AP - Preparing for a possible bird flu pandemic. Boosting global free-trade talks and tackling sticky trade issues with China. Promoting democracy. Keeping U.S. partners on track in ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons programs. President Bush embarks Monday on an eight-day Asian trip with a full plate.

AP - In rural states, older residents often have a hard time finding care for mental health problems. Wyoming, for instance, has 200 square miles for every Medicare provider eligible to treat mental illness.

AFP - United Nations officials have warned that widespread rain in Pakistan's quake zone could be disastrous for their struggle to contain an outbreak of acute diarrhoea in squalid tent camps.

AP - Sen. John McCain said Sunday that America's image abroad could be ruined if Congress doesn't ban the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody.

USATODAY.com - Republican leaders return to the Capitol this week determined to cut both taxes and spending, a combination that is fraying party unity as the GOP prepares for next year's elections.

AP - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Jerusalem's Western Wall on Monday, and slipped a personal note between the stones, before heading to a memorial service for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

AP - A week after the 2005 elections, a new statewide poll showed Democrats in strong shape headed into the 2006 elections.

AP - The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider reinstating rules that keep newspapers and magazines out of the hands of disruptive Pennsylvania inmates, a case that court nominee Samuel Alito dealt with.

AP - Dismissing a qualified offer by Syrian President Bashar Assad to cooperate with a U.N. investigation of the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, the State Department on Thursday ruled out setting conditions for the probe.

AP - The top budget analyst for Congress, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, has announced he will be leaving his post as director of the Congressional Budget Office by year's end.

AFP - The United States will press ahead with a military trial of accused "Australian Taliban" David Hicks this week despite a Supreme Court review of the legality of the trials, a spokesman said.

Reuters - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Monday there was progress on comprehensive pension legislation and it could reach the chamber's floor by next week.

AP - On your mark, get set ... stop.

AFP - India's cabinet has approved the appointment of an inquiry to examine allegations that former foreign minister Natwar Singh benefited from the United Nations oil-for-food program for Iraq.

AP - Federal health officials didn't follow normal procedures in rejecting over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill — and some documents suggest the decision was made even before scientists finished reviewing the evidence, congressional investigators reported Monday.

AP - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Jerusalem's Western Wall on Monday, slipping a note between the stones before heading to a memorial service for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

AP - The nation's drug czar launched an ad campaign Monday encouraging communities across the country to help in the fight against methamphetamine.

Reuters - The Hague war crimes tribunal turned up the heat on Serbia on Friday, telling it to deliver top fugitive Ratko Mladic by the end of this year or face "excommunication," Defense Minister Zoran Stankovic said.

AP - Top federal health officials may have rejected easier access to the morning-after pill before reviewing all the scientific evidence, according to an independent audit Monday that renewed charges that politics trumped science.

AP - The prosecutor in the CIA leak case has sparked another fight with the news media, this time over access to material prosecutors will turn over to defense lawyers for I. Lewis Libby.

AP - In rural states, older residents often have a hard time finding care for mental health problems. Wyoming, for instance, has 200 square miles for every Medicare provider eligible to treat mental illness.

AP - Leaders of a North Carolina county can keep 'In God We Trust' on their government building, after challengers lost a Supreme Court appeal on Monday.

AP - An attorney for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay said Monday that he will request an early December trial date for the former House majority leader, if the case gets that far.

AP - Crime and poverty are down. Employment is up. The Miami skyline bristles with construction cranes. City bonds once classified as junk are now highly rated. Police shootings are way down.

AP - A bipartisan group of senators reached a compromise Monday that would allow detainees at Guantanamo Bay to appeal the rulings of military tribunals to the federal courts.

AP - The Supreme Court refused Monday to review Florida's lifetime ban on voting rights for convicted felons, a case that would have had national implications for millions of would-be voters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key lawmaker launched a bill on Monday to extend a program of government guarantees for losses from terrorist attacks, while Republican sources said leading senators may have struck a separate deal on an extension.

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - A senior aide to President George W. Bush on Monday played down expectations of a major breakthrough on the huge U.S. trade deficit with China.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Monday gave final congressional approval to a $30.5 billion bill that provides more funds for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to look at ways to better protect the Gulf Coast from hurricanes and to expand nuclear weapons programs.

AP - The former U.S. attorney for southern West Virginia said Monday that he never contributed secretly to a political campaign, insisting he did not follow through on an offer to help another prosecutor win election.

AP - Money for veterans health care would get a big boost, but federal aid for education would be frozen under bills emerging from House-Senate negotiations.