Perry Surges in Polls, Testing Romney's Strategy  —  Primary polls can be erratic, so the rule is not to get too worked up about any one set of numbers.  But now there have been five surveys conducted since Rick Perry announced his presidential campaign — one each from Gallup …

Steve Jobs resigns from Apple, Cook becomes CEO  —  (Reuters) - Silicon Valley legend Steve Jobs on Wednesday resigned as chief executive of Apple Inc in a stunning move that ended his 14-year reign at the technology giant he co-founded in a garage.  —  Apple shares dived as much as 7 percent …

Cheney Says He Urged Bush to Bomb Syria in '07  —  WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney says in a new memoir that he urged President George W. Bush to bomb a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor site in June 2007.  But, he wrote, Mr. Bush opted for a diplomatic approach after other advisers …

Rick Perry/Barack Obama comparison in Twitter picture  —  David Limbaugh, the conservative author and brother of Rush, tweets an image you're likely to see again.  —  A spokesman for Rick Perry didn't respond to a request for comment on the photo, the origin of which is unknown.

Tea Partier Tells Rep. Lujan, Life-Long American, To ‘Get Out Of Politics And Make Room For An American’  —  The Tea Party continues to claim that racism, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia are not driving forces in its movement, but the actions of its members continue to belie those claims.

Norman Rockwell painting sends rare White House message on race  —  President Barack Obama has taken a decidedly low-key approach to racial issues since he became America's first black president two years ago.  But in a hallway outside the Oval Office he has placed a head-turning painting depicting …

U.S. May Back Refinance Plan for Mortgages  —  The Obama administration is considering further actions to strengthen the housing market, but the bar is high: plans must help a broad swath of homeowners, stimulate the economy and cost next to nothing.  —  One proposal would allow millions …

Expect a Third-Party Candidate in 2012  —  Ross Perot in 1992 and John Anderson in 1980 garnered exceptionally high levels of support.  —  The United States is in the midst of what we would both call a prerevolutionary moment, and there is widespread support for fundamental change in the system.

Libya: SAS leads hunt for Gaddafi  —  British special forces are on the ground in Libya helping to spearhead the hunt for Col Muammar Gaddafi, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.  —  Jomana Karadsheh and Matthew Chance from CNN are evacuated by the International Red Cross from the Rixos hotel in Tripoli

Ex-Senate leader: Law is here to stay  —  Repeal unlikely, Frist tells Avera crowd  —  The health care reform law will survive even if the Supreme Court declares the individual mandate unconstitutional, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Wednesday in Sioux Falls.  —  “It's going to survive.

Iowa Community Group Blasts Miller for Removal of Schneiderman from Foreclosure Committee  —  The booting of Eric Schneiderman from the executive committee of the 50 state AG “investigation” of foreclosure fraud is pretty funny in this context: the AGs are supposed to be undertaking an investigation.

Slate lays off four, including Jack Shafer  —  In the occasionally prickly world of media reporting, it's hard to find anyone who does not love, respect and, yes, slightly fear Jack Shafer.  —  So widespread is the love that American Journalism Review published a valentine to him earlier today …

France introduces new tax on high incomes  —  Liliane Bettencourt was among those offering up some of her wealth  —  The French government is to impose an extra tax of 3% on annual income above 500,000 euros (£440,000; $721,000).  —  It is part of a package of measures to try to cut …

National Zoo Animals React to the Earthquake … Great Apes  — The earthquake hit the Great Ape House and Think Tank Exhibit during afternoon feeding time.  — About five to ten seconds before the quake, many of the apes, including Kyle (an orangutan) and Kojo (a Western lowland gorilla) …

Germany fires cannon shot across Europe's bows  —  German President Christian Wulff has accused the European Central Bank of violating its treaty mandate with the mass purchase of southern European bonds.  —  There is widespread concerns in Germany that ECB intervention in the Italian …

Expensive massages, top shelf vodka and five-star hotels: First Lady accused of spending $10m in public money on her vacations  —  The Obamas' summer break in Martha's Vineyard has already been branded a PR disaster after the couple arrived four hours apart on separate government jets.

Kate Marshall expresses support for Israel, says “useful” to do so because “timely topic”  —  You don't see this too often: A campaign puts out a statement by a candidate on an issue she has never talked about and then helpfully explains the political strategy at play at the end.