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It’s fast congealing into conventional wisdom that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole re-election through fraud and that the so-called “green revolution” of Mir-Hossein Mousavi – which was based in the country’s intelligentsia and middle class – got 

But a strong case can be made that the large turnout, which was estimated at about 85 percent, was the key to a genuine landslide for Ahmadinejad, who is viewed as a friend of more traditional Iranians from the working classes and among the rural peasants.

That is the assessment expressed by Ken Ballen and Patrick Doherty in a Washington Post op-ed citing their findings from extensive polling across Iran in mid-May that detected roughly the same 2-to-1 margin in favor of Ahmadinejad that emerged from the final tallies.

Ballen and Doherty also knocked down one of the central arguments cited by analysts who are claiming that Ahmadinejad committed fraud. That argument is that Mousavi, an Azeri, surely would have won Azeri-dominated districts which instead were recorded as going heavily for Ahmadinejad.

A policeman has been interviewed under caution on suspicion of manslaughter after new tests overturned the cause of a newspaper-seller's death.

Ian Tomlinson, 47, was struck and pushed over by a police officer during G20 protests on 1 April in the City.

Now a fresh post-mortem examination has found he died of abdominal bleeding, not a heart attack, as first thought.

Lawyers for the family said the new post-mortem test raised the likelihood of a manslaughter charge.

In its statement, the Coroner's Court said the inquest had looked at the first post-mortem examination carried out after Mr Tomlinson collapsed and died on the evening of 1 April.

A missile fired by an American drone killed at least four people late Sunday at the house of a militant commander in northwest Pakistan, the latest use of what intelligence officials have called their most effective weapon against Al Qaeda.

And Pentagon officials say the remotely piloted planes, which can beam back live video for up to 22 hours, have done more than any other weapons system to track down insurgents and save American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The planes have become one of the military’s favorite weapons despite many shortcomings resulting from the rush to get them into the field.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Sunday that government officials are laying the groundwork for an economic revival and that a "depression" can be avoided - acknowledging however that a full recovery will take time and that there are still obstacles.

"We're working on it. And I do think that we will get it stabilized, and we'll see the recession coming to an end probably this year. We'll see recovery beginning next year. And it will pick up steam over time," Bernanke said in a rare public interview airing on "60 Minutes," according to a transcript released by CBS.

When asked about the risks of a "new American depression," Bernanke responded, "I think we've averted that risk. I think we've gotten past that."

Key to a full recovery, said Bernanke, is stabilization of the banking system -- an argument the Fed chairman has made repeatedly.

On Monday, the 9th of March, in Iraq  has begun a large-scale operation on destruction of strongholds of the international terrorist organisation al Kaida.

The governmental armies of Iraq are leading clean-up operation in area to the south from Baghdad. In the first day of operation 25 wanted insurgents were arrested.

The basic events are developed in provinces of Babil, An Divania, An Najaf and Karbala. In the first day of operation seven wanted insurgents have been arrested in Babil, four - in An Divania and 14 - in Karbala.

Antiterrorist raids have been undertaken after reception of military information about the location of insurgents in the specified provinces. They were preparing to carry out a series of acts of terrorism.

DAVOS, Switzerland — This was supposed to be the year the United States came in from the cold at the annual gathering of world leaders here. But instead of receiving a warm embrace, American policies were rebuked again and again in rhetoric that recalled the anger of the Bush years — mainly aimed at what the world views as the new threat of protectionism by the United States.

Certainly, there is a deep reservoir of good will for President Obama and the change in direction he represents. But despite the pledges to encourage international trade and economic cooperation that accompanied the closing sessions of the gathering, the World Economic Forum, on Sunday, there were clear signs that deep divisions between the United States and the rest of the world remained.

“There is such a level of concern, despair and anxiety that as welcome as the new president is, no one is inclined to cut the U.S. much slack,” said Richard Haas, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.

No matter the color of your work shirt, this recession is sparing few. From blue collar construction workers to white collar financial sector employees, the economic crisis has dragged a growing swath of American workers into joblessness.

Economic downturns predominantly used to hit blue-collar and young workers. But in this recession, layoffs and business closings are affecting bankers, middle managers, even scientists and journalists.

White collar unemployment jumped 1.6 percentage points—to 4.6 percent—from December of 2007 to December of 2008. But blue-collar workers are still bearing the largest brunt of unemployment, at 11.3 percent.

