today's top stories...

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CIA Leak:
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Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Lawyers Report
Notes of a previously undisclosed conversation between the vice president and his chief of staff appear to differ from I. Lewis Libby's federal grand jury testimony.

Bushies take aim at probe
President Bush's damage-control handlers are plotting a sophisticated war room offensive to fight back against possible indictments in the CIA leak probe.

Frustrated Scowcroft Assails Neo-Cons, Cheney
One week after a top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell issued a blistering attack on foreign policy-making in the George W. Bush administration, Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser under Bush's father, assailed neo-conservatives who persuaded the president to go to war in Iraq. In an interview with The New Yorker magazine, Scowcroft, whose relations with the Bush administration have been badly strained since he publicly warned against invading Iraq seven months before U.S. troops crossed over from Kuwait, argued that the invasion was counter-productive.

The Top Nine Plamegate Lies
As the possibility of high-level indictments increases, the misinformation battle intensifies; get the truth behind the major falsehoods.


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Wars:
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US toll in Iraq approaches 2,000
The American military yesterday announced the combat deaths of four more U.S. troops in Iraq, bringing to 1,997 the number of American service members who have died in Iraq since the war began 21/2 years ago. Of the 1,997 who have died, 139 were killed before President Bush declared the cessation of major combat in Iraq on May 1, 2003. Forty-six servicewomen have died. As the death toll mounts, often overlooked is the number of wounded. Related: Not one more death - not one more dollar - On the day after the 2,000th reported U.S. military death in Iraq, people will gather in communities across the U.S. to say that the country’s pro-peace majority wants Congress to stop the deaths by stopping the dollars that are funding the war.

Galloway rejects perjury claim
UK MP denies lying to a US senate committee and challenges accusers to charge him. Also see: Galloway 'lied to Senate' and Galloway challenges US senators to charge him with perjury and another Charge me, Galloway tells senators over new claims

White House Seeks Exception in Abuse Ban
Stepping up a confrontation with the Senate over the handling of detainees, the White House is insisting that the Central Intelligence Agency be exempted from a proposed ban on abusive treatment of suspected Qaeda militants and other terrorists. The Senate defied a presidential veto threat nearly three weeks ago and approved, 90 to 9, an amendment to a $440 billion military spending bill that would ban the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of any detainee held by the United States government. This could bar some techniques that the C.I.A. has used in some interrogations overseas.

List of Foiled Plots Puzzling to Some
A White House list of 10 terrorist plots disrupted by the United States has confused counterterrorism experts and officials, who say they cannot distinguish between the importance of some incidents on the list and others that were left off. Intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the White House overstated the gravity of the plots by saying that they had been foiled, when most were far from ready to be executed. Others noted that the nation's color-coded threat index was not raised from yellow, or "elevated" risk of attack, to orange, or "high" risk, for most of the time covered by the incidents on the list.

U.S. Operatives Killed Detainees During Interrogations in Afghanistan and Iraq
The American Civil Liberties Union today made public an analysis of new and previously released autopsy and death reports of detainees held in U.S. facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom died while being interrogated. The documents show that detainees were hooded, gagged, strangled, beaten with blunt objects, subjected to sleep deprivation and to hot and cold environmental conditions. “There is no question that U.S. interrogations have resulted in deaths,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “High-ranking officials who knew about the torture and sat on their hands and those who created and endorsed these policies must be held accountable. America must stop putting its head in the sand and deal with the torture scandal that has rocked our military.”

Iraqis say yes to constitution
Iraq's constitution passed as final results from the country's 18 provinces are announced.


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Headlines:
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Rape victim: 'Morning after' pill denied
Although it is safe, effective and legal, emergency contraception - the "morning after" pill - can be hard to find in Tucson. After a sexual assault one recent weekend, a young Tucson woman spent three frantic days trying to obtain the drug to prevent a pregnancy, knowing that each passing day lowered the chance the drug would work. While calling dozens of Tucson pharmacies trying to fill a prescription for emergency contraception, she found that most did not stock the drug. When she finally did find a pharmacy with it, she said she was told the pharmacist on duty would not dispense it because of religious and moral objections.

