Senators say compromise key to health care bill
Obama bemoans golf swing to Russian reporter
US-Russia framework deal on arms control expected
Biden US will not stand in Israels way on Iran
Analysis GOP struggles for anti-Sotomayor message
Obama plan could trim back financial powerhouses
Obama to begin overseas mission Sunday
Obama to mark July 4, daughters birthday Saturday
Documents describe chaos of Gitmos early months
Obama begins July 4th celebration at Camp David

By Karin Cooper (AP)

The nation's top military officer said Sunday he has advised President Barack Obama to move "in a measured way" in changing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military.

Obama as a candidate pledged to end the ban. As president, he has not said when or how he will take steps to do so, drawing criticism from gay rights activists and others. The president has pointed out that Congress in 1993 made into law a policy begun by President Bill Clinton.

"It's very clear what President Obama's intent here is. He intends to see this law c...

By Steven Senne (AP)

Colin Powell says the U.S. took too long to strengthen its forces in Iraq after Baghdad fell early in the war.

Powell, the nation's top military officer under President George H.W. Bush and secretary of state for President George W. Bush, said the decision to use a lighter force to defeat the Iraqi army was correct. But he said in a television interview broadcast Sunday that the younger Bush's administration should have realized the initial success in 2003 was only the start of a longer fight.

"Unfortunately, the war wasn't over" after Baghdad fell and Saddam Hussein was ou...

By Mikhail Klimentyev (AP)

Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev end a seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry on Monday, with each declaring his determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship.

Both sides appear to want to use progress on arms control as a pathway to possible agreement on trickier issues, including Iran and Georgia, the tiny former Soviet republic. Those difficulties and many others have soured a promising linkage in the first years after the Cold War and pushed ties between Moscow and Washington to depths unseen in more than two...

By Khalid Mohammed (AP)

The Obama administration "misread" the depth of the economic troubles it inherited and still expects more new jobs in the long term as the spending pace from the $787 billion stimulus plan quickens, Vice President Joe Biden said.

Republican congressional leaders expressed disappointment about the impact of stimulus spending. "I'm very skeptical that the spending binge that we're on is going to produce much good and, even if it does, anytime soon," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a statement Sunday.

"I think the economy is just as likely to beg...

By Khalid Mohammed (AP)

Vice President Joe Biden seemed to give Israel a green light for military action to eliminate Iran's nuclear threat, saying the U.S. "cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do."

Israel considers Iran its most dangerous adversary and is wary of hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who just won a disputed re-election. He repeatedly has called for Israel to be wiped off the map and contends the Holocaust is a "myth."

Israel and the U.S. accuse Iran of seeking to develop weapons under the cover of a nuclear power program. Iran denies tha...

By Steven Senne (AP)

Colin Powell, one of the nation's most prominent African-Americans, is going after people who attacked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor because of her stand in favor of affirmative action.

Powell, who's from the same Bronx neighborhood in New York as Sotomayor, said she should face "a spirited set of hearings" in the Senate. But he said the federal appeals court judge, who would be the first Hispanic justice, shouldn't be condemned for ruling against white firefighters who contended they suffered reverse discrimination.

"What we can't continue to have is to have some...

By Khalid Mohammed (AP)

Vice President Joe Biden says the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was" but stands by its stimulus package and believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of its spending picks up.

Biden, in an interview airing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," says the nation's 9.5 percent unemployment rate is too high. He says there will be more jobs created in coming months.

Biden noted that the $787 billion stimulus package was set up to spend the money over 18 months. Major programs will take effect in September, including $7.5 billion for broadband Internet servic...

By Manuel Balce Ceneta (AP)

Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev end a seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry on Monday, with both men declaring their determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship.

Both sides appear to want to use progress on arms control as a pathway into possible agreement on other, far trickier issues _ like Iran and the tiny country of Georgia, a former Soviet republic. Those difficulties and many others have soured a promising linkage in the first years after the Cold War and pushed ties between Moscow and Washington to depths not seen...

