By MARTIN SIEFF
UPI Senior News Analyst
WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- Global oil prices spiked at nearly $127 a barrel this week, and Republicans and Democrats alike in Congress don't have the faintest idea what to do about it.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) -- John Edwards' endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama won't help the Democrats' front-runner with the white working class, but it marks a major step in the coalescing of the party's establishment elite around Obama, further isolating Hillary Clinton.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- The tragic earthquake Monday in the Beichuan county of Sichuan province in southwest China will cast its shadow over the coming Olympic Games in Beijing.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton's landslide victory over Sen. Barack Obama in the West Virginia primary Tuesday brings her no closer to winning the Democratic presidential nomination, but it is still a major blow for Obama.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- U.S. President Bush lands in Israel Wednesday at the start of his latest Middle East trip as a lame-duck eagle.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- Hezbollah, the Shiite Party of God, gave Israel a 60th birthday present it didn't bargain for by taking over West Beirut Friday.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- Sen. Barack Obama knocked Sen. Hillary Clinton on to the ropes by his showings in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- Vladimir Putin's first actions as prime minister of Russia were typical of the man, emphasizing the qualities with which he has transformed his nation's standing over the past eight years as its president.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- The cyclone tragedy that has devastated the South Asian nation of Myanmar, formerly Burma, has taken at least 22,000 lives -- a figure that looks certain to climb further as relief operations discover more victims. And it once again teaches the sobering lesson that the wrath of Nature can dwarf the worst excesses of Man.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama face their high-noon showdown on Tuesday in Indiana and North Carolina: The results of those two primary elections could prove the decisive turning point of the long race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- Sens. John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are now arguing over how to cut record oil prices, but none of them has any credible answers.

By MARTIN SIEFF
WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- All of Tsar's Nicholas II's children died with him 90 years ago: Now it's official.