Obama plan: Destroy Romney  —  Barack Obama's aides and advisers are preparing to center the president's re-election campaign on a ferocious personal assault on Mitt Romney's character and business background, a strategy grounded in the early stage expectation that the former Massachusetts governor is the likely GOP nominee.

As Rioting Widens, Cameron Deploys 10,000 More Police  —  By ALAN COWELL, RAVI SOMAIYA and JOHN F. BURNS  —  LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron pledged on Tuesday to flood the streets of London with 10,000 extra police officers and said Parliament would be recalled in emergency session …

Obama's job approval  —  President Obama's job approval rating is 50% or higher in 16 states and D.C. Roll over each state to see how each rated Obama.  The darker the shade of the state, the higher his overall approval rating.  —  Source: Gallup  —  WASHINGTON — Another “wave” …

Is Obama Smart?  —  A case study in stupid is as stupid does.  —  The aircraft was large, modern and considered among the world's safest.  But that night it was flying straight into a huge thunderstorm.  Turbulence was extreme, and airspeed indicators may not have been functioning properly.

The most powerful man on Earth?  —  A familiar air of indecision preceded President Obama's pep talk to the nation.  —  The first draft of his schedule for Monday contained no plans to comment on the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor's.

Bachmann's political touch turns doubter into fan  —  Anyone who doubts Michele Bachmann's talents as a hands-on politician didn't see her performance here Monday.  In an otherwise unremarkable town hall meeting, Bachmann turned a potentially embarrassing encounter with a grouchy voter …

Forced to strip naked in the street: Shocking scenes as rioters steal clothes and rifle through bags as people make their way home  —  This is the shocking moment a young man is apparently forced to hand over all of his clothes after appearing to be stripped naked during lawless riots overnight.

Who ‘made $10bn on 10/1 bet that U.S. credit rating would be downgraded’?  —  A mystery investor or hedge fund reportedly made a bet of almost $1billion at odds of 10/1 last month that the U.S. would lose its AAA credit rating.  —  Now questions are being asked of whether the trader …

Obama Cancels Schedule to Meet Returned Bodies of Fallen Soldiers  —  President Obama will travel to Dover Air Force base later on Tuesday to honor the 22 Navy SEALs and eight other American troops killed in Afghanistan on Saturday when an insurgent shot down their helicopter …

Charlie Rangel to Obama: Bring Congress back  —  A prominent liberal House Democrat is calling on President Barack Obama to bring Congress back from its August recess, joining a growing list asking the president to put lawmakers to work now to fix the economy.

Mr. Cool turns cold  —  In her autobiography, Helen Gahagan Douglas recalled telling President Franklin D. Roosevelt about her visits to the camps of migrant workers.  She was especially poignant about the children and their lack of Christmas toys when the president tried to stop her.

Egyptian Bloggers Parse London Riots in Real Time  —  Egyptians and Tunisians took revenge for Khaled Said and Bouazizi by peacefully toppling their murdering regimes, not stealing DVD players.  —  Mosa'ab Elshamy  —  mosaaberizing  —  As the riots in London continued for a third night on Monday …

Stop Sticking Our Heads in the Sand!  A Plan for Action on Jobs  —  Despite the claim that last week's jobs numbers were “better than expected,” they were in fact an abysmal indictment of US economic policy over the past two years.  The unemployment rate has remained near or above 9 percent …

Tumult in Global Markets Continues  —  PARIS — An extraordinarily tumultuous trading day in Asia extended into Europe on Tuesday and gold prices hit new highs, dashing hopes that the global stock market sell-off that has flattened investors over the last two weeks would lose steam.

Sony/PIAS Warehouse Burnt Down in UK Riots  —  Hundreds of independent labels and record stores affected  —  A Sony distribution warehouse in North London was burned to the ground around 4:00 a.m. GMT this morning during the third straight night of riots in the UK.

Conquering the Storm  —  In the coming days we'll sort through the repercussions of S&P's downgrade of our credit rating, including concerns about the impact a potential interest rate increase would have on our ability to service our suffocating $14.5 trillion debt.