World Out of Balance  —  International travel by world leaders is mainly about making symbolic gestures.  Nobody expects President Obama to come back from China with major new agreements, on economic policy or anything else.  —  But let's hope that when the cameras aren't rolling Mr. Obama …

On President Obama's Bow to the Japanese Emperor, An Academic Friend Writes That Both the Left and the Right Are Wrong  —  An old friend — an academic with expertise about the Japanese Empire, and in general a supporter of President Obama — sends me the following note …

An Open Dish Challenge To Palin  —  Well, she has now thrown down a gauntlet that the Dish will be very eager to take up in the next few days.  —  Yesterday the AP ran a story describing some of the contents of the book, and arguing that many assertions in it are, like so much of what Palin has said, empirically untrue.

Cleric says he was confidant to Hasan  —  In Yemen, al-Aulaqi tells of e-mail exchanges, says he did not instigate rampage  —  SANAA, YEMEN — In his first interview with a journalist since the Fort Hood rampage, Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi said that he neither ordered nor pressured …

The KSM Trial Will Be an Intelligence Bonanza for al Qaeda  —  The government will have to choose between vigorous prosecution and revealing classified sources and methods.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  'This is a prosecutorial decision as well as a national security decision," …

We should worry that Tracey Emin Hugh Osmond and Michael Caine are fleeing the 50p tax rate  —  The 50p tax rate will be a disaster for the economy - taking us back to the dark days of the 1970s, says Boris Johnson.  —  Not everyone will miss her as much as I will.

Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform  —  Even as drug makers promise to support Washington's health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation's drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.

Source: CNN wanted Lou out  —  CNN ‘wanted him out’  —  CNN was so sick of Lou Dobbs, it gave him an $8 million severance package to leave, The Post has learned.  —  “They wanted him out,” according to a source.  —  Dobbs, who a source said had a year and a half to go on his $12 million contract …

For Obama judicial nominees, confirmation is slow process  —  Senate Republicans have quietly used their minority power to block candidates to the lower federal courts.  A showdown is set for Tuesday with Judge David Hamilton's nomination.  —  Reporting from Washington …

Can Winfrey, Palin save each other?  —  Were there ever two women who needed each other more but whose political differences were so starkly different?  Can Sarah Palin help stanch Oprah Winfrey's slipping ratings?  Can Winfrey come to the rescue of Palin's tattered political reputation?

Sarah Palin: Rogue for President?  —  Gary Langer is director of polling at ABC News, where he's covered the beat of public opinion for nearly 20 years - conducting and analyzing ABC News polls, evaluating data from other sources and setting the news division's standards for poll reporting.

Obama takes heat on Afghan timing  —  SHANGHAI, China - President Barack Obama made no effort to conceal his irritation when his press corps used the first question of his maiden Far East trip to ask what was taking him so long on Afghanistan.  —  Jennifer Loven of The Associated Press had asked …

Democrat pays her taxes so she can be candidate  —  ST. LOUIS — A day before she clinched the nomination to fill a vacancy in the Missouri House of Representatives on Saturday, St. Louis Democrat Hope Whitehead paid a visit to City Hall.  —  Not to mobilize supporters, but to pay hundreds of dollars in outstanding taxes.

Law Seeks to Ban Misuse of Genetic Testing  —  The most important new antidiscrimination law in two decades — the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act — will take effect in the nation's workplaces next weekend, prohibiting employers from requesting genetic testing or considering someone's …

HA exclusive: ATR, AWF demand probe of SEIU's Stern for illegal lobbying  —  At 9 am ET today, Americans for Tax Reform and the Alliance for Worker Freedom will deliver a letter to both chambers of Congress and to US Attorney Channing Phillips in Washington DC, demanding a federal investigation of Andrew Stern, president of the SEIU.

A Florida Republican Becomes a Right-Wing Target  —  NEWBERRY, Fla. — In retrospect, even Charlie Crist admits that “the optics” of The Hug are not great.  —  It was in the glow of a new day in politics last February when Mr. Crist, this state's popular Republican governor …

China has now become the biggest risk to the world economy  —  Far from taking over as the engine of growth from an exhausted West, China is making matters worse.  Its “beggar-thy-neighbour” policies continue to play havoc with global trade and risk tipping the world into a second leg of the Great Recession.