The U.S. military is on the verge of activating a partial missile shield over southern Europe, part of an intensifying global effort to build defenses against Iranian missiles amid a deepening impasse over the country's nuclear ambitions.

MIAMI -- In a year of the unconventional candidate and in a Florida Senate race filled with them, the by-the-book campaign of Democrat Kendrick Meek has left the congressman in such a precarious spot that he might not even make it out of his own party's primary.

It's hard to imagine what could drive public approval of Congress even lower than it has been this year. But a pending public ethics trial of one of the House's most senior Democrats (and possibly a second) and an angry, prolonged tirade on the House floor that has gone round the cable networks and YouTube just may be the answer.

It's hard to imagine what could drive public approval of Congress even lower than it has been this year. But a pending public ethics trial of one of the House's most senior Democrats (and possibly a second) and an angry, prolonged tirade on the House floor that has gone round the cable networks and YouTube just may be the answer.

DETROIT -- The government's bailout of the American auto industry last year sparked political hand-wringing about the end of capitalism and allegations that President Obama aspired to be CEO of what critics dubbed "Government Motors."

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) has chosen a less-than-collegial defense to charges that he violated House ethics rules when he asked corporate donors with legislative interests to give to an academic center bearing his name.

Born during the Depression in a northeast Louisiana plantation town of 3,000, Charles Wyly and his younger brother Sam have been inseparable since childhood: numbers 3 and 13 on the state-championship high school football team, business partners who turned ideas into billion-dollar companies, philanthropic champions and benefactors of politicians, including the Bush political dynasty. Now the brothers are co-defendants in a far-reaching securities fraud suit.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has decided against settling potential House ethics charges for her role in helping to steer federal funds to a bank, choosing instead to proceed to a trial, a source familiar with the process said Friday night.

Sam and Charles Wyly, billionaire Texas brothers who gained prominence spending millions of dollars on conservative political causes, committed fraud by using secret overseas accounts to generate more than $550 million in profit through illegal stock trades, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Thursday.

The federal judge who blocked key aspects of Arizona's new immigration law was so well regarded across the political spectrum that she was nominated to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, who tapped her on the recommendation of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), one of Congress's most conservative senators.

In a fresh blow to President Obama's jobs agenda, the Senate on Thursday shelved a plan to create a $30 billion loan fund for cash-strapped small businesses, delaying final passage of a top administration priority until September at the earliest.

The House ethics committee charged Rep. Charles B. Rangel with 13 separate violations of House rules Thursday, saying his various financial dealings broke the "public trust." The long-awaited release of the charges against Rangel at an afternoon hearing was the first formal step toward a possible ethics trial in mid-September.

So Robert Gibbs was right.

Hundreds of opponents of Arizona's new immigration law swarmed the streets of downtown Phoenix Thursday, confronting police in riot gear as the state's governor filed an urgent appeal of a judge's ruling that prevented key portions of the law from taking effect.

By the time the U.S. Postal Service announced plans to raise rates earlier this month, an unusual alliance of customers was in place to oppose it.

President Obama's message to voters this election year is simple and full of populist zeal: Democrats are on the side of the little guy, not the Wall Street brokers, celebrities and chief executives.

The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual's Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.

As President Obama and his adversaries look for winning themes in the run-up to the November congressional election, both sides are noisily clamoring to prove their support for a critical constituency: America's small-business owners.

A measure designed to ease stubbornly high rates of violent crime, including rape and sexual assault, within Indian reservations will be signed into law by President Obama on Thursday.

Congress on Wednesday changed a 25-year-old law that has subjected tens of thousands of African Americans to long prison terms for crack cocaine convictions while giving far more lenient treatment to those, mainly whites, caught with the powder form of the drug.