Politics News

WASHINGTON - The White House braced for a tough sell of President Barack Obama's long-awaited decision on whether to commit tens of thousands of new U.S. forces to the stalemated war in Afghanistan, even as the president met Monday with top advisers for possibly the last major deliberations before an announcement.

WASHINGTON - In the history of U.S.-India relations, there's been plenty of broken bread and even a few crumbled Triscuits.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is getting used to leaving events before they end — even when he doesn't have to.

WASHINGTON - A Nevada man whose wife had an affair with Sen. John Ensign said he discovered the relationship after intercepting a text message around Christmas in 2007.

WASHINGTON - Two Senate leaders trying to steer a pair of President Barack Obama's high-stakes initiatives through Congress are being dogged by re-election worries, and it's not clear whether their legislative prominence will help or hurt them.

TOPEKA, Kan. - U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, the only Democrat in Kansas' congressional delegation, said Monday he will not seek a seventh term, calling it "time for a new generation of leadership."

WASHINGTON - Faced with limited job options, many young adults are turning to an old standby to weather the recession: moving back in with mom and dad.

WASHINGTON - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday that the world must press Pakistan to stop supporting terrorists who continue to target India.

WASHINGTON - Federal authorities are due to unseal charges against eight new suspects in a long-running probe of young men who left the United States to fight in Somalia.

BRUSSELS - For 23 torturous years, Rom Houben says he lay trapped in his paralyzed body, aware of what was going on around him but unable to tell anyone or even cry out.

GENEVA - The world's largest atom smasher made another leap forward Monday by circulating beams of protons in opposite directions at the same time and causing the first particle collisions in the $10 billion machine after more than a year of repairs, organizers said.

UNITED NATIONS - Development officials say almost half the world's population lacks modern fuels to cook or heat or any electricity, and insist negotiators must address that "energy poverty" as part of any global climate pact next month in Denmark.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A group of black Connecticut firefighters hopes to block promotions for white firefighters who won a discrimination case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (AN'-toh-nihn skuh-LEE'-uh) has said in a speech at Ohio State University the Constitution is best treated as an original document within the context of its historical creation, not as a text subject to modern reinterpretation.

FREDERICK, Md. - More than 150 years after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the notorious Dred Scott decision affirming slavery, a Maryland city unveiled a plaque Tuesday to educate visitors about the opinion and the local man who wrote it — and to quell a local controversy.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid eked out 60 votes on a procedural motion to start the health care debate Saturday night – but there’s no guarantee he can pass a bill on the merits.

WASHINGTON - Failure is not an option on health care, a leading Democratic senator said Monday, even as Republicans turned up the heat on moderates who hold the fate of the legislation in their hands.

Emboldened by their success in inserting restrictive abortion language into the House health care bill, Roman Catholic bishops say they’ve found a lobbying model that could provide them a louder voice in future policy debates.