INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
* Death toll in Iran may rise over 25,000.
* More interesting foreign viewpoints: "the day the UN mattered."
* More on Bush's friends, expanding democracy overseas.
IRAQ:
* Lots of our goals in Iraq are being pushed to the side to meet the timetable of getting the troops out by next summer. Remember how Bush said they wouldn't do this?
* Number of US casualties in Iraq is on the rise. Images of the dead help us grasp the people behind the numbers.
* Decisions about Iraq made in secret.
NATIONAL NEWS:
* The death penalty in 2003, growing only regionally. How is this good news?
* Congress doesn't like spam, except for when they send it.
* Bush fills panel positions while Congress is on vacation, to avoid the regular confirmation process. And announces it the day after Christmas, when no one is reading the news. Nice, nice.
* New report on American atrocities in Vietnam.
* Turns out we don't keep very good track of cows, actually.
Probe into the CIA leak continues quietly.
POLITICS:
* Read this: A clear view of the 21st century Republican party.
* Republicans worried about how similar Dean's background is to Bush's.
LOCAL-ISH:
* How effective have the municipal smoking bans been, and will they expand further?
PIRANHA AND HOBBY NEWS:
* Fastest-growing sector of the hobby industry? Scrapbooking.
* Piranha attacks on the rise in South America.
"Is a metrosexual someone who has sex on the subway? Somehow I knew this could not be the case - you can't even eat on the Washington Metro..."
-Richard Cohen