AP - As several House committees prepared to delve into the scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, outraged lawmakers vowed quick action and called for an independent commission to examine poor conditions for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Reuters - Eliot Cohen, a supporter of the U.S. decision to invade Iraq but a critic of the post-war occupation, will become a top aide to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the State Department said on Friday.

AP - He was a leading advocate of environmental reforms and a vocal opponent of the war in Vietnam. Still, former three-term Sen. Thomas Eagleton had no illusions about how he would be best-remembered.

AFP - Red billboards marked "R" have recently cropped up in Kosovo, as a sign of widespread support for former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj ahead of his UN war crimes trial on Monday.

AP - The flagship U.S. hospital for injured soldiers is in need of serious reforms, lawmakers said Monday as they began to delve into charges of poor living conditions and bureaucratic delays in treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

AP - The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against Colorado Republicans challenging a congressional redistricting plan favorable to Democrats.

AP - A video is worth a thousand words. And dollars, too.

AP - A federal judge said he'd ask jurors to clarify their question about reasonable doubt Monday as deliberations continued in the trial of former White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby.

AP - The Justice Department said Monday that Republican Sen. Pete Domenici called Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his deputy four times to complain about a U.S. attorney who claims he was fired for not rushing a corruption probe.

AP - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton told the nation's leading gay rights group in an unpublicized speech that she wants a partnership with gays if elected president.

AP - The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against Colorado voters challenging a congressional redistricting plan favorable to Democrats.

AP - President Bush, facing criticism he has ignored Latin America, has approved new initiatives to offer better health care, expand education, spur small businesses and increase home ownership in the region.

AP - Exasperated listeners weary of hearing the same songs over and over on the radio may have something to cheer about: a pair of innovative deals that could shake up the music playlists of some of the nation's largest radio-station chains.

AP - Lawyers for Guantanamo detainees held more than five years without charges asked the Supreme Court Monday to step in a third time to guarantee that they can challenge their confinement in U.S. courts.

AP - Your chances of being stuck on a stuffy airliner for hours on a taxiway — like passengers on recent JetBlue flights — are slim, the government reported Monday.

AP - Lawyers for Guantanamo detainees held more than five years without charges asked the Supreme Court Monday to step in a third time to guarantee that they can challenge their confinement in U.S. courts.

Reuters - President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has vowed not to send any Sudanese national for trial outside the country, after an international court said it suspected a minister and militia leader of war crimes.

AP - A White House privacy board has determined that two of the Bush administration's controversial surveillance programs — electronic eavesdropping and financial tracking — do not violate citizens' civil liberties, the Associated Press has learned.

AP - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani asked for privacy on Monday to deal with strained relationships within his family, including his son's complaints about his third wife.

AP - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards says Jesus would be appalled at how the United States has ignored the plight of the suffering, and that he believes children should have private time to pray at school.

AP - Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus scheduled a special meeting Tuesday to try to resolve an embarrassing leadership dispute that led one lawmaker to quit the group.

AFP - The United States and five other world powers have agreed to send the issue of Iran's disputed nuclear program to their UN representatives, after failing to resolve differences, the US State Department said.

AP - The White House is ready to ask Congress for more money for President Bush's plan — already hotly debated — to send 21,500 new combat troops into Iraq.

AP - The probe into the Bush administration's firings of U.S. attorneys intensified Monday as lawmakers ordered two more ousted officials to tell their stories and the Justice Department said Republican Sen. Pete Domenici had complained repeatedly to the attorney general about one of the prosecutors.

AP - Four former Senate majority leaders are heading a new group aimed at putting aside partisan politics and offering solutions to the nation's biggest issues.

AP - Some quotes from the House subcommittee hearing investigating the conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Monday:

AP - Airports with long taxiway delays

AP - The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against Colorado voters challenging a congressional redistricting plan favorable to Democrats.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has agreed to sell his boutique investment bank to Australian financial group Macquarie Group, the companies said on Monday, as the presidential hopeful ramps up his campaign.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. special envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios is set to meet Sudan's president on Wednesday to keep pressure on Khartoum to let an international force into Darfur, the State Department said on Monday.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - U.S. foe Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will lead a leftist rally in an Argentine stadium on Friday, right when President Bush is due to arrive in neighboring Uruguay for a state visit.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A series of meetings between the United States, the European Union, India and Brazil over the past two days pushed world trade talks slightly forward, a U.S. trade official said on Monday.

BOGOTA (Reuters) - A scandal tying allies of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to paramilitary gangs has U.S. Democrats questioning aid and trade deals days before President George W. Bush meets with his closest Latin American ally.

AP - The Senate has confirmed Carl J. Artman as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, filling a post that has been vacant for two years.