Politics - Barack Obama

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A senior Al-Qaeda figure was killed in a drone strike in northwest Pakistan, a US official told AFP, as President Barack Obama urged Islamabad to step up the fight against militants. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration has focused on an Illinois prison as it searches for a facility to house terrorism suspects now at Guantanamo Bay, but has not made a final decision, Illinois officials said on Friday. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - Democrats trying to push President Barack Obama's health care overhaul plan through the Senate got a sober warning Friday that costs will keep going up and proposed Medicare savings may harm the program. Full Story »

WASHINGTON — Amid mounting criticism that minorities, women and low-income workers are missing out on business opportunities and jobs under the stimulus bill, the Obama administration is urging the nation's governors to work harder to ensure that these groups participate fully in state transportation projects that receive federal funding. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Pakistan must cooperate more fully with the United States to help wipe out Al-Qaeda, US President Barack Obama said in excerpts of a weekend interview. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives approved the biggest changes in financial regulation since the Great Depression on Friday, marking a win for the Obama administration and top Democrats in Congress. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Friday offered his "warmest wishes" to Jews around the world at the start of Hanukkah. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - Bo, the White House dog, has his very own Christmas stocking. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - The House passed the most ambitious restructuring of federal financial regulations since the New Deal on Friday, aiming to head off any replay of last year's Wall Street failures that plunged the nation deep into recession. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House accused senior Republicans on Friday of "rooting against" recovery and a top congressional critic charged President Barack Obama was pursuing a "job-killing" agenda in a fresh round of political bickering over the economy. Full Story »

Youth has always been a double-edged sword for America's presidents. It tends to inject the White House with fresh ideas and energy, but it can also lead to impetuousness and a disregard for the tried and true. To fully examine the effect of youth on the presidency, U.S. News Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh takes an in-depth look at the five youngest presidents in U.S. history. This is the final installment of the series. See the full series here. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A group of US President Barack Obama's sharpest congressional critics urged him in a letter released Friday to revive stalled free trade pacts with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea in early 2010. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department has told four bailed-out companies that they can't pay some top earners more than $500,000 cash per year. But it's told the official who made that decision that the rule shouldn't always apply. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US House of Representatives on Friday approved the most sweeping regulatory overhaul of the financial sector since the Great Depression of the 1930s, a key goal of President Barack Obama. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says he needed to set a deadline to start withdrawing U.S. forces so the Afghans wouldn't assume their country would be "a permanent protectorate" of the United States. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says Hanukkah's lessons should inspire everyone to be thankful for what they have. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - With a Nobel Peace Prize in hand, President Barack Obama returned to the grind of governing, refocusing on his top domestic priority as the Senate moves toward a pivotal moment on legislation to remake the nation's health care system. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. congressional leaders urged President Barack Obama to work with them to win approval of long-stalled free trade pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea as early as possible in 2010. Full Story »