The Hill – Russell Berman President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) clashed during a White House meeting on Wednesday, with the Speaker telling the president that he was “not going to allow a debt ceiling increase without doing something serious about the debt,” Boehner’s office said. The president convened the meeting of the [...]

The Telegraph – Julian Ryall North Korea has started work to upgrade its Musudan-ri missile launch site and potentially make the facility capable of firing an intercontinental ballistic missile. Apparently undeterred by the catastrophic failure of what Pyongyang claims was a rocket putting a satellite into orbit in April from its facility at Tongchang-ri, North [...]

the Weekly Standard – Daniel Halper The Republican Senate Budget Committee will release this new chart later today, showing that the “U.S. Spends More Per Person Than Portugal, Italy, Greece, Or Spain.” According to the chart, the U.S. spends $20,000 per person, while Italy spends $16,900, Spain $13,100, Greece $12,500, and Portugal $10,200. These dollar [...]

CNSNews.com – Patrick Goodenough The Obama administration “strongly objects” to provisions in a House defense authorization bill that would prohibit the use of military property for same-sex “marriage or marriage-like” ceremonies, and protect military chaplains from negative repercussions for refusing to perform ceremonies that conflict with their beliefs, according to the Office of Management and [...]

The Telegraph – Tim Ross David Cameron has told eurozone countries they must choose whether to “make up” or “break up” in his bleakest warning so far on the debt crisis. The Prime Minister called on European leaders to agree to finance an adequate bailout fund to stop the crisis spreading to other countries or [...]

theblaze.com – Billy Hallowell Franciscan University, a Catholic institution in Steubensville, Ohio, is claiming that Obamacare has forced the school to end its student heath insurance program. The massive health care overhaul, the university says, has led to cost increases that no longer make offering the program a viable possibility. Not surprisingly, President Obama’s controversial [...]

Reuters Armed nomads clashed with residents of a Libyan town on the border with Algeria on Wednesday, officials said, underlining the insecurity that continues to plague the country one month before elections. Fighting erupted over control of a checkpoint on the edge of Ghadames on a desert route often used for smuggling, the officials told [...]

CNN - Lateef Mungin A medical report by George Zimmerman’s family doctor shows the neighborhood watch volunteer was diagnosed with a fractured nose, two black eyes and two lacerations on the back of the head after his fatal confrontation with Trayvon Martin. The medical exam, which was taken a day after Zimmerman’s February 26 altercation with [...]

BBC Greeks withdrew 700m euros ($894m; £560m) from the country’s banks in the week ending on Monday, according to the Greek president. The action comes as fears increase that the country may be forced out of the eurozone and on to a weaker currency. Greece’s president Karolos Papoulias revealed the outflows of cash in talks [...]

The Wall Street Journal – Evan Perez The Justice Department said “the core questions” have been answered in the ongoing “Fast and Furious” gun-trafficking controversy, rejecting lawmakers’ complaints that the department has failed to cooperate with a congressional probe of the matter. Deputy Attorney General James Cole on Tuesday called “unwarranted” a move by some lawmakers to [...]

BBC At least 20 people have been killed by Syrian security forces in the north-western town of Khan Sheikhoun during a visit by UN observers, activists say. Unconfirmed reports say the deaths occurred when security forces opened fire on a funeral procession in the town in Idlib province. Three of the monitors’ cars were damaged [...]

Baptist Press – Michael Foust Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney acknowledged to a crowd at Liberty University’s commencement that Mormonism and evangelicalism are different faiths, but he said people in both camps can work together on issues of “shared moral convictions.” Romney’s invitation to speak at the evangelical university was controversial in some circles, mainly [...]

CNSNews.com – Fred Lucas Lagging in two recent polls, President Barack Obama told donors at two separate fundraising events in New York that the November election will be very close. “I’m going to need all of you. This is going to be a tough race. It is going to be a tight race,” the president [...]

FoxNews.com – Chris Stirewalt It has taken months of bad news, but Democrats increasingly believe that President Obama might just lose his re-election bid. The latest wake-up call comes in the form of a New York Times/CBS poll showing Republican Mitt Romney in the lead not just among registered voters overall, but with women and [...]

