BARACK OBAMA

The U.S. downgrade drama heated up Monday, as stock markets domestically and abroad plunged. The end of the story hasn't been told, yet. But how it ends lies in the hand of the leading character -- U.S. President Barack Obama.

The U.S. budget deficit was $1 trillion before he took the oath of office, he inherited a nation in deep recession, with a banking crisis, two wars, and now there's a credit downgrade stemming from decades of debt incurred before he was on the scene, but make no mistake about it, President Barack Obama has to create a lot of jobs for his presidency to succeed.

After considering a resignation once a debt deal was reached, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner confirmed on Sunday that he will remain at his post at President Barack Obama's request, making him Obama's longest-serving economic adviser after the first-ever U.S. credit downgrade.

The U.S. credit rating downgrade could have easily been avoided, but political power struggles in Washington got in the way. Now, markets are reeling and damage has been done. But it's not too late to fix the problem, so that Moody's and other ratings agencies keep the U.S. with a AAA rating.

With every gloomy economic report, debt crisis and mood swing on Wall Street, President Barack Obama's fight for re-election in 2012 gets a little tougher.

Several state and local education officials are rebelling against the No Child Left Behind Law, and demanding reforms from student testing mandates, but Congress is yet to take a stand.

All the three rating agencies -- Moody's, Fitch and S&P - have warned the current Administration that if things weren't done to curtail the tide of out-of-control spending and poor fiscal and monetary policies they would be forced to review the credit rating of the U.S. for possible downgrade.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who had considered stepping down after the government borrowing limit was raised, confirmed on Sunday that he will remain at his post at President Barack Obama's request.

A downgrade of United States' top-tier credit rating has Wall Street scrambling to figure out the knock-on effects for the financial system, from mortgages to banks to markets that rely on U.S. Treasuries for collateral.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will remain in the position at President Barack Obama's request. Geithner considered stepping down after the government borrowing limit was raised.

NATO tried to determine on Sunday if Taliban insurgents had shot down a troop-carrying helicopter in Afghanistan, killing 38 in the largest loss of life suffered by foreign forces in a single incident in 10 years of war.

It wasn't long after Standard & Poor's lowered the United States' credit rating from AAA to AA+, for the blame game to begin.

The massive importation of African slaves to the New World, and subsequent social interactions over five centuries has raised questions about who is really ?black.?

The Tea Party arrived in Washington after mid-term elections with talk of change in Washington. So far, Tea Party leaders have only been a distraction. To create change in Washington, they need to bring forth a plan and build consensus.

The U.S. Navy SEALs and other troops whose helicopter was shot down by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan Saturday had rushed to the mountainous area to help a U.S. Army Ranger unit that was under fire from insurgents, two U.S. officials said Sunday.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has not yet officially announced his candidacy for president. But on Saturday in Houston, at a prayer event he organized, Perry made it clear he's already in the race to become America's next president.

They bonded over golf, bickered over debt, and now President Barack Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner face even more tests of an uneasy relationship critical to a functioning government.

On Hiroshima Bombing anniversary, televangelist Joel Osteen's concert in Houston on Saturday brought together as usual millions of people around the world to watch his music concert which went off live with Texas Governor Rick Perry scripture from the Book of Joel and Book of Isaiah

A top White House economic adviser slammed Standard & Poor's on Saturday for having stuck with its decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating despite having made a $2 trillion mistake in its fiscal projections.

China bluntly criticised the United States on Saturday one day after the superpower's credit rating was downgraded, saying the "good old days" of borrowing were over.

More than 20 SEAL Team 6 members perished in a helicopter crash when Taliban insurgents shot down a NATO Chinook troop transport, possibly with a rocket-propelled grenade over eastern Afghanistan on Saturday.