Direct Middle East peace talks got under way today in Washington.

When you hear about public employees who retire before 60 on full salaries, it's hard to work up sympathy for unions defending those pensions before state budget cutters. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka disagrees. What about CEO salaries, he asks?

Drug lords like La Barbie threaten Mexico's security with American-bought firearms, and finance their violent empires with American drug money.

A university seminar involving Palestinian, Israeli, and American students showed us that even passionate disagreement can be surmounted with a universal language of democratic moderation and mutuality.

The path of hurricane Earl up the East Coast may bring fear and panic instead of calm preparation. Coastal residents can adopt an attitude that can meet nature's challenges.

The Islamic holy month of Ramadan is a time for restraint and religious devotion, marked by fasting and charity. But in Egypt, Muslims consume three times their regular amount of food, work less, and watch more TV.

From Don Imus to Helen Thomas, public figures continue to cave to society’s often-irrational demands for contrition and remorse. Instead, they should stand by their words.

President Sarkozy of France is being criticized and praised for deporting Roma. He says they are in the country illegally and are committing crimes. The drama shares similarities with the US illegal immigration debate, but not on all levels.

The minister of defense in Germany proposes ending the draft, a cold-war legacy but also an antidote to its past. The time for such a change seems right. But will it create a better Army, or just save the federal government some euros?

August 31 was the deadline for the end of US combat operations in Iraq.

I'm a former Republican from the South who enthusiastically campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008. Now I have serious questions.

The tough economic sanctions set by President Obama against North Korea and its elite are a risky move, but they are set amid a new US strategy to stand up to China and its expanding influence in Asia.

Standards-based school reform didn't come out of nowhere. It's rooted in the relentless system of grading that we all went through in school.

France's Bernard Kouchner, Japan's Katsuya Okada, and Belgium's Charles Michel discuss innovative financing to fund development projects that will help lift up the world's poorest people.

A scientific panel requested by the UN delivers a blow to the credibility of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The advice: remove conflicts of interest and review the data on global warming better.

This week, Obama addresses the nation on Iraq and Afghanistan and restarts direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians. His challenge is to show enough progress to inspire support on these long-term commitments, from the American public and the players themselves.

Israel's and Iran's go-it-alone ways are rooted in similar histories of being bullied.

John Boehner accused tea party anarchists of promoting violence. But the truth is that anarchists promote peaceful choices, individual freedom, and opposition to institutionalized aggression.

Readers write in about going off the grid and the surge of returning US soldiers.

Readers write in about foreign aid, the electoral college, and freedom in America

Readers write in about Syria and comedy during tough times.

Arizona can arrest illegal immigrants now, but then what? Prison and deportation are both too expensive to sustain.

Glenn Beck is hosting a 'Restoring Honor' rally in Washington this weekend.