AP - The news of neglected war veterans outraged Capitol Hill, caused resignations at the Pentagon and promises of better treatment from the Bush administration. Now the patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center get to hear from President Bush himself.

AP - Federal health investigators are undertaking a broad review of conflict-of-interest policies at the National Institutes of Health, with potentially wide ramifications involving the agency's oversight of nonfederal scientists who conduct research with government money.

Reuters - World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy said on Thursday a breakthrough in troubled global free trade talks was still possible but he warned of growing risks of failure.

AP - The White House said Friday it believes embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales can survive the uproar over the firing of eight federal prosecutors, a day after his one-time chief of staff undercut Gonzales' account of the firings.

AP - Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani acknowledged again Friday that he made a mistake when he recommended Bernard Kerik to be the nation's homeland security chief.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson plans to travel to North Korea for meetings with government officials from the hardline communist nation.

AP - Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo, an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, will announce his bid for president on Monday.

AP - A suspected Saudi terrorist told a military hearing that he was tortured into confessing that he was involved in the bombing of the USS Cole, according to a Pentagon transcript released Friday.

CQPolitics.com - At a personal level, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth have received much public sympathy since they announced last week that they would continue his bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination even though her breast cancer had recurred and spread.

AFP - Five Czech members of the European Parliament have written to the speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi about US plans to install a missile defense shield in Central Europe.

AFP - The European Union relaunched membership talks with Turkey on Thursday, ending a long hiatus caused by Ankara's refusal to respect its trade obligations to Cyprus.

AP - A defense company that got a federal contract with help from then-Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons, now governor of Nevada, hired Gibbons' wife to do consulting work, according to a published report Friday.

AP - President Bush apologizes for the shoddy conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and promises 'we're going to fix the problem.'

AFP - Social Democrat members of the European Parliament wrote to the speaker of the US House of Representatives on Friday objecting to US plans to install a missile defence shield in Central Europe.

AP - Paul Risser of the University of Oklahoma was named acting director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History on Friday.

Reuters - U.S. plans to impose tough new measures against Sudan to force it to change course on Darfur will only threaten humanitarian agreements Khartoum has signed with the United Nations and fuel violence in the region, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

AP - The Senate plans to vote on a bill next month to clear the way for government financing of new embryonic stem cell research, defying a presidential veto threat, aides close to the talks said Friday.

AP - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Syria, a country President Bush has shunned as a sponsor of terrorism, despite being asked by the administration not to go.

AP - Republicans miscalculated a decade ago and were blamed for forcing a government shutdown in a spending standoff with President Clinton. Now President Bush and congressional Democrats are on a collision course on Iraq spending — a high-stakes confrontation to see who blinks and who can successfully accuse the other of shortchanging U.S. troops.

AP - Members of the House left Washington on Friday for their two-week spring break without weighing in on the international crisis tormenting the nation's closest ally: the capture of 15 British sailors and marines by Iran.

Bloomberg - March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney had a tough message on immigration at a March 22 luncheon in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

CQPolitics.com - Craig Varoga, former campaign manager of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack’s presidential campaign, registered a new Section 527 entity this week called the Bluegrass Freedom Fund. Varoga had previously done opposition research and had worked as communications director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

AP - The United States is taking a low-key approach to Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines, concerned that more robust intervention might aggravate the situation and shake international resolve on Iran's nuclear program.

AP - Federal testing of recalled pet foods turned up a chemical used to make plastics but failed to confirm the presence of a cancer drug also used as rat poison. The recall expanded Friday to include the first dry pet food.

AP - President Bush notified Congress on Friday that he plans to sign a free trade agreement with Panama.

Reuters - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Friday for dialogue to break Lebanon's political deadlock as he met rival leaders in Beirut.

AP - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday criticized the Bush administration for outsourcing teaching to private tutoring companies, arguing that many firms have close ties to Republicans.

Bloomberg - (Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney had a tough message on immigration at a March 22 luncheon in Council Bluffs, Iowa.