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Carolyn Kay
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Jubilant Democrats Assume Control on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 — In a day of transition and pageantry, exultant Democrats on Thursday took control of both houses of Congress for the first time in a dozen years and elected the first woman to be speaker of the House.

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This is the little grandmother that right wingers are afraid of.
The New York Times

The World

13 slain in upscale Baghdad neighborhood
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Twin car bombs killed 13 people Thursday in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood after a lull in violence during an Islamic holiday, and Iraq prepared to execute two of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants despite an inquiry into an unruly scene in the former dictator's execution chamber.

No breakthrough after Israel-Egypt talks
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - A summit between the leaders of Israel and Egypt on Thursday fell short of its goal of igniting a new round of Mideast peace efforts, highlighting the significant disagreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

10 Palestinians killed in raid, clashes
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Israeli undercover troops burst into a West Bank vegetable market Thursday, seizing four fugitives and exchanging heavy fire with Palestinians in the first major raid since the Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to try to ease tensions.

Activity spotted at North Korea nuclear test site
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean officials said on Friday activity had been spotted near a suspected nuclear test site in North Korea but there was no evidence to suggest Pyongyang was about to test another atomic device.

Australia and China ratify nuclear fuel deal
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia and China have ratified a nuclear agreement clearing the way for the export of uranium to feed Beijing's giant nuclear power programme, Canberra has said.

Australia's Sydney targeted in terrorist plot: police
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian police have arrested a man for allegedly supplying five rocket launchers stolen from the military to a suspected terrorist for use in an attack in Sydney.

Environment at center of Canada cabinet shakeup
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Stung by criticism of its environmental policy and preparing for a possible election this year, Canada's government made sweeping changes to its cabinet on Thursday and promised to do more to fight climate change.

Second body found in rubble of Madrid car bombing
Rescuers found the body of a second man who was missing in the rubble of a huge car-bomb blast blamed on the armed Basque separatist group ETA, officials said.

France to create 'legal right' to housing
PARIS (AFP) - The French government announced plans to create a "legal right" to housing in response to a snowballing campaign that has seen a tent city for the homeless spring up in the heart of Paris.

Good for the French! It’s a failure of humanity when any human being is denied the basic necessities of life. —Caro

New U.N. chief focusing on Darfur crisis
UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon devoted much of his first days on the job to the three-year conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, which has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million.

Somalis, Ethiopia battle Islamic militia
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers battled about 600 Islamic militiamen Thursday on the southern tip of this Horn of Africa nation, and U.S. Navy forces prevented the militants from fleeing by sea, authorities said.

Al-Qaida tells Somali militants to fight
CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden's deputy has called on Somalia's Islamic militants to carry out suicide attacks on Ethiopian troops fighting in their country, according to a taped message posted on the Internet Friday.

The Nation

House Bans Lobbyist Gifts, Business-Sponsored Travel
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House of Representatives, after installing its new Democratic leadership, voted to ban lawmakers from flying on corporate jets and accepting gifts and meals from lobbyists.

Lawmakers to debate 'pay as you go' rule
WASHINGTON - Legislation aimed at stifling the budget deficit could bedevil its Democratic proponents enjoying their new majority status in the House as well as Republican opponents.

Ellison uses Thomas Jefferson's Quran
WASHINGTON - Keith Ellison made history Thursday, becoming the first Muslim member of Congress and punctuating the occasion by taking a ceremonial oath with a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

Bush to Name a New General to Oversee Iraq
The appointment of Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus is part of a revamping of the military team that will carry out a new Iraq strategy.

Bush to Nominate Khalilzad for U.N. Job
WASHINGTON (AP) - Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, will be nominated by President Bush to become the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, a senior administration official said Thursday. Khalilzad, who is Afghan born, has served also as ambassador to Afghanistan.

Bush to Name Retired Admiral As Top Spy
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush turned to a diplomat nearly two years ago when Congress created a national intelligence director to coordinate the work of the 16 U.S. spy agencies. Now, he's turning to an intelligence veteran for his replacement.

US spies jolted by Negroponte swap
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Veteran diplomat John Negroponte's shift from spy czar to State Department number two sent a new jolt of uncertainty through the battle-scarred US intelligence community.

Statement may allow gov't to open mail
WASHINGTON - A signing statement attached to postal legislation by President Bush last month may have opened the way for the government to open mail without a warrant. The White House denies any change in policy.

Nuclear agency head dismissed for lapses
WASHINGTON - Tens of millions of dollars and repeated security reviews haven't stopped embarrassing security breakdowns in the government's nuclear weapons program — and now the man in charge has been sent packing.

NASA veteran takes reins at Kennedy Space Center
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The man who oversaw the space shuttle program's return to flight after the deadly 2003 Columbia accident took over on Thursday as director of the Kennedy Space Center in central Florida.

Miers resigns as White House counsel
WASHINGTON - Harriet Miers, President Bush's failed Supreme Court nominee and longtime adviser, on Thursday submitted her resignation as White House counsel.

