Reuters - Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to a series of direct talks on Thursday, seeking to forge the framework for a U.S.-backed peace deal within a year and end a conflict that has boiled for six decades.

Time.com - Nine weeks before the midterm elections, Barack Obama finds himself on the wrong side of the polls. Where did all that adoration go -- and is a Republican sweep next?

A Wyoming man has given more than $1.5 million to help defend Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement measure in court, Gov. Jan Brewer's office said Thursday.

Louisiana Democrats are seizing on Sen. David Vitter's role in a 2007 prostitution scandal for a new campaign attack ad that seeks to cut into the Louisiana Republican's commanding lead over his election opponents.

New employment figures released Friday renewed Republicans' call for President Obama to replace his economic team and "change course," as the president sought to put the best face on what many say is just more evidence of an economy stuck in neutral. 

As the last of 30,000 U.S. reinforcements arrive in Afghanistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday got a firsthand look at operations in the dangerous south.

Republican Jesse Kelly was still basking in the glow of his victory in an Arizona congressional primary when the Democratic congresswoman he's trying to unseat released a scathing TV ad branding him "a risk" who would gamble away people's retirement savings.