Bob Ainsworth criticises Barack Obama over Afghanistan  —  Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, has blamed Barack Obama and the United States for the decline in British public support for the war in Afghanistan.  —  Mr Ainsworth took the unprecedented step of publicly criticising …

Obama to attend beginning of U.N. climate meeting  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will go to Copenhagen for a U.N. climate change meeting on December 9, hoping to add momentum to an international process despite slow progress on a domestic bill to cut carbon emissions.

A Stylish State Dinner, With Typos  —  The White House pulled out all the stops in preparation for President Barack Obama's first state dinner on Tuesday night, hiring a new florist, selecting a renowned guest chef, and even inviting a number of high-profile musicians to perform.

Key coordinator of detainee policy quits  —  A key official in the Obama administration's effort to remake detention policy and close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay has resigned.  —  Phillip Carter, who was appointed deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy in April …

Climategate: MSM Writers Try to Ignore Scandal in Global Warming Stories But Readers Bring Them Back to Reality  —  An hilariously bizarre situation is happening in the wake of the growing Climategate scandal.  Many of the mainstream media stories about global warming are simply pretending it doesn't exist.

Dobbs Reaches Out to Latinos  —  Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, pondering a future in politics, is trying to wipe away his image as an enemy of Latino immigrants by positioning himself as a champion of that fast-growing ethnic bloc.  —  Mr. Dobbs, who left the network last week …

Google won't exclude distorted Michelle Obama image from its site  —  ‘We have, in general, a bias toward free speech,’ a Google spokesman says, explaining that offensiveness alone is not a reason to remove the image from the search index.  —  A crudely altered photograph of Michelle Obama …

Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist  —  Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004.

The Uncertainty Economy  —  Tim Geithner is not the Democrats' biggest problem.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Preparing to write about yesterday's downward revision in third-quarter GDP, we were tempted to say the Obama Administration has hit a speed-bump on its promised exit out of the recession.

Police: Sparkman Committed Suicide, Made It Look Like Murder For Insurance Scam  —  Census worker Bill Sparkman committed suicide and deliberately made it look like murder as part of an insurance scam, Kentucky state police have concluded.  —  State police, working with the FBI …

Obama's Approval Slide Finds Whites Down to 39%  —  Support has declined much more among whites than among nonwhites  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Since the start of his presidency, U.S. President Barack Obama's approval rating has declined more among non-Hispanic whites than among nonwhites …

Help Wanted, No Private Sector Experience Required  —  A friend sends along the following chart from a J.P. Morgan research report.  It examines the prior private sector experience of the cabinet officials since 1900 that one might expect a president to turn to in seeking advice about helping the economy.

EXCLUSIVE: Angelina Jolie Not a Fan of Obama  —  Barack Obama does not have Angelina Jolie's seal of approval.  —  “She hates him,” a source close to the U.N. goodwill ambassador, 34, tells the new issue of Us Weekly (on newsstands now).  —  “She's into education and rehabilitation and thinks Obama is all about welfare and handouts.

Rudy Giuliani, Serial Rumor Monger  —  Rudy Giuliani, the big scoop went, had decided to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for her U.S. Senate seat next year and would announce his candidacy “in the next 48 hours.”  —  120 hours later (and counting), the world is still waiting to hear from Rudy.

Obama's First Year Policies Need Time to Settle In  —  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates listen as U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a Cabinet meeting at the White House  —  Over the past few weeks, Barack Obama has been criticized for the following …

Swiss court grants director Polanski bail  —  A Swiss court has accepted film-maker Roman Polanski's plea to be freed on bail from a Swiss jail where he is being held for a US child sex case.  —  Polanski has been wanted in the US since fleeing the country in 1978 after pleading guilty …

U.S. Mulls New Panel to Tackle Deficit  —  Bipartisan Commission Considered as Administration Seeks to Show Resolve on a Problem that Dogs Its Broader Agenda  —  WASHINGTON — The White House is considering a bipartisan commission to tackle the nation's swelling deficit …

How Glenn Beck Can Save the Right … Glenn Beck appears at a rally in Huntington, WV in May 2003 (Shaun Heasley/Getty)  —  As the Obama administration pushes its expensive healthcare reform agenda, tackles global warming head-on (sort of), and moves forward with its various stimulus projects and bailouts …

From the Hospital to Bankruptcy Court  —  NASHVILLE — Some of the debtors sitting forlornly in this city's old stone bankruptcy court have lost a job or gotten divorced.  Others have been summoned to face their creditors because they spent mindlessly beyond their means.

In U.S., More Support for Increasing Troops in Afghanistan  —  Americans now tilt slightly toward sending in new troops as opposed to reducing number  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans over the last two weeks have become slightly more likely to favor sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan …