WASHINGTON — Republican senators confronted Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday over his decision to try the Sept. 11 terrorism suspects in civilian court.

President Barack Obama, meanwhile, expressed certainty that they'll be found guilty and executed.

Holder didn't go as far as Obama did in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, though the nation's top prosecutor said he was confident that justice would be delivered to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other accused plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. » read more

WASHINGTON — Citing a wide belief that "Wall Street does not play by the same rules as Main Street," Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday the creation of a sweeping state-federal task force to uncover crimes contributing to the recent financial crisis or threatening to cause one in the future.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order directing Holder to lead the new Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, a broader version of a corporate fraud task force launched in the Bush administration.

The new initiative aims for more than two dozen federal agencies to coordinate efforts with state attorneys general and county district attorneys. So far, however, the task force's federal agencies will have little additional manpower. » read more

WASHINGTON — China's rebuff this week of President Barack Obama's call to stop controlling the price of its currency sparked renewed calls for legislation to allow U.S. retaliation against Chinese-made goods.

During Obama's bridge-building trip this week to Shanghai and Beijing, Chinese and American leaders diplomatically disagreed over China's policy of fixing the value of its currency against the dollar. The practice results in low prices for Chinese-made exports, and U.S. critics say it penalizes U.S. exports and feeds America's giant trade deficit.

President Hu Jintao made no reference to the dispute Tuesday in a joint appearance with Obama. Obama simply reminded China of its repeated promises to loosen government control of China's currency value so that market dynamics gradually would push it higher. » read more

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao agreed Tuesday that U.S. and Chinese scientists and engineers will work together to speed the widespread use of electric cars, buildings that need far less energy and coal-fired power plants that don't pump out gases that cause global warming.

The collaboration will be a two-way street, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a phone interview from Beijing, where he was accompanying Obama. The U.S. stands to gain not only from an expanded market for exports and more jobs at home, but also from demonstration projects in China that serve as large experiments for working out problems in new technology, Chu said.

The work will be anchored through a new U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center. The $150 million funding over five years will be shared equally between the countries. "That's more than talking," Chu said. » read more