Leadership

President Obama takes the world stage this week amid an array of international challenges that have bedeviled American presidents for decades, including the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the drive of "rogue" nations toward nuclear power and uncertainty in the U.S. relationship with Russia. It's enough to make his domestic agenda, be it healthcare or the economy, look simple. But the president does not see those two arenas as distinct. As Obama steps to the podium of the United Nations for the first time Tuesday, the White House is deeply mindful of the interconnections between his international and domestic agendas -- and of the potential for his performance on the global stage to strengthen his position at home.

The Sunni Muslim paramilitary leader's campaign slogan holds the promise of imminent rescue: "Hold on, we are coming." But the aspiring parliamentary candidate, Mustafa Kamal Shibeeb, may not be in a position to deliver on his slogan: He's a fugitive, with murder charges hanging over his head from events at the height of the U.S. troop buildup two years ago. Already, police commandos have tried to grab him twice, only to be blocked by...

Hilda Samayoa did something a few weeks ago that would have been highly unusual in her South Los Angeles neighborhood not too long ago: She called police to report that a gang had set up shop in a nearby house. She did so, in part, because of growing confidence among residents that the Los Angeles Police Department will help them out. Given that distrust between the community and police has historically run deep -- and lingers today -- police are still surprised when they get a call like hers.

With the reluctant approval by its 27th and final member, the European Union put eight years of wrangling behind it Tuesday and took a conclusive step toward turning its patchwork of countries into a more unified political force. The Czech Republic's Constitutional Court unanimously rejected a complaint that a treaty to unify and streamline EU decision-making weakened Czech sovereignty. Although still skeptical, Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed the agreement hours later. The treaty, expected to take effect Dec. 1, creates the position of EU president, with a 2 1/2 -year term, in place of the six-month presidency that rotated among member countries.

In the final hours before the House approved the most sweeping healthcare legislation in 40 years, Speaker Nancy Pelosi demonstrated that she had the one indispensable quality required to produce a Democratic victory: a split personality. Pelosi is a San Francisco liberal who launched a series of fruitless efforts to cut off funding for the Iraq war after becoming speaker nearly three years ago. But long before making her home on the Left Coast, Pelosi was the attentive daughter of an old-school East Coast politician who made whatever deals it took to win. That upbringing proved crucial in the healthcare marathon.

The decision by Apple Inc. boss Steve Jobs to take a medical leave after learning that his health issues were "more complex" than originally thought renews questions about the succession plan of a company whose fate has been closely linked to its charismatic leader. On Wednesday, only a week after assuring investors that he felt fit to lead the Silicon Valley giant, Jobs wrote in an e-mail to employees that he would pass day-to-day management duties to Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, until the end of June.

Israel's political rivals Benjamin Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni met for the first time since an indecisive Feb. 10 election to talk about a future government. Netanyahu, hawkish leader of the right-wing Likud party, is trying to persuade Livni, the foreign minister, to be part of a joint government. Meanwhile, Amnesty International called today for a global arms embargo against Israel, accusing it of using white phosphorous and other weapons supplied by the United States to commit war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Madagascar's top generals handed control of this Indian Ocean island nation to the toppled president's rival hours after the president stepped down and tried to put the military in charge. In a ceremony broadcast from a military camp in the capital, Antananarivo, Vice Adm. Hippolyte Rarison Ramaroson said he and two other generals rejected a move by the ousted president, Marc Ravalomanana, to transfer power to a military directorate. Instead, the admiral said, the military was installing opposition leader Andry Rajoelina as the country's president.

A Cleveland native will soon become what is believed to be mainstream Judaism's first black female rabbi. Alysa Stanton, 45, will be ordained June 6 in Cincinnati after completing rabbinical studies there. She will become the rabbi at Congregation Bayt Shalom in Greenville, N.C., in August. Experts say her ordination is a first and could help draw more women and blacks to Jewish leadership roles.

The chairman of the state's Democratic Party, which was battered in the November elections, said he will step down. Dick Harpootlian will step aside May 3, the day his party holds the first debate among candidates for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. In November, South Carolina Democrats lost all but two statewide races, including those for governor and U.S. senator. The state is getting early attention from candidates because its Feb.