AP - Gov. Sarah Palin, heralded by some conservatives as the future of the Republican Party, faces some cold political realities in present-day Alaska.

AP - Performance-based pay is a road many teachers don't want to travel. But the newly elected president of one of the country's largest teachers unions says that in her experience, school-wide bonuses work.

AP - Vice President-elect Joe Biden spoke with several world leaders by phone Monday.

Politico - Barack Obama's serious flirtation with his one-time rival, Hillary Clinton, over the post of secretary of State has been welcomed by everyone from Henry Kissinger to Bill Clinton as an effective, grand gesture by the president-elect.

AP - Detroit's Big Three automakers are begging Congress for a $25 billion government rescue, while the legislation clings to life support on Capitol Hill and top lawmakers and the White House suffer from bailout fatigue.

Reuters - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has raised concerns about nearly 3,500 opposition Iranians living in exile in Iraq and regarded as terrorists by the Baghdad government, which wants to expel them.

AP - A proposed U.N. resolution would increase the 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in conflict-wracked Congo by about 3,100 troops and police, according to the draft obtained Monday.

Reuters - A move to oust Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens from the U.S. Senate Republican conference was abruptly postponed on Tuesday pending the outcome of the convicted felon's bid for re-election.

Bloomberg - Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama, who threatened during the presidential campaign to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement unless he could renegotiate it, may delay reworking the accord as he focuses on the U.S. economic crisis.

AP - A Marine who sued Rep. John Murtha for defamation wants a federal appeals court to order the Pennsylvania Democrat to testify under oath in the case.

AP - Plastic surgeons pledged Tuesday to help the government track the safety of one of the most popular new beauty treatments: facial injections of various kinds of gels to smooth away wrinkles.

AP - The father of Chief Justice John Roberts died Tuesday after a long illness, the Supreme Court said.

AFP - The European Union said on Tuesday Bangladesh's army-backed government had created an environment to hold 'fair and credible' elections next month in the emergency-ruled South Asian nation.

Politico - Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who famously commanded the military’s response to Hurricane Katrina, says President-elect Barack Obama should choose a homeland security secretary with a thick resume.

AP - Calling climate change an urgent challenge, President-elect Barack Obama promised Tuesday that Washington would take a leading role in combating it in the United States and throughout the world.

Reuters - A move to oust Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens from the U.S. Senate Republican conference was abruptly postponed on Tuesday pending the outcome of the convicted felon's bid for re-election.

AP - A Marine who sued Rep. John Murtha for defamation urged a federal appeals court Tuesday to order the Pennsylvania Democrat to testify under oath in the case.

AP - A 23-year-old man accused of being involved in a terror plot to kidnap Danish soldiers and use them as hostages has been acquitted by a court.

Politico - Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who famously commanded the military’s response to Hurricane Katrina, says President-elect Barack Obama should choose a homeland security secretary with a thick resume.

AP - Gov. Sarah Palin, heralded by some conservatives as the future of the Republican Party, faces some cold political realities in present-day Alaska.

AP - The United States' top intelligence analyst, Thomas Fingar, is leaving the office of the director of national intelligence, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

AP - Northern Ireland's long-feuding Protestant and Catholic leaders ended a five-month deadlock Tuesday by agreeing to form a Justice Department that will oversee the police and courts.

AP - Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with Congress on Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save the once-proud titans of U.S. industry, warning of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse. Millions of layoffs would follow their demise, they said, as damaging effects rippled across an already-faltering economy.

Politico - Hillary Rodham Clinton isn’t certain she would accept the Secretary of State post even if Barack Obama offers it to her, several people close to the former first lady say.

Reuters - Barack Obama said on Tuesday the United States would 'engage vigorously' in climate change talks when he is president and pledged, despite the financial crisis, to stick to plans to reduce emissions sharply by 2020.

AP - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has fallen further behind Democrat Mark Begich in his re-election bid.

AP - Desperate for a $25 billion government rescue package, U.S. automakers and their allies in Washington are warning that U.S. national security would be harmed if Detroit goes under and takes its vast chain of parts suppliers along with it.

AP - The number of terrorist attacks will likely decline by 2025 but they will be more deadly, a top U.S. intelligence officer predicted Tuesday, citing projections from a report on global trends to be made public this week.

AP - Phil Schiliro has spent his entire working life in Congress, doing every imaginable job from drafting arcane legislation to running for a seat himself. Steeped in the culture and traditions of Capitol Hill, Schiliro seemed to be one of those people who'd never leave voluntarily — he'd have to be carted out.

Politico - Less than a week after Newt Gingrich counted himself out of the race for chairman of the Republican National Committee, the former House speaker was pulled back into the contest as one contender claimed Gingrich was backing his candidacy. 

AP - The red-and-blue Senate trolley rolled up to the Capitol basement Tuesday, a lone senator in the front seat checking a piece of paper before slipping it back into his jacket pocket.

AP - A $23 million ceiling painting featuring hundreds of dangling icicle shapes that has been criticized for its hefty price tag was unveiled Tuesday at the United Nations.

AP - Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in Senate history, narrowly lost his re-election bid Tuesday, marking the downfall of a Washington political power and Alaska icon who couldn't survive a conviction on federal corruption charges. His defeat to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich moves Senate Democrats closer to a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

AP - Sen. John McCain, whose presidential bid was snuffed out two weeks ago by President-elect Barack Obama, is setting up a political action committee as a first step in running for a fifth term in the Senate.

Politico - Auto state senators are pursuing a new compromise that would allow ailing companies easier access to an Energy Department $25 billion loan fund but require that any money borrowed be repaid to that same account to preserve its initial purpose of supporting a future generation of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

AP - The Kremlin is grappling with a growing opposition in the military to the most sweeping overhaul of Russia's armed forces in over a generation.

AP - An Ohio Democrat elected earlier this month to succeed the late U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones has also won a special congressional election in Cleveland to fill the final weeks of Tubbs Jones' unexpired term.