FBI files detail Rehnquist drug addiction: WPost
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The late U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist was dependent on a powerful sedative during his first decade on the Supreme Court and became delusional when he stopped taking the drug in 1981, The Washington Post reported on Friday, citing newly released FBI files.

Fifteen Republicans Squeaked by in 2006, Analysis Shows
This may be small consolation for Republicans, who lost their Senate and House majorities to the Democrats in the fall 2006 elections, but it could have been a lot worse.

Economy & Business

Warm weather weighs on price of oil
Crude oil prices fell Thursday to the lowest level since mid-2005, pressured by warm weather, faltering demand and government data showing inventories at healthy levels.

Indices end up as Intel lifts techs
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, driving the Nasdaq up more than 1 percent, as technology and biotech stocks gained after positive analyst comments and a drop in oil prices below $56 a barrel increased optimism about corporate profits.

Factory orders rise less than expected
WASHINGTON - Economic indicators flashed mixed signals Thursday, with retailers reporting disappointing holiday results, service industries slowing at year's end and factory orders falling.

Growth in service sector slows in Dec.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. service sector expanded at a slower rate in December than in the previous month, a trade group said Thursday, signaling a cooling of a critical component of overall economic growth.

Homeowners move away from ARMs
NEW YORK - Lawrence Jones knew he was taking a chance on interest rates when he agreed to an adjustable-rate mortgage in 2002.

Media

A Change of Power in Congress? Doesn't Bleed, Doesn't Lead
A Fox correspondent "focus[ing] on the fact that television reporters will be allowed to report from the House chamber today—and that he just saw Tony Bennett roaming the halls of Congress"--makes the channel Grieves' pick for the cable news network doing "most to trivialize the Democrats' takeover of Congress today."

CNN used coffee klatch at Baltimore diner to challenge its own poll
On the January 4 edition of CNN's American Morning, CNN national correspondent Bob Franken set out to determine what "the voters think" by talking with four customers in Baltimore's Sip & Bite diner, who he said were "real crabby about [the new] Congress." Franken contrasted their opinions with the results of CNN's own national poll showing that most respondents were optimistic about the new Congress.

Hannity accused Clinton of "leaking" Obama drug story from Obama memoir
Despite admitting that they had no evidence to support their allegations, Fox News' Sean Hannity and Robert Novak suggested that "dirty political tricks" by Sen. Clinton are behind the recent "leaking" of Sen. Obama's admission that he had used cocaine. In fact, it was Obama himself who wrote in a 1995 memoir that he used drugs while in high school and college.

FBI drops quest for documents leaked to columnist Anderson
Now that the FBI has abandoned its efforts to recover government documents leaked to the late columnist Jack Anderson, "we can proceed with the plan of archiving them and making them available for scholarly research," says son Kevin N. Anderson. The family plans to donate the remainder of the available documents to George Washington University, which already has ownership of an archive of about 200 boxes of the reporter's works.

Tribune Foundation May Bid for Tribune Co
The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation, the second-largest shareholder of Tribune Co., is hiring buyout firm Blackstone Group to help consider options including making a bid for the conglomerate. The foundation is considering a "wide range of options," including dumping its 12% stake.

New York Times Sells Broadcast TV Group
The New York Times Co. is selling its broadcast media group, including nine television stations, for $575 million to private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. The sale will allow the Times Co. to focus on its newspapers and its "rapidly growing digital businesses," including About.com.

CBS: Serious Web Users Bond With Prime-Time Shows
According to CBS, a rapidly growing "fully connected" segment of the TV universe--which they define as users that both access the Internet via a broadband connection and have also purchased a digital television--is the group most likely to watch the top broadcast shows....

Science & Technology

Scientists say 2007 may be warmest yet
LONDON - Deepening drought in Australia. Stronger typhoons in Asia. Floods in Latin America. British climate scientists predict that a resurgent El Nino climate trend combined with higher levels of greenhouse gases could touch off a fresh round of ecological disasters — and make 2007 the world's hottest year on record.

Mild winter triggers spring fever in zoo
SOFIA (Reuters) - An unusually warm winter has sown confusion among animals at a zoo on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, causing two bears to miss their usual hibernation period and peacocks to lay eggs months early.

Online Prayer Helps Cancer Patients
Prayer might not cure cancer, but it makes some cancer patients feel psychologically better, new research claims. The study did not select for patients of any particular religion, but participants expressed mainly Christian beliefs, although there were a few Native American and Hindu religious quotes in the transcripts.

The mind has a lot more power than we know, and than we’ve been willing to study. —Caro

How Women Pick Mates vs. Flings
Science might be able to explain our fascination with Brad Pitt's chiseled jaw and George Clooney's smoldering eyes.

Hitachi Introduces 1-Terabyte Hard Drive
Colossal storage reaches new milestone with a drive that holds 1000 gigabytes.

Sonic Unveils Anti-Copying Technology For Movies Burned To DVDs
Besides online burn-to-DVD services, Sonic Solutions believes its technology will be useful to companies planning to offer in-store movie kiosks where a consumer could go to get a copy of a movie not available on the shelves.