Influx of Al Qaeda, money into Pakistan is seen  —  U.S. officials say the terrorist network's command base is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq.  —  WASHINGTON — A major CIA effort launched last year to hunt down Osama bin Laden has produced no significant leads on his whereabouts …

Iraq's Sadr Overhauls His Tactics  —  NAJAF, Iraq — The movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has embarked on one of its most dramatic tactical shifts since the beginning of the war.  —  The 33-year-old populist is reaching out to a broad array of Sunni leaders, from politicians to insurgents …

Islamic militants, security forces battle in Lebanon … TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanese tanks pounded the headquarters of a group with suspected links to al Qaeda in a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli Sunday after the northern city's worst clashes in two decades killed 22 soldiers and 17 militants.

Tainted Chinese Imports Common  —  In Four Months, FDA Refused 298 Shipments  —  Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical.  —  Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics.  —  Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria.  —  Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.

Mitt Romney leads Republicans  —  Mitt Romney has sprinted ahead of presidential competitors John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in a new Iowa Poll of likely Republican caucus participants.  —  The Des Moines Register poll shows Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is the top choice of 30 percent …

"F*** YOU": THE INSIDE STORY  —  John McCain's eruption at fellow conservative Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is an incident that reverberates on several levels.  It renews lingering doubts about whether McCain possesses proper temperament to be President.  It also raises serious questions …

JEEZ, ANDREW'S AT IT AGAIN.  —  I never understand what sends him off on these tears.  I kind of think he actually wants me to be pro-torture, though he certainly knows better.  Sullivan's certainly not above torturing the record to get the answers he wants, though to be fair he more often simply ignores it.

Not everybody's a critic  —  Sure, anyone with a blog can express an opinion about a book, but true criticism is more than just an opinion.  —  THE MOST grating words I've read in a newspaper recently were in a New York Times report on the shrinkage of book reviewing in many of the nation's leading newspapers.

Fred's watershed?  —  TRIBUNE-REVIEW  —  On the day of the first Southern-state Republican debate on the Fox News Channel, one undeclared GOP candidate performed a media leapfrog.  —  With the help of one 38-second video clip and a great sense of humor, Fred Thompson …

US surge is failing, says UK's Iraq envoy  —  The "troop surge" by American soldiers in Iraq is not working, one of Britain's senior military officials in Baghdad has said.  —  In a pessimistic assessment of the strategy designed to pull Iraq back from all-out civil war, Alastair Campbell …

Or No Conspiracy?  —  I have no idea what book wears the crown of longest nonfiction title ever published.  Whoever holds the record, it is about to be challenged by Vincent Bugliosi, whose new work, "Reclaiming History," a cellular-level re-examination of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, clocks in at 1,612 pages.

Decline and fall of the neocons  —  Paul Wolfowitz's departure from the World Bank signals the end of an ideological era in Washington  —  As Tony Blair was bidding farewell to President George W Bush in the Rose Garden on Thursday, the World Bank was preparing to kick out Paul Wolfowitz as president.

My friend, Jerry Falwell  —  How the pornographer found himself in the embrace of the reverend who sued him.  —  THE FIRST TIME the Rev. Jerry Falwell put his hands on me, I was stunned.  Not only had we been archenemies for 15 years, his beliefs and mine traveling in different solar systems …

Gingrich Assails 'Radical Secularism'  —  In Speech, Ex-Speaker Praises Falwell, Offers No Hints About His Political Plans  —  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich decried a "growing culture of radical secularism" Saturday morning as he hailed the life of Liberty University's late founder …

Tale of last 90 minutes of woman's life  —  County officials express dismay at the events surrounding the recent controversial death at King-Harbor hospital.  One nurse has resigned.  —  In the emergency room at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, Edith Isabel Rodriguez was seen as a complainer.

Canadians don't care for Sicko  —  Moore's health-care film gets rough reception  —  Michael Moore is handing out fake bandages to promote his new film Sicko, an exposé of the failings of the U.S. health care system.  —  But he may feel like applying a couple to himself after the mauling …

Western Allies In the Twilight  —  The two wounded warriors stood side by side in the sunshine of the White House Rose Garden.  Tony Blair and George Bush, partners in a transatlantic alliance that has come a cropper in Iraq, tried to shield each other from the slings and arrows of two nations' reporters.