The highly controversial no-warrant surveillance program initiated after the September 11 terrorist attacks relied on a "factually flawed" legal analysis inappropriately provided by a single Justice Department official, according to a report to Congress on Friday. The report was compiled by the inspectors general of the nation's top intelligence agencies, the Pentagon and the Justice Department. The report, mandated by Congress, provides fresh context to information previously leaked in press accounts and buttressed by both congressional testimony and books written ...

Israeli negotiators returned to Jerusalem for a Tuesday afternoon Cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after Hamas officials "hardened" their position over the release of an abducted soldier. "It became clear during the discussions that Hamas had hardened its position, reneged on understandings that had been formulated over the past year and raised extreme demands," Olmert's office said in a statement. Israeli Security Agency Director Yuval Diskin and the prime minister's special envoy, Ofer Dekel, had been taking part ...