Politics News

WASHINGTON - Breathtaking in its scope and ambition, President Barack Obama's agenda for the economy, health care and energy now goes to a Congress unaccustomed to resolving knotty issues and buffeted by powerful interests that oppose parts of his plan.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama leaned heavily toward field commanders' preferences in setting a time frame for an Iraq pullout as he weighed the fervent desires of anti-war supporters who propelled him into office and the equally strong worries of war generals.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama took a break from politics Friday to sit courtside at a basketball game between his hometown team Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards.

WASHINGTON - Congress has agreed to a timetable for troop withdrawals in Iraq after years of bitterly debating whether to set one.

WASHINGTON - With ambitious plans to change health care, energy, farm payments, taxes and more, President Barack Obama's budget gives congressional Democrats goals to reach for. And highlights political targets for Republicans to aim at. "Our work is well cut out for us," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said as she praised a "wonderful blueprint" from the administration that looks beyond reviving a weak economy and restoring order to the credit markets.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Responding to calls for an accounting of prisoner abuses in the war on terrorism, the head of the Senate intelligence committee said on Friday her panel would investigate the CIA's treatment of suspects.

WASHINGTON - With postal rates going up in May, the Post Office is readying new stamps to cover the new prices.

WASHINGTON - Raise federal gasoline taxes to help pay for road projects?

WASHINGTON - Companies that defrauded the United States and jeopardized American lives received new government work despite rulings designed to stop them from receiving federal contracts, government investigators report.

ALMODOVAR, Portugal - When archaeologists on a dig in southern Portugal last year flipped over a heavy chunk of slate and saw writing not used for more than 2,500 years, they were elated.

TIMISOARA, Romania - A Romanian plane carrying 51 people made a safe emergency landing in western Romania on Saturday and all the occupants escaped injury, officials said.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican says the number of priests worldwide is slowly but steadily rising.

WASHINGTON - Suspected al-Qaida sleeper agent Ali Al-Marri is now facing criminal charges, but the Obama administration is refusing to rule out the future use of indefinite detention for terrorism suspects picked up in the United States.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The last "enemy combatant" held in the United States will finally get his day in court after he was formally charged with providing support to Al-Qaeda, the Justice Department said Friday.

WASHINGTON - Justice John Paul Stevens said Thursday Supreme Court justices shouldn't take their judicial oaths at the White House, calling it "incorrect symbolism" for an independent branch of government.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama challenged the nation's vested interests to a legislative duel Saturday, saying he will fight to change health care, energy and education in dramatic ways that will upset the status quo.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama leaned heavily toward field commanders' preferences in setting a time frame for an Iraq pullout as he weighed the fervent desires of anti-war supporters who propelled him into office and the equally strong worries of war generals.

Conservatives aren’t sure who’s the Republican presidential frontrunner in 2012. They disagree over how sharply to attack President Barack Obama and on the question of whether a back-to-basics approach is the path back to majority.