more images

Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty won’t seek 3rd term; possible presidential candidate in 2012

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty erased one doubt about his political future while blowing open another, passing Tuesday on a third-term bid while declining to say if he’ll set his sights on the White House. Pawlenty dismissed talk of a 2012 Republican presidential campaign as premature, saying he would focus on the next 19 months to finish his term strong.

Department of Justice rejects Georgia’s citizenship checks for those registering to vote

ATLANTA — The Justice Department has rejected Georgia’s system of using Social Security numbers and driver’s license data to check whether prospective voters are citizens, a process that was a subject of a federal lawsuit in the weeks leading up to November’s election.

Secretary of State Clinton visits Beirut ahead of critical election; meets with president

BEIRUT — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met Sunday with Lebanon’s president on a stop in Beirut ahead of a critical election that could see a pro-U.S. government ousted by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies.

Secretary of State Clinton flies into Beirut on unannounced visit ahead of key election

BEIRUT — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met Sunday with Lebanon’s president on a stop in Beirut ahead of a critical election that could see a pro-U.S. government ousted by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies.

Texas case to be heard by justices Wednesday tests election provision of voting rights law

AUSTIN, Texas — The community of Canyon Creek was ranchland rich with limestone and cedar trees when Jim Crow held sway in the South. The first house wasn’t built until the late 1980s and not even a hint of discrimination attaches to this little slice in suburbia.

Texas case to be heard by justices Wednesday tests election provision of voting rights law

AUSTIN, Texas — The community of Canyon Creek was ranchland rich with limestone and cedar trees when Jim Crow held sway in the South. The first house wasn’t built until the late 1980s and not even a hint of discrimination attaches to this little slice in suburbia.

Land mine blast kills 4 police, 1 polling official during India’s elections

PATNA, India — Suspected communist rebels blew up a jeep carrying polling officials in eastern India, killing five people as part of a wave of violence that has marred India’s elections, officials said Friday.

Land mine blast kills 5 polling officials during 2nd phase of India’s elections, police say

PATNA, India — Suspected communist rebels blew up a jeep carrying polling officials in eastern India, killing five people in violence that marred voting in India’s parliamentary elections, police said Friday.

Obama talks up wind power, green jobs in Iowa, state that launched him toward White House

NEWTON, Iowa — Marking Earth Day with a pitch for his energy plan, President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for a “new era of energy exploration in America” and argued that his proposal would help the economy and the environment at once.

In Obama’s first trip back to Iowa since election, signs he’s looking ahead to 2012

DES MOINES, Iowa — President Barack Obama’s trip to the state that launched him toward the White House is being billed as a return visit. But in fact he never really left.