AP - Attorneys for I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby began crafting a request for a new trial Wednesday as the Bush White House tried to knock down speculation about a pardon for the convicted former aide.

AP - For the second year in a row, the United States has decided not to seek a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, the State Department said Tuesday, accusing the panel of an anti-Israeli bias.

AP - An important ally when George W. Bush first won the presidency, the Christian Coalition of America says it's poised again to help a conservative win the White House. Whether it can back up that pledge is an open question.

AP - The Secret Service was investigating a suspicious package found on the White House grounds Thursday and part of Pennsylvania Avenue was closed.

AP - Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a new GI 'Bill of Rights' for men and women in uniform, arguing that Democrats can do a better job of protecting and providing for U.S. troops than the Republican administration.

AP - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told Congress on Wednesday that overhauls of the nation's schools and immigration laws are urgently needed to keep jobs from going overseas. 'The U.S. cannot maintain its economic leadership unless our work force consists of people who have the knowledge and skills needed to drive innovation,' Gates told the Senate committee that oversees labor and education issues.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday he was not aware he had invested in two companies backed by some of his top donors and said he had done nothing to aid their business with the government.

AP - Most state leaders would consider Illinois' Democratic powerbrokers lucky to have two homegrown presidential candidates vying for the top of their party's ticket.

AP - Nevada Republicans have approved a plan to move their 2008 presidential caucus to Feb. 7, six weeks earlier than previously scheduled.

AP - The CIA leak saga did not end with I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's conviction this week. On top of his lengthy appeals, he and senior Bush administration officials face a lawsuit for their role in the exposure of a former CIA operative.

AP - The $122 million renovation of the Supreme Court has fallen far behind schedule and will not be finished until at least July 2009.

AP - Substandard care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center appears to extend to the nation's vast network of veterans hospitals, the head of a House panel investigating the situation said Thursday.

AP - Valerie Plame, the CIA operative exposed after her husband criticized President Bush's march to war, will testify next week before lawmakers probing how the White House dealt with her identity, the chairman of the panel said Thursday.

AP - Some opponents of the Iraq war are taking their protests straight to Congress — staging 'occupations' in lawmakers' offices on Capitol Hill and in their home communities.

AP - The Bush administration, bowing to an uproar over its firing of eight federal prosecutors, agreed Thursday to tightening the law for replacing U.S. attorneys and letting Congress hear from senior officials with roles in the ousters.

AP - Some opponents of the Iraq war are taking their protests straight to Congress — staging 'occupations' in lawmakers' offices on Capitol Hill and in their home communities.

CQPolitics.com - The national, state and local party organizations of the Republican and Democratic parties spent a combined total of about $1.1 billion on elections for federal office in the 2005-06 election cycle, according to data released Wednesday by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

AP - The Republic of Georgia said Thursday it is raising the number of its soldiers serving with the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq to more than 2,000 from the current 850.