Joni Lownsdale never thought her 2002 breast cancer diagnosis would land her in the middle of the Obama administration's fight with the health insurance industry.
But that's where the Rockford, Ill., woman was Friday as she stood in a White House flower garden and shared her story of being repeatedly denied health insurance because of the cancer in her past.

Although administration officials are eager to deny it, rationing health care is central to President Barack Obama’s health plan. The Obama strategy is to reduce health costs by rationing the services that we and future generations of patients will receive.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers issued a report in June explaining the Obama administration's goal of reducing projected health spending by 30% over the next two decades.

The White House says it wants community health centers that serve the poor to play a larger role in health care reform, and the administration is highlighting the efforts of a local clinic.

Space is at a premium at the Unity Health Cares Upper Cardozo clinic in Columbia Heights. The bustling, four-story facility in Northwest D.C. is packed with patients, and they're lucky.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, meeting with President Barack Obama on Monday, called for concrete results on financial regulation, climate change and trade at next month's G8 summit of world leaders.

Berlusconi, who will host the gathering in Italy, laid out his agenda for the Group of Eight, highlighting food security, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and boosting the world economy as key priorities.

A long narrow road winds through a thick forest up a hill called the "Ettesberg," on the outskirts of Weimar in central Germany.

The road goes on for miles through the forest, but every once in a while you see an old railway station, a tower, or an old structure withering in the German rain.