You would think in today's world that people would accept that simple math isn't something you debate. You would think that people would accept that 2 + 2 = 4 and then move on. But that's not how the world works. The obvious example is government spending.

The banking industry is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. The real problem happens when the tail has no regard for the welfare of the dog. We passed that point in the 1980's and only now we are seeing the effects of making that decision.

Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States

Today, Ruth Kelly announced her resignation from the cabinet. We look back on her career and ask whether a woman with such strongly-held views informed by an extreme brand of Catholicism should ever have been allowed into high office in the first place.

In the seas off the Horn of Africa, a multinational naval task force is engaged in regular firefights with pirates seeking to disrupt shipping in the Gulf of Aden. Our reporter asks if a link between the dramatic rise in piratical activity with Islamic insurgents in Somalia has led to the opening of a new front of the 'War on Terror'.

A massive bomb attack has hit the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, killing at least 40 people.

The Beijing Olympics were an enormous Public Relations success for the Chinese Government, with the success of the Games overshadowing reports of Human Rights abuses. We must not allow those who suffer at the hands of the Chinese Government to be forgotten.

Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has won a sweeping victory in Pakistan's presidential election.

Chancellor says Labour failing to communicate with voters

John McCain has picked Alaska governor Sarah Palin, a surprise choice, to be his vice-presidential running mate.

Senator Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware to be his running mate, turning to a leading authority on foreign policy and a longtime Washington hand to fill out the Democratic ticket, Mr. Obama announced in text and e-mail messages early Saturday.

Reports say up to 150 people killed when airliner swerved off runway at Barajas airport.

Ten French soldiers have been killed in an ambush by Taleban fighters east of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, facing impeachment on charges drawn up by the governing coalition, has announced that he is resigning.

Poland has signed a preliminary deal with the US on plans to host part of the controversial US defence shield.

Bill Gwatney, the chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, was shot in his office in Little Rock Wednesday morning and died a few hours later, police officials said.

Russian troops enter South Ossetia after Georgian army attacked rebels in the region.

David Miliband has sparked fresh speculation that he is about to leave his job as Foreign Secretary to challenge Gordon Brown after suddenly cancelling a four-day foreign trip, and holding what was interpreted as a 'farewell' meeting with his staff.

At least 13 people have been killed in two explosions in Istanbul, which the governor of the Turkish city has described as terror attacks.

“We have one president at a time,” Mr. Obama is careful to say. True, but the sitting president, a lame duck despised by voters and shunned by his own party’s candidates, now has all the gravitas of Mr. Cellophane in “Chicago.” The opening for a successor arrived prematurely, and the vacuum had been waiting to be filled.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Iran now possesses 6,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium - nearly twice the number of only a few months ago.

Nationalists overturn 13,500 majority in heartland. Cabinet members talk of 'orderly resignation.

When the Superdelegates decide whom they are going to support, if electability factors into their decision at all, they should consider the constituencies and who can unite those constituencies and the party.

"Pity poor Zimbabwe...." writes Byron King, referring to a story in the Times of London.

Campaigns run on money. Staff has to be paid, venues rented, ads bought, transportation gassed and ticketed. Most candidates for their party’s nomination don’t drop out as a direct consequence of losing one too many contests, they drop out because after they start losing, their campaign contributions drop off and they run out of money.

Before the debate was halfway complete, the blogosphere was erupting in outrage at the lack of questions about substantive issues.

Why do poor and lower middle class people keep voting for the party of the rich? Why don't they vote in their own best economic interests? It turns out that these questions have already been debated by some of the greatest minds in history. The French revolution of 1848 provided some answers.

Read between the lines of Hillary Clinton and her surrogates criticizing Barack Obama and his ‘bitter’ statement and that is one of the places her logic takes you. Hillary seems to be saying that Americans aren’t bitter because they have no reason to be.

John McCain will celebrate his 72nd birthday on August 29th, 2008, but several actuarial and medical data points suggest that he may be biologically in his eighties. At what point should McCain's frequent mental gaffes be considered symptoms of a physical and cognitive decline rendering him unfit for the pressures and responsibilities of the U.S. Presidency?

President George W. Bush did not get his will during the NATO summit in Bucurest. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has confirmed it will not yet offer membership to Georgia or Ukraine after the 26-member alliance was split amid strong objections from Russia.