By Steven Senne (AP)

Colin Powell worries that President Barack Obama is trying to tackle too many big issues at one time and he offers this advice: take a hard look at costs and consider the additional red tape that will be created.

"The right answer is, `Give me a government that works,'" the former secretary of state said in a television interview to be aired Sunday. "Keep it as small as possible," added Powell, who said he has spoken recently with Obama and stays in touch with him. Powell, a Republican, endorsed Obama last year over the GOP presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Ob...

By Charles Dharapak (AP)

In dueling holiday addresses, President Barack Obama appealed for public support of his domestic programs and Sen. John McCain said Americans should side with Iranian election protesters.

The 2008 rivals for the White House both cited the spirit of the nation's founders in their Fourth of July radio and Internet broadcasts on Saturday.

Obama said an "unyielding spirit is what defines us as Americans" and led people during the nation's history to explore the West, persevere during the Depression and build a robust industrial economy.

"That is the spirit we are called t...

By US National Archives Records Adm (AP)

National Archives visitors know they'll find the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the main building's magnificent rotunda in Washington. But they won't find the patent file for the Wright Brothers' Flying Machine or the maps for the first atomic bomb missions anywhere in the Archives inventory.

Many historical items the Archives once possessed are missing, including:

_Civil War telegrams from Abraham Lincoln.

_Original signatures of Andrew Jackson.

_Presidential portraits of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

_NASA photog...

By Alex Brandon (AP)

President Barack Obama warned on Saturday "there will be difficult days ahead" in Iraq and said the U.S. will remain a strong partner to Iraq for its security.

Obama, speaking to military families at the White House for Independence Day festivities, praised Iraq's independence and thanked troops for their service. Because of the courage, capability and commitment of soldiers who have served in Iraq, the country is now "taking control of its own destiny," he said.

"Iraq's future now rests in the hands of its own people. As extraordinary an accomplishment as that is, we kno...

By Manuel Balce Ceneta (AP)

Determined to change the way the world views the United States, Barack Obama is onto his next foreign mission: rebuilding relations with Russia, proving to global leaders that America is serious about climate change, and outlining his vision for Africa, his father's birthplace.

And when in Rome? Obama will go to the Vatican to see Pope Benedict XVI for their first meeting.

Obama's weeklong trip _ he leaves Sunday night for Moscow _ typifies the pace of his first-year agenda.

Capitalizing on his popularity and his party's hold on power in Washington, Obama is moving quic...

By Manuel Balce Ceneta (AP)

The White House is getting ready for the big holiday barbecue and fireworks show at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama returned from Camp David in time to host the Independence Day celebration. The Obamas have invited about 1,200 military families for the festivities Saturday night.

The loud sounds of the Foo Fighters carried across the White House's South Lawn as the rockers rehearsed. During the presidential campaign last year, the band complained about John McCain's use of their song "My Hero" to promote his candidacy. His campa...

By Manuel Balce Ceneta (AP)

In dueling holiday addresses, President Barack Obama appealed for public support of his domestic programs and Sen. John McCain said Americans should side with Iranian election protesters.

The 2008 rivals for the White House both cited the spirit of the nation's founders in their Fourth of July radio and Internet broadcasts on Saturday.

Obama said an "unyielding spirit is what defines us as Americans" and led people during the nation's history to explore the West, persevere during the Depression and build a robust industrial economy.

"That is the spirit we are called t...

By (AP)

National Archives visitors know they'll find the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the main building's magnificent rotunda in Washington. But they won't find the patent file for the Wright Brothers' Flying Machine or the maps for the first atomic bomb missions anywhere in the Archives inventory.

Many historical items the Archives once possessed are missing, including:

_Civil War telegrams from Abraham Lincoln.

_Original signatures of Andrew Jackson.

