Speaking Freely, Biden Finds Influential Role  —  WASHINGTON — When President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. meet for their standing Friday lunch engagement, Mr. Obama always picks the cuisine — a subtle break from previous administrations in which the president …

Iran missile experts in North Korea ‘to help with rocket launch’  —  Missile experts from Iran are in North Korea to help Pyongyang prepare for a rocket launch, according to reports.  —  Amid increasing global concern over the launch, which the US and its allies consider to be illegal …

Hillary Clinton leaves flowers for Our Lady of Guadalupe, asks ‘Who painted it?’  —  Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 27, 2009 / 04:59 pm (CNA).- During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet …

Obama's Nobel Headache  —  Paul Krugman has emerged as Obama's toughest liberal critic.  He's deeply skeptical of the bank bailout and pessimistic about the economy.  Why the establishment worries he may be right.  —  From the magazine issue dated Apr 6, 2009  —  Traditionally, punditry in Washington has been a cozy business.

Staff infection: Allies rip Palin team  —  A seemingly unending series of public relations gaffes has Sarah Palin loyalists frustrated and worried she is diminishing her stature.  And they blame an inner circle they say is composed of not-ready-for-primetime players.

Albany Agrees on a Plan to Raise Taxes on Top Earners  —  Gov. David A. Paterson and leaders of the Legislature have reached a deal to temporarily raise taxes on New York's highest earners in order to close the state's yawning budget deficit, lawmakers and officials involved in the talks said on Saturday.

Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots  —  Waterboarding, Rough Interrogation of Abu Zubaida Produced False Leads, Officials Say  —  When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced …

Marijuana issue suddenly smoking hot  —  Smoking pot doesn't cause schizophrenia, but marijuana as an issue sure gives our political system the symptoms.  We have just elected our third president in a row who at least tried marijuana in early adulthood, yet it remains illegal.

Public financing ‘dead,’ McCain says  —  Questions Obama's bipartisanship vows  —  Sen. John McCain, an architect of sweeping campaign-finance reform who got walloped by a presidential candidate armed with more than $750 million, predicts that no one will ever again accept federal matching funds to run for the nation's highest office.

It Pays to Understand the Mind-Set  —  IN 1934, the journalist Johannes Steel wrote a remarkably prescient book, “The Second World War,” which described the social psychology that laid the groundwork for global tragedy.  —  Mr. Steel was trying to peer into people's minds and infer …

No Givens As Obama Steps Onto World Stage  —  After 69 days in which international issues have taken a back seat to attempts to rescue the economy at home, President Obama takes the world stage this week as a wildly popular figure among the people of Europe, but one who faces a difficult task …

This Time, Geithner's Plan for Banks Makes Sense  —  Will it work?  —  Isn't that the only thing that matters at this point?  The big, new plan to solve the banks' toxic assets problem, unveiled earlier this week by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, has come under intense scrutiny in the blogosphere and elsewhere.

Antarctica to Pyramids — lights dim for Earth Hour  —  BONN, Germany - From an Antarctic research base to the Great Pyramids of Egypt and beyond, the world switched off the lights on Saturday for Earth Hour, dimming skyscrapers, city streets and some of the world's most recognizable monuments …