Venezuela Hands Narrow Defeat to Chávez Plan  —  Voters in this country narrowly defeated a proposed overhaul to the constitution in a contentious referendum over granting President Hugo Chávez sweeping new powers, the Election Commission announced early Monday.

Losing Ground In Iowa, Clinton Assails Obama  —  With a new poll showing her losing ground in the Iowa caucus race, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) mounted a new, more aggressive attack against Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Sunday, raising direct questions about his character …

Sudan's President Pardons British Teacher  —  A British school teacher jailed in Sudan for two weeks after allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad was freed Monday following a pardon by the Sudanese president.  —  President Omar al-Bahir's pardon of Gillian Gibbons allowed …

Imus Is Back!  —  Highlights in bold.  —  6:00 A.M.: Charles McCord opens the program.  "The Imus in the Morning program has returned to the air following a hiatus of nearly 8 months."  Wild applause from the live audience assembled in Times Square's Town Hall.

Party's Triumph Raises Question of Putin's Plans  —  With President Vladimir V. Putin's opponents persistently hobbled by the Kremlin, his party swept Sunday to the kind of landslide long predicted for the parliamentary elections.  Yet the results, while a triumph for Mr. Putin …

Romney ready to address Mormon religion head-on  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney will make a much anticipated speech on his Mormon faith this week.  —  Romney's campaign says that the address, entitled "Faith In America," will take place Thursday …

Subprime Debacle Traps Even Very Credit-Worthy  —  As Housing Boomed,  —  Industry Pushed Loans  —  To a Broader Market  —  One common assumption about the subprime mortgage crisis is that it revolves around borrowers with sketchy credit who couldn't have bought a home without paying punitively high interest rates.

Innovating Our Way to Financial Crisis  —  The financial crisis that began late last summer, then took a brief vacation in September and October, is back with a vengeance.  —  How bad is it?  Well, I've never seen financial insiders this spooked — not even during the Asian crisis of 1997-98 …

Pro-Huckabee negative calls flood Iowa  —  A newly-formed group claiming to support Mike Huckabee hit the phones of Iowa Republicans tonight with an automated push-poll attacking Huckabee's GOP opponents and praising the former Arkansas governor.  —  Officials representing the Iowa campaigns …

Giuliani nearly drowned out by rival's supporters  —  It was Rudy Giuliani campaigning for president on the Marietta Square on Sunday afternoon, but anyone listening may well have thought the candidate's name was Ron Paul.  —  "RON PAUL!  RON PAUL!  RON PAUL!"

The Meaning of Fiscal Conservatism  —  With economic uncertainty weighing on the minds of many Americans, Congress is preparing to recess after another year of profligate spending, protectionist talk and promises of higher taxes.  No wonder some people feel like we're moving in the wrong direction.

'I will never leave Guantanamo'  —  "WE HAVE important news for you!"  —  Chained to the floor of a cell in Camp Six, Guantanamo, Joseph said nothing.  But he had some news for us, too.  —  The Court of Appeals had decided what record - what pieces of paper - it would examine when it considered his "Detainee Treatment Act" case.

The Long and Short of It at Goldman Sachs  —  FOR decades now, as a writer, economist and scold, I have been receiving letters from thoughtful readers.  Many of them have warned me about the dangers of a secret government running the world, organized by the Trilateral Commission …

France stunned by rioters' savagery  —  IN retrospect, it was not a good idea to have left his pistol at home.  Called to the scene of a traffic accident in the Paris suburbs last Sunday, Jean-François Illy, a regional police chief, came face to face with a mob of immigrant youths armed …