Issue of the Day

WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) -- The FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agencies have foiled a would-be terror plot to blow up synagogues and shoot down U.S. military aircraft. The case was striking not only because of the efficiency of the FBI but also because the alleged plotters -- three Americans and one Haitian -- were jailhouse converts to Islam, the New York Daily News reported.

WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama told Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the White House this week he was giving Iran till the end of the year to comply with U.S. diplomatic efforts to get it to cease its nuclear weapons program. But he may not have that much time.

WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama has announced his long-projected new guidelines to cut fuel costs and increase U.S. auto efficiency. But his program looks certain to dramatically boost the costs of purchasing new cars for American consumers, putting a heavy new burden on the Detroit automakers who are already struggling to survive or staring bankruptcy in the face.

WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- When the prime minister of Israel visits the president of the United States on Monday, Binyamin Netanyahu will say "Iran," and Barack Obama will say "Palestine." The two men look set on a collision course on both those issues.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) -- U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has dug herself into a deep pit in her escalating row with the CIA -- and she is dragging a reluctant President Barack Obama into the hole with her.

WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered a U-turn on releasing the photos of abused suspects in the global war on terror.

WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- The monster of the U.S. economic crisis is now devouring Social Security and Medicare. As the economic recession continues to worsen, it is reducing revenues far below previous projections. As a result, U.S. officials warned Tuesday that Social Security will run out of funds in 2037, four years earlier than last year's estimate, and Medicare will be insolvent in 2017, two years earlier than last year's estimate and a scant eight years away.

WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- The tragedy at Camp Liberty, near Baghdad, where an American soldier shot and killed five U.S. personnel and wounded three others, has been at least six years in the making.

WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI wants to make his eight-day visit to Jordan and Israel a powerful symbol of his determination to reduce hatred in the world and build better ties between the Roman Catholic Church he heads and the other great monotheistic religions of Islam and Judaism. But the times are against him.

WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- The Drew Peterson case continues to read like a black-comedy version of "The Silence of the Lambs" done by "Monty Python's Flying Circus," with the Keystone Cops standing in for the FBI.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- The new U.S. government spending cuts are being unveiled.

WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- Two countries, one war. U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden held a series of meetings Wednesday in Washington with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama met with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday, the day after Peres spoke to the annual policy conference of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- The global swine flu threat is receding, but it could return in a far more deadly form in the fall.

WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's 100th-day-in-office weeklong celebration continued Friday with the news that Supreme Court Justice David Souter plans to step down after 19 years.