President Obama intervenes in budget standoff  —  President Obama phones the House speaker and the Senate leader in an effort to broker a Republican-Democratic deal to avert a government shutdown.  —  Reporting from Washington —  As the budget stalemate lingered …

Charlie Sheen's Detroit disaster: Boos, walk-outs for ‘Torpedo of Truth’  —  First the U.S. automaker recession, and now this.  Charlie Sheen unleashed his Violent Torpedo of Truth Tour on the Motor City on Saturday night to a crowd that began with an adoring standing ovation and concluded with booing and walk-outs.

Have a Rotten Eggroll, Mr. Goldstone  —  So Richard Goldstone, the South African jurist who fronted the U.N. report bearing his name that alleged massive Israeli war crimes in the Gaza war of 2008-2009, has taken to the pages of the Washington Post to say, in effect, “never mind”:

Illinois Workers Find That a Death Penalty Ban Abolishes Their Jobs, Too  —  The day after the death penalty was abolished in Illinois in early March, Wendi Liss received a call from one of her clients, who was facing trial for murder and the prospect of being executed if found guilty.

Joseph Stiglitz: The Fate of The Top 1% Is Bound Up With How The Other 99% Live  —  Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that America's top economists are running around with their hair on fire?  (Or whatever passes for it with economists.)  Nobel Prize winner Joe Stiglitz in Vanity Fair sounds …

Dirty billions and Mexico's drugs war  —  As the violence spread, billions of dollars of cartel cash began to seep into the global financial system.  But a special investigation by the Observer reveals how the increasingly frantic warnings of one London whistleblower were ignored

Libyan rebels struggle to explain rift  —  Gallery: Conflict and chaos in Libya: As international airstrikes continue against forces loyal to Moammar Gaddafi, rebels face difficult battle.  —  BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya's rebel military struggled Saturday to explain an apparent rift within …

Fmr. Nat.  Sec. Adv.  Jones: Yemen Trends ‘Not Good’  —  In his first interview since leaving the White House last fall, former Obama National Security Advisor Jim Jones warned that the way events were unfolding in Yemen were “not good.”  —  Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh …

In St. Louis, a protest sign meets government arrogance  —  A dialectic of judicial deference and political arrogance is on display in St. Louis.  When excessively deferential courts permit governmental arrogance, additional arrogance results as government explores the limits of judicial deference.

List of health reform waivers keeps growing  —  The number of waivers the Obama administration has awarded for a provision of the year-old healthcare reform law grew by 128 in March.  —  With the new waivers, that means 1,168 businesses, insurers, unions and other organizations have received …

Al Qaeda members hide in Brazil, raise money: report  —  BRASILIA (Reuters) - Al Qaeda operatives are in Brazil planning attacks, raising money and recruiting followers, a leading news magazine reported Saturday, renewing concerns about the nation serving as a hide-out for Islamic militants.

Mitt's health care defense  —  LAS VEGAS — Mitt Romney directly addressed the Obama administration's backhanded plaudits of his Massachusetts health care law Saturday, defending the law's controversial individual mandate for the first time and promising that it wouldn't impede an aggressive attack …

House GOP to target ‘tens of trillions’ on entitlements — Bush war aide: Libya could become Obama's Iraq — Lessons learned: 'clear goals ... Don't sell public on a best-case scenario'  —  BULLETIN: President Obama plans to announce his reelection campaign early next week in an electronic message …

UN envoy: UN workers killed running from bunker  —  KABUL, Afghanistan - Fearing for their lives, the U.N. workers dashed into a dark bunker hoping to escape the mob of Afghan protesters angry over the burning of a Quran by a Florida church.  —  Hope wasn't enough for three of them.

Huckabee wins 2012 county straw poll in South Carolina  —  Washington (CNN) - Mike Huckabee won a 2012 presidential straw poll conducted in a key South Carolina county Saturday.  —  The informal vote was the first of many upcoming straw polls taking place this month at grassroots GOP …

Libyan rebels ‘receive foreign training’  —  Rebel source tells Al Jazeera about training offered by US and Egyptian special forces in eastern Libya.  —  US and Egyptian special forces have reportedly been offering covert armed training to rebel fighters in the battle for Libya, Al Jazeera has been told.