WORLD

President Barack Obama asked Congress on Friday for broad powers to overhaul the U.S. government and untangle what he called an outdated bureaucratic maze that makes it hard for U.S. businesses to sell their goods abroad.

The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is likely to tone down 56th birthday celebrations on Sunday because of the forthcoming assembly elections. She is expected to celebrate by cutting a cake and announcing a list of 403 candidates.

Taiwan's incumbent Nationalist president had a tiny edge on Saturday in early vote counts from an election that is being closely monitored by China and the United States as they look for stability in the region at a time of political transition.

The top credit rating of Europe's bailout fund depends on additional financial backing from Germany and the other three remaining AAA-rated Eurozone countries, Standard & Poor's said on Friday.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Saturday that France's credit downgrade puts the focus on Japan to get its own fiscal house in order. Europe's debt crisis is not just a disaster on the other shore, Noda said in a televised interview with TV Tokyo.

A suicide bomber disguised as a policeman killed at least 15 people in an attack that targeted Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims passing through a checkpoint in Iraq's southern city of Basra on Saturday, police said.

Taiwanese voted on Saturday for their next president and parliament, an election being closely monitored by China and the United States as they look for stability in the region at a time of political transition for both superpowers.

Dana LoEsch, a CNN contributor and conservative radio host, said on her show that I'd drop trou and do it too. That's me, though. I want a million cool points for these guys.

Ron Paul 2012 campaign is gaining traction in South Carolina Republican primary according to the recent polls. A week is left until the South Carolina primary and the trends indicate a tight race for the Republican nomination among the top four candidates.According to recent poll results released by the American Research Group and Rasmussen, Texas Congressman Ron Paul has got the biggest boost in numbers.

Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine Eurozone governments on Friday, an unprecedented relegation that included France and Austria but spared Germany.

Art Laffer is named in a lawsuit from a group of investors who say he lent his name to investment funds that ran a Ponzi scheme through a talk radio business.

Sorry, Stephen Colbert fans: The Colbert Report host can't run for president in his home state of South Carolina, despite polls showing him ahead of Jon Huntsman and despite his transferring control of his super PAC to Jon Stewart.

A senior executive of the Dallas-based telecommunications company wrote in a blog post that the FCC shouldn't have the power to determine which companies can purchase wireless spectrum.

President Barack Obama’s job approval rating has risen to 46 percent in January from 38 percent in the summer of 2011, but he still lacks majority support among independent voters; his support among Republicans is very low, at just 10 percent.

One-time presidential candidate and former Democratic Senator John Edwards suffers from a heart condition which led a judge on Friday to delay his trial on charges of violating campaign finances laws.

Paul’s views on Israel have been controversial to say the least.

There has always been economic disparity and there always will be.

Dutchman Joran van der Sloot was sentenced Friday to 28 years in prison for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old Peruvian Stephany Flores, a woman he met at a Lima casino.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday that the U.S. restored diplomatic relations with Myanmar as the country's new civilian government has made rapid reforms, including the release of prominent political prisoners and a cease-fire with ethnic Karen rebels.

A video appearing to show U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters promises to become an enduring memory of the Afghan war and is already drawing sharp reaction from across the world as it goes viral on the Internet.

A group that represents CEOs of major U.S. corporations, including Citigroup, defended the SEC's settlement with the financial giant that allowed the company to avoid admitting any liability or wrongdoing in a securities fraud case.

It's one thing to read it in print. It's quite different to watch it on video. A Ron Paul 2012 supporter recently uploaded a devastating video (below) that shows Mitt Romney's blatant flip-flopping in stunning action.

Tourist sites, synagogues and the Israeli embassy were possible targets for a terrorist attack in Bangkok. A Lebanese national with suspected links to Hezbollah has been arrested.

European shares fell on Friday after sources said credit rating agency Standard & Poor's was set to go through with a long-mooted downgrade of several eurozone countries, weighing on sentiment for riskier assets such as equities.

House Speaker John Boehner, hoping to spare fellow Republicans a second embarrassing defeat over payroll tax cuts, is prepared to navigate around rebellious Tea Party-aligned lawmakers to get a deal, according to congressional aides.

These days, everyone in commerce and finance circles seems to complain about the dollar, but few institutional investors want to part with them.

Fifty-seven people were killed in tribal clashes in South Sudan this week, most of them women and children. Another 53 people were wounded in the clash between Lou Nuer and Murle groups in Jonglei state, thirteen of whom needed to be airlifted to safety.

Parents are outraged over the use of scream rooms at Farm Hill Elementary School in Conn. The spaces, meant to calm special needs students, are used to discipline the young students as a class room management technique. The school has come under fire from parents who have been told about the so-called scream rooms from their unhappy children.

Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has warned the strike is costing the nation’s economy $600-million every day.