UNM Leading Effort on Rabbit Fever Vaccine
The University of New Mexico is leading an effort to create a vaccine for a rare but infectious disease. Tularemia, also called rabbit fever, is transmitted by rodents and acts like a severe form of the flu. It's fatal 30 percent of the time. ''It's thought that only a few organisms are needed to infect a person. The problem is if a weaponized version of the disease is released on the public, there aren't any vaccines available to the public right now to fight it,'' said Rick Lyons, director of the UNM Center for Infectious Disease and Immunity. ALSO SEE: Lab tests on 'rabbit fever' germ found at peace rally

FBI Papers Indicate Intelligence Violations
The FBI has conducted clandestine surveillance on some U.S. residents for as long as 18 months at a time without proper paperwork or oversight, according to previously classified documents to be released today. Records turned over as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit also indicate that the FBI has investigated hundreds of potential violations related to its use of secret surveillance operations, which have been stepped up dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but are largely hidden from public view.

Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems
The federal government, vastly extending the reach of an 11-year-old law, is requiring hundreds of universities, online communications companies and cities to overhaul their Internet computer networks to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to monitor e-mail and other online communications.

Pentagon program costing taxpayers millions in inflated prices
The Pentagon paid $20 apiece for plastic ice cube trays that once cost it 85 cents. It paid a supplier more than $81 apiece for coffeemakers that it bought for years for just $29 from the manufacturer. That's because instead of getting competitive bids or buying directly from manufacturers like it used to, the Pentagon is using middlemen who set their own prices. It's the equivalent of shopping for weekly groceries at a convenience store. And it's costing taxpayers 20 percent more than the old system, a Knight Ridder investigation found.

Minutemen wrap up month-long watch of Canadian border
Unlike the relative public welcome given to their efforts in the south, the Minutemen have been met with numerous protests in northern states. The Boston Globe reports that two weeks ago when a group went to the Vermont border, they were outnumbered by protesters.

US Judge Sets December Date to Execute Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
A US judge signed a death warrant for a former street gangster and convicted killer who went on to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in tackling youth violence. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Pounders set a December 13 date for the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, noting that his appeal against his death sentence had been rejected by the US Supreme Court on October 11. Williams, who co-founded Los Angeles' deadly Crips gang, was convicted in 1981 for the murders of four people and has been incarcerated in a small cell on the death row of San Francisco's San Quentin prison since then. But since receiving his death sentence, Williams, 51, has renounced his gang past, penned children's books, been the subject of a television movie starring Jamie Foxx and been nominated for the world's top peace prize.

Rosa Parks dies, aged 92
Woman who sparked US civil rights movement dies.


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Politics:
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Insiders see hint of Miers pullout
The White House has begun making contingency plans for the withdrawal of Harriet Miers as President Bush's choice to fill a seat on the Supreme Court, conservative sources said yesterday.

Let the Rule of Law Prevail
In the 1990s, "rule of law" was hot, but Republicans have now decided that the whole "rule of law" thing really isn't all it's cut out to be.


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Economy:
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Bernanke Seen as Safe Choice
President chooses Fed chairman candidate with unassailable credentials and enough distance from the White House to blunt charges of cronyism.

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International:
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Global campaign to help child Aids victims
Unicef says it is a 'disgrace' that more than 95% of children with Aids were not receiving any treatment.

Could Syria have been so stupid?
Yes, and full cooperation with the UN following its investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri may be the only way the Assad regime can survive. Related: Syria: The Next Iraq?


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Environment:
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Recharged Hurricane Wilma Lashes Florida
A rejuvenated Hurricane Wilma came ashore in Florida early Monday morning with winds of 125 miles an hour (200 kilometers an hour) and a possible storm surge of 18 feet (5.5 meters). Related: Photo Gallery: Wilma Ravages Mexican Resorts ~ Hurricane Wilma struck Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula last Friday, damaging resort towns and trapping thousands of tourists in cramped shelters.

Amazon Logging Twice as Heavy as Thought, Images Show
Damage to the Amazon rain forest has been underestimated by half, according to new high-resolution satellite images, which have revealed long-hidden logging activities.

Dogs Used as Shark Bait on French Island
Live and dead dogs and cats are being used as shark bait by amateur fishers on the French-controlled island of Réunion, according to animal-welfare organizations and local authorities.

What Part of 'Global Warming' Don't We Get?
It's time for the denial to end, but Washington is governed by a bipartisan consensus that somehow the laws of physics and chemistry don’t apply to us.


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And now, the good news – Drumroll, please...
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Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's website!