When Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg jets into Washington this Sunday he plans on asking some tough questions. Germany's new Economy Minister is due to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and bosses at embattled American carmaker General Motors. Opel, a Germany-based division of GM, is fast running out of cash and GM and Opel bosses recently went cap in hand to Berlin to ask for $4.25 billion in state aid. In return, GM say they will restructure Opel by cutting costs ...

If Gordon Brown expected props back home for being the first European leader to enjoy President Obama's hospitality at the White House and only the fifth British Prime Minister ever to address Congress, he might have reconsidered the fourth paragraph of that speech. Like a nervous entertainer at a particularly rowdy children's party, Brown pulled his rabbit out of the hat almost at the start of his act. Her Majesty — Britain's Queen — had bestowed an honorary knighthood on ...

Thousands of Venezuelans residing in Florida cast ballots at their Miami consulate last month in a referendum on whether to abolish presidential term limits back home. Most voted "no," because the last thing they want is to see left-wing President Hugo Chávez run again when his second term expires in 2012. But two of the most emphatically anti-Chávez figures at the consulate weren't voters. They weren't even Venezuelan. They were some of South Florida's most prominent and outspoken Cuban-American politicians: ...

At least three British lawmakers have been holding unofficial meetings with militant groups in the Middle East for the past two years, one of the legislators told CNN Thursday. The lawmakers met high-ranking officials from Hezbollah and Hamas, said Michael Ancram, one of the legislators involved. The British government officially considers both Hezbollah and Hamas to be terrorist organizations, as does the United States. Hamas is also on the European Union's terror list. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair refused ...

As Democrats cast conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh as the de facto leader of the GOP, Republicans are decrying what they see as an orchestrated scheme designed to divert attention from the Democrats' spending proposals. Democrats fired out two political e-mails about Limbaugh on Thursday morning, calling him the face of the GOP, and Republicans sent out one of their own, demanding that the White House "come clean" about and apologize for a "political attack game." An e-mail sent ...

Democrats plan to launch a Web site Wednesday that mocks GOP leaders for apologizing to radio host Rush Limbaugh for criticizing or publicly disagreeing with him. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is hosting the Web site, which allows visitors to create an apology to Limbaugh on behalf of Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Georgia; South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford; or Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. "You and I both know that in reality, you simply want President Obama to fail in ...

Over the weekend, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele called Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric "incendiary" and "ugly" and insisted that he, not Limbaugh, is in charge of the GOP. But that was two days ago. Monday, after a blistering response from the conservative talk-radio kingpin, Steele told the online journal Politico that he "was maybe a little bit inarticulate." "There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership," Steele said. He added, "There are those out there ...

The incumbent Basque nationalists won the most seats in Basque regional parliamentary elections on Sunday, but they could lose a 29-year hold on power because three non-nationalist parties won a combined majority for the first time, according to official election results. The vote for the powerful 75-seat regional parliament and Basque president are seen as a bellwether of the region's sentiment on how to end decades of violence by the Basque separatist group ETA. The moderate Basque Nationalist Party won ...

Rush Limbaugh brought a cheering crowd to its feet several times Saturday in Washington as he called on fellow conservatives to take back the country in the keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "We conservatives have not done a good enough job of just laying out basically who we are because we make the mistake of assuming that people know. What they know is largely incorrect, based on the way we're portrayed in pop culture, in the drive-by ...

Conservative activists on Saturday named former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney the winner of a poll for best 2012 GOP presidential candidate. The poll marked the third consecutive year Romney came out on top. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal placed second in the annual poll, conducted at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The choices in the poll were: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist; former House speaker Newt Gingrich; former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Jindal; Texas Rep. ...