Looters raid Arafat's home, steal his Nobel Peace Prize  —  Enraged Fatah leaders on Saturday accused Hamas militiamen of looting the home of former Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat in Gaza City.  —  "They stole almost everything inside the house, including Arafat's Nobel Peace Prize medal …

Prosecutor in Duke Case Is Disbarred for Ethics Breaches  —  In a case that has brought one surprise after another, a disciplinary hearing panel found Michael B. Nifong, the Durham County district attorney, guilty today of ethical violations while pressing a false accusation of sexual assault …

White House and Lawmakers Alike Face Risks in an Executive Privilege Fight  —  President Bush was strangely quiet this week when Democrats issued subpoenas to two former White House officials in the firing of federal prosecutors.  —  Mr. Bush had been quite vocal, and perfectly clear …

THE GENERAL'S REPORT  —  How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties. … On the afternoon of May 6, 2004, Army Major General Antonio M. Taguba was summoned to meet, for the first time, with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in his Pentagon conference room.

Immigration Update  —  From a knowledgeable Senate source:

Democrat Strategist: Liberal Bloggers Have 'Much Too Much Influence Over' Harry Reid  —  Here's something you don't see every day: a Democrat strategist chiding a senior Democrat official, and claiming that liberal bloggers have "much too much influence over" Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada).

For U.S. and Key Allies in Region, Mideast Morass Just Gets Deeper  —  The Middle East is in flames.  Over the past week, war erupted among the Palestinians and their government collapsed.  A Shiite shrine in Iraq was bombed — again — as the new U.S. military strategy showed no sign of diminishing violence.

Bush warns he'll veto runaway spending  —  CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush warned Congress on Saturday that he will use his veto power to stop runaway government spending.  —  "The American people do not want to return to the days of tax-and-spend policies," Bush said in his radio address.

Jefferson Memorial's Signs of Sinking Raise Fresh Alarms  —  Up on the surface, the signs of the trouble at the Jefferson Memorial are small:  —  A few blacktop patches over uneven seams in some concrete.  A cordoned-off section where the sea wall has slipped below the front plaza.

A Climate Culprit In Darfur  —  Just over a week ago, leaders of the world's industrialized nations met in Heiligendamm, Germany, for their annual summit.  Our modest goal: to win a breakthrough on climate change.  And we got it — an agreement to cut greenhouse gases by 50 percent before 2050.

BACK WHEN WE INTERVIEWED RNC CHAIR KEN MEHLMAN LAST YEAR, Helen's first question to Mehlman was something along the lines of Why is President Bush acting like a Democrat?  —  The GOP lost, Mehlman has moved on, but the Bush Administration is still acting like Democrats …

Blair knew US had no post-war plan for Iraq  —  Tony Blair agreed to commit British troops to battle in Iraq in the full knowledge that Washington had failed to make adequate preparations for the postwar reconstruction of the country.  —  In a devastating account of the chaotic preparations for the war …