Friday.

As noted below, the 'DC Madam' scandal has now brought down its first big-name DC political figure: Randall Tobias, until about four o'clock this afternoon the head of the US Agency for International Development and Director of US Foreign Assistance at the State Department.

Federal Official Resigns in Escort Service Inquiry  —  The head of the Agency for International Development, Randall L. Tobias, resigned abruptly on Friday for what he said were "personal reasons," but an administration official said Mr. Tobias's name had come up in an investigation of a suspected Washington prostitution ring.

US Raids Capture AQI Terrorists, Iranian Weapons  —  A day after the Pentagon announced the capture of al-Qaeda mastermind Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, US forces in Iraq captured a number of AQI terrorists in a series of raids.  They also found and detonated a truck bomb and discovered a cache of Iranian arms south of Baghdad:

A genuine political sea change?  —  There were two seemingly unrelated incidents this week which, taken together, reflect some extremely important political developments.  —  First was the amazing letter to The Washington Post jointly sent by all 50 Democratic Senators other than Harry Reid …

Tenet Details Efforts to Justify Invading Iraq  —  Former CIA Director Says White House Focused on the Idea Long Before 9/11  —  White House and Pentagon officials, and particularly Vice President Cheney, were determined to attack Iraq from the first days of the Bush administration …

Mr. Obama's Worldview  —  BARACK OBAMA, who has been chided for failing to supplement his inspiring rhetoric as a presidential candidate with substantive stands on issues, took an important step this week toward correcting the deficiency.  In a 40-minute address to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs …