Cease-fire urged as Gaza explodes

Diplomats scrambled Monday to cobble together a cease-fire in the 6-day-old conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, as both sides continued to pound each other with deadly airstrikes and rockets.

Marines fight for recognition of fallen comrade's courage

U.S. combat troops are gone from Iraq, but for some of the Marines who lived through it, there's one more fight to win: making sure one of the fallen, Sgt. Rafael Peralta, is awarded the Medal of Honor.

Hungry retailers crash Thanksgiving dinner with 'Gray Thursday'

Jeanne Maddox-Columna says she is not about to let some greedy retailers step on her "Waltons moment" this Thanksgiving.

Keystone decision will define Obama's record on climate change

President Obama's looming decision whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, environmentalists argue, will define his legacy on climate change.

Obama sends Clinton to Mideast amid Gaza crisis

President Barack Obama dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East on Tuesday as the U.S. urgently seeks to contain the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.

TVA's top executive gets 10 times Obama's pay

The Tennessee Valley Authority is owned by the federal government and provides electricity to millions of customers in seven states, including Virginia, but the salaries it pays its executives aren't anything like what most federal workers can imagine.

A last-minute reprieve for Twinkies?

Hostess, the maker of popular food brands such as Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho Ho's and Wonder Bread, agreed Monday to last-minute mediation talks in the labor dispute that has driven the Irving, Texas-based company to the brink of shutdown.

Maryland bound for Big Ten

The Maryland athletic department's financial woes have grown greater and graver in the past two decades.

Obama presses Cambodian rights

President Obama made history twice Monday by becoming the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in Myanmar and Cambodia, two Southeast Asian countries known for their legacy of human rights abuses and government oppression, one showing signs of the progress and the other still a troubling concern.

Hard-core libertarian strives to banish Democrats from his life

Eric Dondero refuses to speak to his brother. Not on Thanksgiving. Not over the holiday season. Not now, not ever. The reason? Mr. Dondero's brother, Alex, is a Democrat.

Inside the Beltway: Shalom, America

"In the Middle East, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?" asks a CNN survey released Monday. The simple question has multiple answers. Overall, 59 percent of Americans side with the Israelis, 13 precent with the Palestinians. Three percent sympathize with both, 11 percent with neither, and 13 percent have no opinion.

Task force advises additional HIV tests

All Americans aged 15 to 65 should be screened for HIV at least once, even if they don't appear to be at risk for the disease, an independent advisory panel said in draft recommendations released Monday.

Israel faces attack on cyber front as artillery, air fight with Gaza continues

As Israeli artillery and aircraft relentlessly pound Gaza, Palestinians and their supporters are trying to strike back — in cyberspace, by launching Internet attacks on Israeli websites.

Steady U.S. housing recovery is boosting economy

From purchases and prices to builder sentiment and construction, the U.S. housing market is making consistent gains.

Syrian Islamist groups reject opposition coalition

A group of extremist Islamist factions in Syria has rejected the country's new opposition coalition, saying in a video statement they have formed an "Islamic state" in the embattled city of Aleppo to underline that they want nothing to do with the Western-backed bloc.

Congo rebels, army clash at Goma's edge

Rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda resumed mortar and machine gun fire on Monday at a village just 3 kilometers (2 miles) outside of the crucial, provincial capital of Goma, hours after saying they were halting fighting in order to negotiate with the government of Congo.

Commentary

CARDENAS: Republicans too white, male, old

Republicans did not win in 2012 because we are too white, too male and too old. Some still don't want to face the truth that we lost because the fastest-growing sectors of our population are entrenched in the Democratic Party.

GAFFNEY: Middle East melting down into 'Obamawar'

While debating Mitt Romney this fall, President Obama declared that he had decided to embrace the term "Obamacare" -- a name originally coined and used by its detractors to tie the president firmly to the health care fiasco he had spawned.

DEACE: Obamacare entitlement has seduced the young

Taxpayer-funded abortion. Dozens of poison-pill taxes. The precedent that the federal government can order you to buy something you don't want. If you think any of these points are why the implementation of Obamacare is such a threat to freedom and liberty, think again.

EDITORIAL: Invading Gaza

Hamas is daring Israel to launch a ground invasion of the Gaza strip. Israel may well take them up on it.

MILLER: Butchering the Constitution

Our Constitution is in a sorry state these days. The nation's founding document has been weakened by President Obama's ongoing expansion of power and further diminished by his Democratic allies on Capitol Hill who don't even bother to cite the highest law in the land properly.