_Presidential portraits of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

_NASA photog...

By Steven Senne (AP)

Colin Powell worries that President Barack Obama is trying to tackle too many big issues at one time and he offers this advice: take a hard look at costs and consider the additional red tape that will be created.

"The right answer is, `Give me a government that works,'" the former secretary of state said in a television interview to be aired Sunday. "Keep it as small as possible," added Powell, who said he has spoken recently with Obama and stays in touch with him. Powell, a Republican, endorsed Obama last year over the GOP presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Ob...

By Dmitry Lovetsky (AP)

Determined to change the way the world views the United States, Barack Obama is onto his next foreign mission: rebuilding relations with Russia, proving to global leaders that America is serious about climate change, and outlining his vision for Africa, his father's birthplace.

And when in Rome? Obama will go to the Vatican to see Pope Benedict XVI for their first meeting.

Obama's weeklong trip _ he leaves Sunday night for Moscow _ typifies the pace of his first-year agenda.

Capitalizing on his popularity and his party's hold on power in Washington, Obama is moving quic...

By (AP)

National Archives visitors know they'll find the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the main building's magnificent rotunda in Washington. But they won't find the patent file for the Wright Brothers' Flying Machine or the maps for the first atomic bomb missions anywhere in the Archives inventory.

Many historical items the Archives once possessed are missing, including:

_Civil War telegrams from Abraham Lincoln.

_Original signatures of Andrew Jackson.

_Presidential portraits of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

_NASA photog...

By J. Scott Applewhite (AP)

Congress returns for its midsummer session Monday with a Senate supermajority not super enough for President Barack Obama's top priorities to pass without Republican support.

The seating of Minnesota Sen. Al Franken will give Democrats the filibuster-proof 60-40 majority in the Senate, but only on paper. Absences by two ailing senators mean the party can count only 58 votes, and then only if Majority Leader Harry Reid can herd two independents and the independent streaks of 55 others behind Obama's biggest initiatives: expanded health care coverage and cleaner but more expensive...

By Charles Dharapak (AP)

A civil rights group on whose board Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor served filed racial bias lawsuits over employment examinations that resemble a Connecticut case in which she ruled against white firefighters, documents released by the Senate show.

The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund represented Hispanic sanitation workers in New York City who wanted to stop white employees from getting promotions because, they argued, the qualifying exam unfairly disadvantaged minorities. The case unfolded as Sotomayor chaired the organization's board of directors' litigation...

By Pablo Martinez Monsivais (AP)

President Barack Obama sought to rally support for his domestic initiatives, while Sen. John McCain called for Americans to support Iranian election protesters. The one-time presidential rivals both cited the spirit of the nation's founders in their Fourth of July radio and Internet addresses.

Obama said an "unyielding spirit is what defines us as Americans" and led people during the nation's history to explore the West, persevere during the Depression and build a robust industrial economy.

"That is the spirit we are called to show once more," Obama said Saturday. "We are...

By Pablo Martinez Monsivais (AP)

President Barack Obama sought to rally support for his domestic initiatives, while Sen. John McCain called for Americans to support Iranian election protesters. The one-time presidential rivals both cited the spirit of the nation's founders in their Fourth of July radio and Internet addresses.

Obama said an "unyielding spirit is what defines us as Americans" and led people during the nation's history to explore the West, persevere during the Depression and build a robust industrial economy.

"That is the spirit we are called to show once more," Obama said Saturday. "We are...

Small town America pins hopes on West trade route
African leaders agree to Libya-led AU changes
In NYC, biggest fireworks show in US lights up sky
Ex-NFL QB Steve McNair, woman found slain in Tenn.
Biden We misread how bad the economy was
Australian dinosaur that lived 98M years ago found
16 dead, about 320,000 flee homes in China floods
Artists salute King of Pop at La. Essence Fest
Guerrero homers, Angels beat Orioles
Busch needs treatment following Grand-Am race