Bibi was coming again, and the White House was determined: this visit would not play out like the last one. On Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's previous trip to Washington, Obama had proposed that Israel and the Palestinians negotiate a peace deal based on the armistice lines drawn after Israel’s birth. Netanyahu reacted badly, lecturing the president publicly that “we can’t go back to those indefensible lines.”

The CIA is expected to maintain a large clandestine presence in Iraq and Afghanistan long after the departure of conventional U.S. troops as part of a plan by the Obama administration to rely on a combination of spies and Special Operations forces to protect U.S. interests in the two longtime war zones, U.S. officials said.

In an exclusive interview with TIME's Fareed Zakaria, President Obama opens up on Iran, Afghanistan, China and the challenges the U.S. faces in navigating a rapidly changing world. A full transcript of their conversation follows

A Conversation with Janet Napolitano

Friday afternoon is a traditional time to bury bad news, so at 12:49 p.m. on Oct. 21 President Obama strode into the White House briefing room to "report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year—after nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over." He acted as though this represented a triumph, but it was really a defeat. The U.S. had tried to extend the presence of our troops past Dec. 31. Why did we fail?

Federal regulators launched a broad legal assault on big banks Friday, claiming they sold nearly $200 billion in fraudulent mortgage investments to housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that led to massive losses during the financial crisis.

In the early 20th century, Venezuelan dictator Cipriano Castro liked to borrow money from foreign investors. But he didn’t like paying them back. Big mistake. In December 1902, Britain, Italy and Germany demanded repayment. To make the point clear, warships from all three nations shelled several Venezuelan forts and blockaded the country’s ports. Caracas paid up.

Michelle Obama refuses to be a political show pony or schmooze with Washington's elite. She has her own sense of where her energies should be deployed and has constructed a fruitful life inside the bubble. All that will have to change in the heat of Election 2012.

It was right to remove this enemy. But it would be wrong to think that his demise has weakened the jihadists

President Barack Obama's speech today at George Washington University put his marker down in the debate on what the United States needs to do to put its fiscal house in order. His plan has no chance of passing as is, and the president said as much. But it does mean that the long-awaited "adult conversation" about government red ink has begun.