Speaking Freely, Biden Finds Influential Role  —  WASHINGTON — When President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. meet for their standing Friday lunch engagement, Mr. Obama always picks the cuisine — a subtle break from previous administrations in which the president …

Staff infection: Allies rip Palin team  —  A seemingly unending series of public relations gaffes has Sarah Palin loyalists frustrated and worried she is diminishing her stature.  And they blame an inner circle they say is composed of not-ready-for-primetime players.

Iran missile experts in North Korea ‘to help with rocket launch’  —  Missile experts from Iran are in North Korea to help Pyongyang prepare for a rocket launch, according to reports.  —  Amid increasing global concern over the launch, which the US and its allies consider to be illegal …

Albany Agrees on a Plan to Raise Taxes on Top Earners  —  Gov. David A. Paterson and leaders of the Legislature have reached a deal to temporarily raise taxes on New York's highest earners in order to close the state's yawning budget deficit, lawmakers and officials involved in the talks said on Saturday.

Public financing ‘dead,’ McCain says  —  Questions Obama's bipartisanship vows  —  Sen. John McCain, an architect of sweeping campaign-finance reform who got walloped by a presidential candidate armed with more than $750 million, predicts that no one will ever again accept federal matching funds to run for the nation's highest office.

Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots  —  Waterboarding, Rough Interrogation of Abu Zubaida Produced False Leads, Officials Say  —  When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced …

Geithner: End ‘booms and busts’  —  Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said on back-to-back appearances on Sunday shows that the administration had “no good choices” for dealing with the AIG bonus debacle.  —  “You've already seen a lot of those payments returned,” Geithner told NBC's David Gregory on “Meet the Press.”

Shin Bet head: Hamas continues to smuggle arms into Gaza  —  Article's topics: Yuval Diskin, Hamas, Shin Bet, Gaza Strip, Arms Smuggling  —  Hamas continues to smuggle weaponry into the Gaza Strip, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Yuval Diskin told the cabinet during Sunday's weekly meeting.

Marijuana issue suddenly smoking hot  —  Smoking pot doesn't cause schizophrenia, but marijuana as an issue sure gives our political system the symptoms.  We have just elected our third president in a row who at least tried marijuana in early adulthood, yet it remains illegal.

Hillary Clinton leaves flowers for Our Lady of Guadalupe, asks ‘Who painted it?’  —  Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 27, 2009 / 04:59 pm (CNA).- During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet …

Take the Limbaugh Challenge  —  Liberals who hate Rush Limbaugh — why don't you actually listen to his show before bashing him?  —  If you are reading this newspaper, the likelihood is that you agree with the Obama administration's recent attacks on conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh.

It Pays to Understand the Mind-Set  —  IN 1934, the journalist Johannes Steel wrote a remarkably prescient book, “The Second World War,” which described the social psychology that laid the groundwork for global tragedy.  —  Mr. Steel was trying to peer into people's minds and infer …

The Obama Administration's chance to engage in a Middle East peace.  —  When the Israelis' controversial twenty-two-day military campaign in Gaza ended, on January 18th, it also seemed to end the promising peace talks between Israel and Syria.  The two countries had been engaged for almost …