The Telegraph – Andrew Trotman Spanish oil company Repsol has taken the first step in a process to pursue legal action against Argentina for seizing energy firm YPF. In a statement, Repsol said it intends to seek compensation at the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The move comes after Argentina [...]

BBC Francois Hollande has been sworn in as president of France, becoming the first Socialist leader in 17 years to occupy the Elysee Palace. He said he was aware of the challenges ahead, including the debt crisis, and vowed to “open a new path in Europe”.

BBC Greece is set to go to the polls again after days of coalition talks failed to produce agreement on a new government, says the leader of the Socialist Pasok party, Evangelos Venizelos. A final round of talks on Tuesday morning broke up without a deal.

IRNUSA News – Sean Scott Ferguson In the ongoing push by Argentine President Cristina Kirshner’s attempts to take control of the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory, an Argentinian hockey player was dropped from Argentina’s final warm up event for the Olympics, and may be dropped from the Olympics altogether. The hockey player, Fernando Zylberberg, [...]

CNN - Paul Steinhauser An announcement from Rep. Ron Paul indicates that the Republican presidential candidate will no longer actively campaign for the GOP nomination, but will continue to work to secure delegates at upcoming Republican state conventions. “Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet [...]

IRNUSA News – Sean Scott Ferguson Laboring under an income tax rate of 48 percent, Irish citizens also have to pay an additional 4 percent Social Security tax and capital gains in Ireland are 25 to 30 percent – and that’s just a sampling of how the Irish government has been trying to bridge a [...]

IRNUSA News – Sean Scott Ferguson Egypt’s presidential elections are later this month. There has been infighting and violence, but above all fear in the run up to the election of Egypt’s first post-Mubarak leader. The fear? That Egypt’s status of a moderate Arab country will turn to that of a radical Islamic state. The [...]

The Telegraph Gulf leaders gathered in Riyadh on Monday to discuss developing their six-nation council into a union, a Saudi proposal likely to start with the kingdom and unrest-hit Bahrain. But the proposed union between the regional kingpin Saudi Arabia and the fellow Sunni-ruled kingdom of Bahrain has been slammed by legislators in Shiite Iran. [...]

The Telegraph – Andrew Trotman Markets fell and bond yields rose on Monday morning prior to a meeting of eurozone finance ministers that will focus on the Greek political chaos and fears over the health of Spain’s banking sector. The FTSE 100 slid 1.8pc to 5,474.23 points, with banks and financial shares particularly hard hit. [...]

Reuters - Stephen Brown and Gareth Jones Angela Merkel is looking increasingly isolated at home and in Europe after what she called a “bitter, painful defeat” for her party in a weekend election in Germany’s most populous state. The German chancellor said the vote did not change her view that fiscal rigor was the best path for Europe, [...]

CNN The defense for John Edwards is scheduled to start Monday morning in the former presidential candidate’s corruption trial. Edwards, who faces six felony charges, is accused of conspiracy, making false statements and violating campaign contribution laws. He has pleaded not guilty. His defense team has not yet said who it might call to testify, [...]

BBC A leading human rights organisation has urged Nato to investigate fully the deaths of civilians in air strikes in Libya last year. Human Rights Watch believes Nato air strikes killed at least 72 civilians and says the organisation needs to bear responsibility where appropriate. “We’re calling for prompt, credible and thorough investigations,” HRW’s Fred [...]

BBC The moderate Democratic Left party in Greece says it will not join pro-bailout parties in a coalition without the more radical far-left Syriza. Syriza is refusing to attend coalition talks because it will not back any government which supports austerity measures demanded by the EU and IMF. The Greek president has summoned the four [...]

BBC At least 30 people – including 23 soldiers – have died in heavy overnight clashes in the central Syrian city of Rastan, according to activists. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of others were wounded in the city, in the restive Homs province. Three troop carriers were destroyed in fighting, the UK-based [...]

BBC Ceremonies in Sarajevo are marking 20 years since the start of the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, a conflict that saw the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II. The conflict began in April 1992 as part of the break-up of Yugoslavia. About 100,000 people were killed and nearly half the population forced from their [...]