On Saturday morning, about 12 hours before the U.S. House of Representatives passed sweeping legislation to expand health-care coverage to almost all Americans, President Barack Obama did what he does best: He gave an inspirational speech meant to rally recalcitrant House Democrats. Many in the room credited Obama with swaying the last of the fence sitters. "A few members that were leaning no told me afterwards that they'd been moved to vote yes," Rep. Rob Andrews, a New Jersey ...

There is candid frustration Thursday coming from rank and file congressional Democrats about the influence of Maine's Republican senator in the health care reform debate. The way Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe sees it, she's just using the power any senator has: the power of one. "The brilliance of our Founding Fathers was this: that they gave power equally to every member of the United States Senate, whether you represented a large state or a small state, and exercising that authority ...

Public beheadings in Afghanistan are usually associated with the Taliban, but on Monday it was Defense Secretary Robert Gates metaphorically wielding the ax from the Pentagon platform. Gates announced that he had asked for and received the resignation of his top commander in Afghanistan, Army General David McKiernan, after McKiernan spent only 11 months in that theater. The 37-year veteran will be replaced by Army Lieut. General Stanley McChrystal. Army Lieut. General David Rodriguez, the Defense Secretary's own ...

Leading Republicans urged President Obama to make a swift decision in favor of more U.S. troops for the war in Afghanistan after talks between the president and congressional leaders Tuesday. Obama faces an expected request for thousands of more U.S. troops from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan. He gathered leading members of Congress from both parties at the White House on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the future of the war, which turns 8 years old Wednesday. "Obviously, ...

The wise old men and their young colleagues gave the world all the entertainment it needed this weekend. While 59-year-old, self-proclaimed "geezer" golfer Tom Watson mounted a heroic effort to win the British Open, only to fall short in a four-hole playoff against a much younger rival, that great gray sorcerer Albus Dumbledore led Harry Potter to the biggest opening for any film in the series. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will have taken in nearly $80 million ...

Fourteen people convicted in connection with a 2006 attack on civilians will be publicly executed Tuesday in Iran, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported Monday. Harry Potter and his friends at Hogwarts are now in their sixth year of seven at the school. They've seen a lot of changes, particularly as the influence of the reawakened Voldemort (that is, He Who Must Not Be Named) has made itself known. And the movie series itself is now nearing its ...

The end is closer than the beginning. Harry Potter and his friends at Hogwarts are now in their sixth year of seven at the school. They've seen a lot of changes, particularly as the influence of the reawakened Voldemort (that is, He Who Must Not Be Named) has made itself known. And the movie series itself is now nearing its conclusion. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which comes out Wednesday, is likewise the sixth movie in the ...

If Potions Professor Horace Slughorn had mixed a brew to conjure up torrential rain, the weather could not have been worse for the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Dedicated fans braved thunder, lightning and Biblical downpours in London's Leicester Square to catch a glimpse of the film's stars arriving at the opening of the sixth film in the wildly popular "Harry Potter" franchise. While dreadful weather has become an unfortunate tradition at Potter premieres (it rained during ...

Britain's Prince Harry, the second son of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, will arrive Friday in New York, the site of his first official trip overseas, British officials announced. During his two-day visit, Harry plans to meet with family members of September 11 victims, lay a wreath at ground zero and meet with veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars, royal palace officials said. Harry, 24, served for two months in Afghanistan as a coalition forces soldier in 2007. ...

Attention aspiring princesses: Prince Harry has almost landed. On Friday, the 24-year-old prince begins a two-day tour of New York City, his first international trip as a representative of the British royal family. Among other things, he'll meet with families who lost loved ones on September 11 and visit soldiers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq at Manhattan's Veterans Affairs Medical Center. With those engagements in mind, the royal heartthrob, who has a well-known penchant for long, alcohol-fueled nights, won't be hitting New York's dance floors. "Quite frankly ...