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Dem debate. Clinton's Foes Go on the Attack "With just over two months until the first primary contest, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's Democratic rivals aggressively challenged their party's front-runner, accusing her of being dishonest and of emboldening President Bush to declare war against Iran." GOP 'obsession' keys debate "The competitors in the Democratic presidential race moved aggressively Tuesday to derail the inevitability express that has been the campaign of front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York." Democrats attack Clinton in bid to break her momentum "Her Democratic rivals criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton as a political opportunist on issues ranging from Iran to Social Security, seeking to slow her momentum in the final two months before voting starts for the Democratic presidential nomination."

SCHIP. Bush Balks at Revised Child Health Bill "President Bush told Republican lawmakers he will not agree to legislation expanding children's health insurance if it includes a tobacco tax increase, a decision that virtually ensures a renewed veto struggle with the Democratic-controlled Congress." Federal Study Offers Dire Outlook on Child Insurance "Twenty-one states will run out of money for children's health insurance in the coming year, and at least nine of those states will exhaust their allotments in March if Congress simply continues spending at current levels,"

Death penalty. Justices Stay Execution, a Signal to Lower Courts"Moments before a Mississippi prisoner was scheduled to die by lethal injection, the Supreme Court granted him a stay of execution on Tuesday evening and thus gave a nearly indisputable indication that a majority intends to block all executions until the court decides a lethal injection case from Kentucky next spring." Court Halts Halt Mississippi Execution "The last-minute reprieve for Earl Wesley Berry is the third granted by the justices since they agreed late last month to decide a challenge to Kentucky's lethal injection procedures."

Uninsured vets. Study: More Veterans Are Uninsured "About one of every eight veterans under the age of 65 is uninsured, a finding that contradicts the assumption many have that all vets qualify for free health care through the Veterans Affairs Department." Number of uninsured veterans nears 2 million"The number of uninsured veterans jumped sharply in the first half of the decade to 1.8 million in 2004, a new study shows. Conducted by researchers at the Harvard Medical School, the study shows the uninsured veteran population rose twice as fast as the uninsured in the general population."

Immigration. Group Opposes Okla. Immigration Law "Declaring that the church's duty is to serve the poor, a representative of Catholic Charities Tuesday delivered almost 1,100 signed pledges of resistance to Oklahoma's new immigration law to Gov. Brad Henry's office."

Gerson book. With Book, Gerson Is Back To Fight for GOP's Identity "For Michael Gerson, the pattern became discouragingly familiar. A proposal to help the poor or sick would be presented at a White House meeting, but Vice President Cheney's office or the budget team or some other skeptical officials would shoot it down."

Women presidents. South America Ushers In The Era of La Presidenta "Here in the land of machismo, where leaders were long supposed to conform to the standard of the strong-armed military man in epaulettes, a rising wave of leaders is working on a new 21st-century cliche: la presidenta."

Iraq casualties. US Death Toll in Iraq Lower in October "The monthly toll of U.S. service members who have died in Iraq is on track to being the lowest in nearly two years, with at least 36 troop deaths recorded as of Tuesday, but the military cautioned it's too early to declare a long-term trend. Iraqi civilians, meanwhile, faced more attacks on Tuesday." GAO: U.S. hasn't taken advantage of Iraq's drop in violence "The U.S. and Iraqi governments have failed to take advantage of a dramatic drop in violence in Iraq, according to a report issued by a U.S. watchdog agency, which warned that prospects were waning "for achieving current U.S. security, political and economic goals in Iraq."

Military contractors. Iraq takes step toward lifting U.S. contractors' immunity "The Iraqi Cabinet approved legislation that would revoke a U.S. decree giving immunity from Iraqi laws to private security contractors, the Iraqi government's first step toward asserting its authority over the foreign companies that provide protection for American diplomats.' U.S. Military Will Oversee Contractors"All State Department security convoys in Iraq will now fall under military control, the latest step taken by government officials to bring Blackwater Worldwide and other armed contractors under tighter supervision."

Turkey . Turkey: Fighting With Kurds Will Surge "Turkey's prime minister said increased military action against separatist Kurdish rebels was "unavoidable" and pressed the United States for a crackdown on guerrilla bases in northern Iraq."

Iran . Wider Iranian threat is feared "While the White House dwells on Iran's nuclear program, senior U.S. diplomats and military officers fear that an incident on the ground in Iraq is a more likely trigger for a possible confrontation with the Islamic Republic."

Pakistan . U.S. and Pakistan: A Frayed Alliance "The Bush administration has provided nearly $11 billion in aid to Pakistan since 2001, most of it in military hardware and cash support for the country's operating budget. But frustrations are rising among military officers on both sides because the aid has produced neither battlefield success nor great trust,"

Gaza . EU urges Israel to reconsider cuts to Gaza energy supply "The European Union urged Israel to carefully reconsider how cutting energy supplies to the Gaza Strip will impact Palestinian civilians." Israeli strike kills four in Gaza "Four people have died in an Israeli strike on a Hamas-run police station in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Palestinians say." Israel threatens Gaza invasion "Israel has escalated threats to invade the Gaza Strip over Palestinian rocket fire after planned economic sanctions drew objections from legal experts and foreign powers."

Burma . Monks return to streets of Burma "More than 100 monks have marched in central Burma, the first time they have returned to the streets since last month's bloody crackdown on protests." Burmese monks in fresh protests "We walked around the town and chanted ... We are continuing our protest from last month as we have not yet achieved any of the demands we asked for," one monk told the Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norway-based radio station."

Darfur . Rebel Unity Is Scarce at the Darfur Talks in Libya"After years of fragmentation and isolation, Darfur's resistance movements have broken down into a fractious bunch of men, many of whom have never met before, who hail from different corners of the land and who belong to different tribes and command their own little armies." Sudan troops 'drove out refugees' "Sudanese troops used force in an effort to relocate hundreds of homeless Darfur families, loading their possessions on to lorries and surrounding them with machine guns mounted on pick-up trucks late on Sunday evening, UN humanitarian officials said yesterday."

Intelligence budget. $43.5 Billion Spying Budget for Year, Not Including Military "Congress authorized spending of $43.5 billion over the past year to operate spy satellites, remote surveillance stations and C.I.A. outposts overseas, according to a budget figure released Tuesday by Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence."

Op-Ed.

Open-Arms Conservatism (By Michael Gerson, The Washington Post) "In debates and forums, Republican candidates talk endlessly of budget restraint but spare few words for racial reconciliation, the problems of addiction or at-risk youths, or the economic prospects of the poor. The Republican political season began with a call for the return of Reaganism. But the party, it seems, has managed to turn the clock back only to the mid-1990s, when leaders such as Dick Armey and Phil Gramm set its tone."