A U.S. Marine in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)
Thousands More U.S. Troops to Afghanistan
The U.S. commander there calls for a further buildup to counter the Taliban.
RELIGION
Saddleback Valley Community Church Pastor Rick Warren speaks at the third annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church, in Lake Forest, California. (David McNew/Getty Images)
"Values" in the Political Spotlight
Obama and McCain will engage with the Rev. Rick Warren on matters of personal faith and public policy.
TERRORISM
Freed Lebanese prisoner Samir Kantar (C) hugs his nephews at the family home while celebrating his release from an Israeli jail in his mountain village of Aabay, outside of Beirut, Lebanon. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Hezbollah's Strong Grip in Lebanon
Winning Israel's release of a notorious killer gives the militant group a key success.
OIL
An offshore oil drilling platform located in the Gulf of Mexico, some 90 miles due south of Mobile, Alabama. (Jim Lo Scalzo for USN&WR
What Happens If Congress Lifts Drilling Ban?
The issue moves to individual states, with no guarantee that more oil would flow.
GAS PRICES
The sign listing gasoline prices at the Shell Station on RIver Road in Bethesda. (Jeffrey MacMillan for USN&WR)
Gas Prices May Revive Cities
Urban planners finally see a way to curb sprawl.
FOOD PRICES
The price label of a grass fed black angus steak is photographed at the Grazin' Angus Acres farm stand at the Union Square Farmers Market Friday, June 13, 2008 in New York. The Labor Department reported Friday that consumer prices rose by 0.6 percent last month, the biggest one-month increase since last November, as gasoline costs surged by 5.7 percent. Food prices, which have also been rising sharply, were up 0.3 percent as the cost of beef and bakery products showed big gains. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
Tough Times for the Beef Industry
Beef prices are likely to increase as rising food and fuel prices threaten many cattle ranches.
AGRICULTURE
Indian farmers harvest wheat in a field near the village of Bathinda, some 100kms south east of Amritsar. (Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images)
Toxic Effects of Green Revolution
Indian farmers find that benefits of chemicals may come at a high cost.
ENVIRONMENT
Paul Ehrlich (James D. Wilson/Getty Images)
'We Are Running Out of Environment'
Expert says our planet's ills are interlinked.
GLOBAL WARMING
Thomas Fingar, head of the National Intelligence Council. (Jeffrey MacMillan for USN&WR)
Study Assesses Climate Change
Intelligence agencies look at the national security implications of global warming.
GAY RIGHTS
Phyllis Lyon, left, and her partner Del Martin, right, sit for a photograph at their home in San Francisco,. Martin, 87, and Lyon, 84, longtime lesbian activists who have been together for more than five decades, have become symbols for the movement to grant same-sex couples the right to marry. The pair also were plaintiffs in the California Supreme Court case that led to the legalization of gay marriage. Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to officiate at the couple's wedding at City Hall on June 16, the day when gay marriage becomes legal in California. (Eric Risberg/AP)
McCain Supports Gay Marriage Ban
The GOP candidate speaks out against same-sex unions in California.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Indonesian demonstrators hold anti US and anti Israel banners during a protest in Jakarta 10 June 2007, against 40 years of Israel's military offensive in Palestine territories. Thousands of Indonesian Muslims shouted anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans and waved Palestinian flags. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)
The Next President
and National Security
Both candidates would face perilous threats on Day 1.
GUANTANAMO BAY
A guard stands at a gate at the Camp Delta detention compound, which has housed foreign prisoners since 2002, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, June 6, 2008. (Brennan Linsley/AP)
Supreme Court Ruling on Guantánamo Bay a Rebuke to Bush
The decision will mean a flood of new cases.
OBAMA IN HAWAII
This 1979 file photo provided by the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., shows the presidential hopeful, Obama, in 1979 during his high school graduation in Hawaii with his maternal grandparents, Stanley Armour Dunham and his wife Madelyn Payne, both natives of Kansas. Growing up as a young man of mixed race, Obama benefited from the spirit of tolerance that defined Hawaii's racial climate. His childhood in the country's idealized melting pot was far from painless, though. (Obama Presidential Campaign/AP)
Obama's Hawaiian Roots Shape His Beliefs
Growing up with the "Aloha Spirit" helped make him the candidate he is today.
