” Hundreds of construction workers raised a rallying cry of “Build it now!” on Tuesday, gathering with elected officials at the World Trade Center site to urge a quick rebuilding of the complex.

AP – Legislation blending help for the jobless with popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals is slated to pass the Senate Wednesday over protests from conservatives who say it adds too much to the $12.5 trillion national debt.

AP – Legislation extending unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless faces a key test vote in the Senate, its momentum helped by about 60 popular tax breaks for individuals and businesses that expired at the end of last year.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Afghanistan early Monday as coalition forces continue to restore order in the town of Marjah, the first major test of the U.S. and NATO counterinsurgency strategy since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 new American troops to blunt the Taliban’s momentum.

Billed as a key test of Iraq’s nascent democracy, Iraqis fear Sunday’s parliamentary election will lead to a protracted period of uncertainty as the winners and losers try to cobble together a new government — even as American forces prepare to go home.

AFP – US casinos have run into a string of bad luck as the recession and other factors cut into gambling revenues, even as more states move to get a piece of the action.

Turkey was warning of a breakdown in cooperation with the United States after a U.S. congressional committee approved a resolution Thursday that classified the World War I-era killing of Armenians a genocide.

AP – The gunman who shot two Pentagon police officers was heavily armed and spent weeks driving to the Capital area from the West Coast, authorities said Friday. Resentment of the U.S. government and suspicions over the 9/11 attacks have surfaced in writings by the Californian identified as the man fatally wounded in a hail of return fire.