With Strikes, Israel Reminds Foes It Has Teeth  —  JERUSALEM — Israel's military operation in Gaza is aimed primarily at forcing Hamas to end its rocket barrages and military buildup.  But it has another goal as well: to expunge the ghost of its flawed 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and re-establish Israeli deterrence.

Lebanon Enjoys a Respite  —  BEIRUT — It's Christmastime in Lebanon.  The piano player in the lounge at the Phoenicia Hotel is pounding out carols for an audience that includes many Muslims, judging by the headscarves.  Along Hamra Street in the heart of Muslim West Beirut …

George W Bush's $300m library in danger of becoming white elephant  —  His critics see it as a monument to a failed presidency that may not even hold all his key documents  —  As President George W Bush eyes his legacy, his presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, threatens to be a white elephant.

Robert Graham, a Sculptor of Monuments in Bronze, Dies at 70  —  SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The sculptor Robert Graham, whose massive bronze works are seen on civic monuments across the United States, including the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington and the Duke Ellington Memorial in New York, died here on Saturday.

My Response to the Mean-Spirited “Barack the Magic Negro”  —  The sending of a Christmas greeting by Chip Saltsman to the members of the Republican National Committee that includes a recording of the so-called parody, “Barack the Magic Negro” is not only offensive, it is shocking and saddening in the extreme.

Study: Teenage ‘virginity pledges’ are ineffective  —  Youths who promise abstinence are also less likely to use protection  —  Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely …

George, Abe, Rick & Barack  —  I'm leaving the country the day of Barack Obama's inauguration.  —  It's nothing personal.  Nor, I hasten to add — lest some people get too excited — is it anything permanent.  It's just that I happen to have a speech to give in Canada.

Anger, sadness over fabricated Holocaust story  —  NEW YORK (AP) - It's the latest story that touched, and betrayed, the world.  —  “Herman Rosenblat and his wife are the most gentle, loving, beautiful people,” literary agent Andrea Hurst said Sunday, anguishing over why she, and so many others …

A Farewell Hope for The Post's Future  —  My term as ombudsman ends with this column.  My hope for the future is that readers, our lifeblood, will find in The Post, in print and online, journalism they can believe in and that the paper will both engage and enrich the many communities in this region.

McAuliffe's Prowess As Fundraiser Grabs Spotlight in Va. Race  —  RICHMOND — With his booming voice, quick wit and gregarious nature, Terry McAuliffe established a reputation as one of the world's best political fundraisers, soaking up hundreds of millions of dollars for Democratic causes and candidates.

The Year in Review  —  How weird a year was it?  Here's how weird:  — O.J. actually got convicted of something.  — Gasoline hit $4 a gallon — and those were the good times.  — On several occasions, “Saturday Night Live” was funny.  — There were a few days there in October …

Fifty Herbert Hoovers  —  No modern American president would repeat the fiscal mistake of 1932, in which the federal government tried to balance its budget in the face of a severe recession.  The Obama administration will put deficit concerns on hold while it fights the economic crisis.

‘Little Baghdad’ in Gaza - bombs, fear and rage  —  There are many corpses and wounded, every moment another casualty is added to the list of the dead, and there is no more room in the morgue.  —  Relatives search among the bodies and the wounded in order to bring the dead quickly to burial.