Iran Is Found To Be a Lair of Al Qaeda  —  Intelligence Estimate Cites Two Councils  —  WASHINGTON — One of two known Al Qaeda leadership councils meets regularly in eastern Iran, where the American intelligence community believes dozens of senior Al Qaeda leaders have reconstituted …

Obama's Camp Cultivates Crop in Small Donors  —  Senator Barack Obama was the guest of honor at a dinner at the luxurious Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco this spring with a few hundred lawyers, executives and investors.  The guests drank a boutique beer with Mr. Obama's face on the label …

Democrats Maneuver To Force Iraq Votes  —  Senate Democratic leaders are planning a rare all-night session tonight, employing theatrics and scheduling votes that they hope will chip away at Republican resolve to back President Bush's Iraq war strategy.  —  Majority Leader Harry M. Reid …

Romney spent $300 on makeup 'consulting'  —  What kinds of things do you think of when you hear "communications consulting"?  —  Speechwriting?  Message strategy?  —  Well, "communications consulting" is how presidential candidate Mitt Romney recorded $300 in payments to a California company …

2008 Nomination Contests Holding Steady With Clinton and Giuliani on Top  —  No further decline in McCain's support despite rough patch on campaign trail  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup survey, conducted July 12-15, 2007, finds little change from earlier this month in public preferences …

The Hand That Controls the Sock Puppet Could Get Slapped  —  Correction Appended  —  On the Internet nobody knows you're a dog — or the chief executive of a Fortune 500 company.  —  Or so thought John Mackey, the chief executive of Whole Foods Market, who used a fictional identity …

Scaife-Owned Newspaper Calls for Iraq Troop Withdrawal — Questions Bush's 'Mental Stability'  —  NEW YORK The Pittsburgh newspaper owned by conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife yesterday called the Bush administration's plans to stay the course in Iraq a "prescription for American suicide."

Dow Jones, News Corp. Set Deal  —  Tentative $5 Billion Pact  —  Gets Board Vote Tonight;  —  Family to Meet Thursday  —  News Corp. reached a tentative agreement for the purchase of Dow Jones & Co. at its original $5 billion offer price.  The deal will be put to the full Dow Jones board …

Belabor the Point  —  Democrats find one government office they want to cut back.  It's the one that exposes union corruption.  —  The new Democratic Congress has finally found a government agency whose budget It wants to cut: an obscure Labor Department office that monitors the compliance of unions with federal law.

Islamic Creationist and a Book Sent Round the World  —  In the United States, opposition to the teaching of evolution in public schools has largely been fueled by the religious right, particularly Protestant fundamentalism.  —  Now another voice is entering the debate, in dramatic fashion.

Habeas Restoration: Down To The Razor Thin Wire  —  I am told by a source who knows the head count that we are within a slim margin on the habeas restoration amendment — and that the vote could still go either way.  It is a razor thin margin right now, which means there is no Senator whose vote can be taken for granted.

No Magic Bullets For Iraq  —  Leave Washington in the winter, return in midsummer.  First you'll be surprised by the heat, then by the humidity.  Then you'll be surprised by the certainty.  —  Out in the world, there are shades of gray.  Here inside the Beltway, there are black-and-white solutions.

Bush to Bolster Abbas and Seek Peace Talks  —  President Bush announced an initiative on Monday to shore up the Palestinian president and to begin building a Palestinian state, signaling that his administration will use its remaining months to make a major push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.