WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama signed a series of executive orders Friday that he said should "level the playing field" for labor unions in struggles with management. ...more

January 30, 2009

Soon after the November election, al-Qaida's No. 2 leader took stock of America's new president-elect and dismissed him with an insulting epithet. "A house Negro," Ayman al-Zawahiri said. ...more

January 26, 2009

President Barack Obama on Friday quietly ended the Bush administration's ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option. Liberal groups welcomed the decision, while abortion rights foes criticized the president. ...more

January 23, 2009

Stepping into history, Barack Hussein Obama grasped the reins of power as America's first black president on Tuesday, saying the nation must choose "hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord" to overcome the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. ...more

January 20, 2009

The incoming Obama administration should launch a criminal investigation of Bush administration officials to see whether they broke the law in the name of national security, a House Democratic report said Tuesday. President-elect Barack Obama has been more cautious on the issue and has not endorsed such a recommendation. ...more

January 13, 2009

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, amid speculation she'll run for president in four years, blamed Bush administration policies for the defeat last week of the GOP ticket and prayed she wouldn't miss "an open door" for her next political opportunity. ...more

November 10, 2008

In selecting Sen. Joseph Biden as his running mate, Barack Obama gains some needed foreign policy expertise. ...more

August 27, 2008

Until now, Shirley Morgan had always been the kind of voter the Republican Party thought it could count on. She comes from a family of staunch Republicans, has a son in the military and has supported Republican presidential candidates ever since she cast her first ballot, for Richard Nixon in 1972. ...more

May 3, 2008

Detainees held for nearly six years at the Guantanamo Bay military prison got another hearing at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, but the justices appeared to remain divided about whether the prisoners deserve a more basic right to challenge their imprisonment before a judge. ...more

December 6, 2007