Reuters - A second U.S. Republican lawmaker has acknowledged calling a federal prosecutor to complain about the slow pace of corruption cases just before elections last year, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

AP - Bill Gardner is a modest man with an awesome power: the ability to set the date of the nation's earliest presidential primary.

AP - Six former U.S. attorneys said they got little or no information about why they were fired, as another Republican lawmaker reportedly acknowledged contacting one of the federal prosecutors about an investigation.

AP - A Sudanese accused of war crimes denied leading a group of janjaweed militias in attacks on civilians in Darfur, saying in a newspaper report Sunday that he had been recruited to protect villagers and nomads from the Arab militiamen.

Reuters - The United Nations urgently needs international support to boost its presence in Somalia and restore basic services, or the country could collapse into chaos, U.N. aid officials said on Monday.

AP - Senators on Tuesday said they would consider every avenue to fix a badly broken system of caring for troops wounded in battle, as Bush administration officials apologized anew for cases of neglect at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

AP - The Senate moved toward a showdown vote Tuesday on giving 45,000 federal airport screeners the same collective bargaining rights that border patrol, immigration and customs agents have.

AP - Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani is planning his first campaign trip to Iowa next month, a sign that he is considering competing in the early voting state where social conservatives dominate the GOP caucuses.

AP - Juror notes in the CIA leak case suggest some jury room confusion about what exactly former White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby is accused of doing.

CQPolitics.com - Under pressure from House Republicans, Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be backing away from a plan to place Rep. William J. Jefferson on the Homeland Security Committee.

AP - Nearly $2.2 billion awaits taxpayers who neglected to file income tax returns for 2003, but that windfall will be lost if they don't act by tax day, April 17.

AP - The Senate voted Tuesday to give 45,000 airport screeners the same union rights as border patrol, customs and immigration agents, despite a veto threat from the White House.

AP - A fired federal prosecutor told a Senate committee Tuesday that he felt 'leaned on' and sickened as Republican Sen. Pete Domenici hung up on him in disgust last fall when told that indictments in a corruption case against Democrats would not be issued before the fall elections.

AP - The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said Tuesday that he is pushing for an additional $50 billion over five years for a health care program that insures millions of children.

AP - Campaigning in 2000, George Bush promised he would swear on the Bible to restore honor and dignity to a sullied White House and give it 'one heck of scrubbing.' The conviction of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby gave the White House a scrubbing — but not the one Bush had in mind.

AP - Campaigning for office is typically a shoe-leather exercise, with lots of walking through neighborhoods and knocking on doors. But that's not easily done in some of New Orleans' devastated and largely depopulated sections.

AP - U.S. attorneys whose resignations have been sought by the Justice Department in recent months:

AP - The recent firing of eight U.S. attorneys has raised questions about how they are appointed and the circumstances under which they may be dismissed. Here are some questions and answers:

Reuters - Kosovo's former prime minister has 'blood on his hands,' the U.N. chief prosecutor said on Monday at the start of a war crimes trial on charges stemming from the war against Serb forces in 1998-99.

AP - House Democrats are pushing to add billions of dollars to President Bush's $93.4 billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $900 million for troops suffering from brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

AP - Jurors in the Libby trial turned their deliberation room into one big visual aid, plastering the walls with dozens of poster-size summaries of witness testimony.

AP - Alleging heavy-handed political pressure, fired U.S. prosecutors testified Tuesday they felt 'leaned on' by Republican lawmakers to seek indictments and hushed by a Justice Department official who didn't want them talking about their dismissals.

AP - They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But what about an original sound recording?

AFP - Afghanistan's opium crop is likely rise again this year after production of the drug saw a record 50 percent jump in 2006, the United Nations warned on Monday in a new blow to eradication efforts.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush has the constitutional power to pardon Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, but will he do it?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a rare admission, the United States said on Tuesday its own human rights record was in question in an annual report that criticized Iraq for its death squads with government links, kidnapping and torture.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Finance Committee has called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for answers after an independent report highlighted problems with the agency's efforts to revamp its drug safety tracking system, two top senators said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key Democratic congressional leader on Tuesday proposed new legislation that would force the Bush administration to sanction oil companies and countries that strike deals with Iran.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. labor leader said on Tuesday he expected the Senate to join the House of Representatives in passing legislation to make unionizing easier, despite an expected Republican effort to block a vote.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - President Bush visits Latin America this week to try to improve his reputation and influence in a region where anti-American voices like Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez are on the rise.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A fired prosecutor told Congress on Tuesday that he warned ousted colleagues that the Bush administration might retaliate if they spoke out about their dismissals, which critics say appeared to have been politically motivated.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it would not seek a seat on the new U.N. Human Rights Council, saying it was not a 'credible body,' a decision that immediately drew harsh criticism from a veteran Congressman.

AP - The Libby conviction, based on journalists' testimony, is forcing the rapidly changing media to re-examine how they can gather news without getting hauled into court.

AP - The chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said he survived a confidence vote Tuesday night, and he pledged to unify the group in the wake of an embarrassing leadership dispute that led one of his critics to quit.

AP - They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But what about an original sound recording?

AFP - The suspension of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) operations in North Korea will not affect the work of other UN agencies there, a UNDP spokesman said here Monday.

AP - Alleging heavy-handed political pressure, fired U.S. prosecutors testified Tuesday they felt 'leaned on' by Republican lawmakers to seek indictments and hushed by a Justice Department official who did not want them talking about their dismissals.

AP - The U.S. government has proposed paying $7 billion partly to settle lawsuits over the management of Indian trust lands — an offer met with immediate objections from Indian plaintiffs.

AFP - UN prosecutor Carla Del Ponte on Monday told judges that former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj was a warlord and a gangster, as he went on trial for war crimes.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, as the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation may be needed to stop overzealous credit card companies from piling on interest rates and fees that have plunged millions of American families deeply into debt, a senior Democratic senator said on Tuesday.

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.