Hair salon owner Barry Fletcher sent Michelle Obama a 17-minute DVD about himself. Hairdresser Keith Harley uploaded his resume to President-elect Barack Obama's Web site. And salon owner Nicole Cober-Blake plans to get her name in by sending a welcome

It's something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where's the money going? But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they can't track exactly how they're spending the money

Wall Street began a holiday-shortened week on a cautious note Monday, with stocks fluctuating in light trading as investors reacted to a bleak outlook from Toyota Motor Corp. and disappointing earnings from drugstore operator Walgreen Co.

Investigators returned to the charred wreckage of a Continental Airlines jet Monday in search of clues about why the plane veered off a runway in Denver and skidded into a shallow ravine.

Hammered by waning global demand and a surging yen, Toyota slashed its earnings forecast again Monday and now expects it will barely break even for the year through March with a net profit of just 50 billion yen ($555 million).

Less than a month to go until this disgrace of a vice president is removed from office. By the way, a message to Bill Kristol: "justice" is the last thing the world Cheney wants to see -- unless he wants

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE... The Wizard Behind the Orange Curtain Kossack ct (aka Jeremy Bingham) lives in Olympia, Washington with his wife and daughter. He handles the technical side of Daily Kos, which means he is the one

Monday! Time to go back to work. Paul Krugman: Whatever the new administration does, we're in for months, perhaps even a year, of economic hell. After that, things should get better, as President Obama's stimulus plan - O.K., I'm told

A cure for Alzheimer's should be as high a priority as a cure for cancer.

Without a doubt, the prime minister lost control of the situation..."

Calls for an investigation into President Viktor Yushchenko's inner circle

About the Kyiv Council's moratorium

The conversation scheduled for Monday

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Romanov) Vitaly Churkin, Russia's Permanent Representative (Ambassador) to the United Nations, said the Russian delegation had thwarted Ukraine's attempts to persuade the UN General Assembly to examine and approve a resolution on recognizing Holodomor,

A senior Met Police officer issues an unreserved apology over his claims the Conservative Party mobilised the press against him.

The legislative committee considering impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich could be at the beginning of its work or nearing the end, depending on the wishes of federal prosecutors.

The longest-serving openly gay member of Congress said Sunday it was a mistake for President-elect Barack Obama to invite the Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.

It appears that the five men accused of plotting an attack on the Army's Fort Dix will soon learn their fate. U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler says jurors have told him they expect to reach a verdict sometime on Monday.

Heavily bundled Midwesterners were shuffling quickly from place toplace in a bid to spend as little time as possible outside inbone-chilling, subzero cold that was expected to last through Mondaymorning. "It's so cold, it feels like needles are pricking my

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, 22 December, 1902