President Barack Obama, who arguably won a large chunk of political capital in the 2008 election, is now looking to cash in as he urges Congress to pass a massive economic stimulus package. 

But questions about how to spend the money and concerns about the last stimulus package under former President Bush, may create a roadblock.

It's something the newly minted president is hoping to avoid. But like most things in Washington, cooperation doesn't come easy.

And that may be why Obama painted an extremely grim portrait of the nation's economy on Saturday -- just hours before he met with his economic team, and days before he meets with Republicans leaders on Capitol Hill.

"We begin this year and this administration in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that calls for unprecedented action," he said in his weekly radio and Internet address.  

"Just this week, we saw more people file for unemployment than at any time in the last 26 years, and experts agree that if nothing is done, the unemployment rate could reach double digits."

A high-level effort to resolve the gas crisis in Europe inched forward Thursday after Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly, said it would resume shipments as soon as monitors were in place to verify that  Ukraine was not tapping supplies meant for European Union customers.

But Ukraine balked at Gazprom's demand that Russian monitors be allowed to inspect the Ukrainian pipeline network, frustrating a deal amid an increasingly serious fuel shortage.

Aleksei Miller, Gazprom's chief executive, said in Brussels that monitors from 10 countries would help verify that the gas arriving at Ukraine's eastern border for European customers was being shipped to the west. He said that once the monitors were fully deployed, "we will resume gas supplies to ensure 100 percent of European transit."

Al Franken received a potentially major boost towards his hopes of becoming Senator on Friday, when Minnesota state officials ruled that absentee ballots rejected because of clerical or administrative errors should, in the end, be counted.

The decision by the state canvassing board -- which was unanimous -- is, essentially, an official request for county officials to go back and count the wrongfully rejected absentee votes. This process has already begun in many counties and could portend sizeable gains for Franken.

The Democratic challenger has spent the past few weeks demanding that the state review the approximately 1,500 absentee ballots that they contend were unlawfully dismissed.

This is the Texas home that George W. Bush has purchased for his fast-approaching post-White House years.

The home, on a Dallas cul-de-sac, sits on 1.13 acres and offers 8501 square feet of living space, according to city appraisal records. The property was purchased for $2.07 million in early-October by Robert McCleskey, the president's accountant, who is listed as trustee on deed records.

Built in 1959, the home has been improved with a detached garage (1150 square feet), servants quarters (896 square feet), and a storage building (240 square feet).

Before Barack Obama ran for president he decided to quit smoking and now, when he got the position, he will most likely break his other habit, i.e. checking his e-mail. It is worth mentioning that e-mail messages of the president may be subpoenaed by Congress and courts, thus becoming subject to public records laws. In case the president is not interested in his email becoming private, he must quit emailing, specialists say.

Besides, his favorite BlackBerry may cause security issues, because it is one of those millions of cell phones that could be tracked. Till now, the Obama's transition officials did not decide whether he will or will not keep his cell phone. Nevertheless, people who know a lot about security say that Obama is less likely to carry his cell phone.

Despite an intense effort to distance himself from the way his party has done business in Washington, Senator John McCain is seen by voters as far less likely to bring change to Washington than Senator Barack Obama. He is widely viewed as a “typical Republican” who would continue or expand President Bush’s policies, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Polls taken after the Republican convention suggested that Mr. McCain had enjoyed a surge of support — particularly among white women after his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate — but the latest poll indicates “the Palin effect” was, at least so far, a limited burst of interest.

A new poll shows Republican presidential candidate John McCain with a slight lead over Democrat Barack Obama in West Virginia.

A second poll by the same group also shows that Margaret Workman has a sizeable lead in the race for West Virginia Supreme Court, but the other two candidates are in a neck-and-neck contest for the second Supreme Court seat that’s up for grabs.

McCain is ahead of Obama in West Virginia by five points, according to Charleston pollster Mark Blankenship.

It’s 44% for McCain, 39% for Obama, with the rest undecided.

The Bush administration, after considerable internal debate, has decided not to take direct punitive action against Russia for its conflict with Georgia, concluding that it has little leverage if it acts unilaterally and that it would be better off pressing for a chorus of international criticism to be led by Europe.

In recent interviews, senior administration officials said the White House had concluded that American punishments like economic sanctions or blocking Russia from world trade groups would only backfire, deepening Russia's intransigence and allowing the Kremlin to narrow the regional and global implications of its invasion of Georgia to an old-fashioned Washington-Moscow dispute.