AP - Nancy Killefer, the management consultant chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to make federal agencies work better for the public, has a lot of experience trying to improve the agency taxpayers love to hate, the Internal Revenue Service.

AP - Showing the emphasis that some lawmakers are putting on health care issues this year, former Sen. Tom Daschle will be the first of President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet choices to undergo a hearing.

AP - The House and Senate are coming together in a centuries-old tradition to count the electoral votes from the November election and formally declare that Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States.

AP - The Bush administration held off Wednesday from backing an Egyptian-French cease-fire proposal in Gaza.

Politico - Wall Street, long one of the most powerful industries in Washington, is throwing in the towel.

AP - Eric Holder Jr., President-elect Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, brings to his confirmation hearing next week a dream resume and a bull's-eye target with his picture in the middle.

AP - A U.S. soldier charged with murder in the deaths of four bound and blindfolded Iraqis will be court-martialed, the U.S. Army said Wednesday.

AP - For President-elect Barack Obama, parting with his Blackberry is such sweet sorrow.

Politico - President-elect Obama is warning this morning that the economy “could become dramatically worse” and face unemployment above 10 percent without bipartisan support for a massive government stimulus program that would temporarily add to the record federal budget deficit but would “save or create at least three million jobs over the next few years.”

AP - A former police officer and councilman was sworn in as a new state senator, despite facing charges that he slashed his girlfriend's face with a piece of broken glass in a jealous rage.

Politico - President-elect Obama is warning this morning that the economy “could become dramatically worse” and face unemployment above 10 percent without bipartisan support for a massive government stimulus program that would temporarily add to the record federal budget deficit but would “save or create at least three million jobs over the next few years.”

AP - President-elect Barack Obama is spelling out the key elements of an 'American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan' that he is touting to treat a sick economy.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama is again vowing to keep 'earmarks and pet projects' out of an economic recovery plan.

AP - President George W. Bush says his signature education law should not be weakened when he leaves office because it has 'forever changed America's school systems.'

Politico - President-elect Barack Obama is warning this morning that the economy “could become dramatically worse” and face unemployment above 10 percent without bipartisan support for a massive government stimulus program that would temporarily add to the record federal budget deficit but would “save or create at least 3 million jobs over the next few years.”

AP - It's likely Jeb Bush could have tapped his reputation as governor and an extensive fundraising network to keep a key U.S. Senate seat — and possibly a filibuster-proof majority — out of Democratic hands in 2010.

AFP - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was in Turkey Thursday for talks on the Gaza conflict and the situation in the region, the Turkish foreign ministry said.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama is laying plans to dissolve a White House security panel created in the wake of 9/11 and restructure counterterrorism policy under intelligence veteran John Brennan.

Politico - Barack Obama portrayed the economic crisis in some of his gravest language yet Thursday, exhorting Congress to act or let the country slip into decline in what he said was a watershed moment for America. In his first major speech since winning the presidency last year,  Obama said the economic crisis presented the nation with a once in a generation challenge.

AP - Hillary Rodham Clinton is quietly building a new State Department team with seasoned diplomats as she prepares for her confirmation hearings next week, according to Democratic sources and officials familiar with the transition.

Bloomberg - Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama’s plan for expanding government health insurance to compete with private coverage drew fire from a leading Senate Republican during a nomination hearing for former U.S. Senator Thomas A. Daschle to run the Health and Human Services Department.

The Christian Science Monitor - European Union leaders this week flanked Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as she told the world's news media, 'We are all opposed to terrorism.' For many observers in Europe, the moment underscored a little-noted but ongoing convergence between European and US-Israeli thinking ? despite the tragedy and challenge that Gaza presents.

AP - A tax break for big homebuilders, derailed last year amid public outrage at their role in the housing meltdown, is now back on track — thanks to well-connected lobbyists and a growing chorus of suddenly strapped other businesses that would benefit.

AP - President George W. Bush urged President-elect Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Congress not to abandon the No Child Left Behind law, arguing that do so would 'weaken a chance for a child to succeed in America.'

AP - President-elect Barack Obama appeared Thursday at Democratic Party headquarters with his hand-picked incoming chairman, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, but his predecessor, outgoing chief Howard Dean, was nowhere in sight.

AP - Congressional Democrats are wasting no time in promoting labor rights issues they argue have been thwarted during eight years of the Bush administration.

AP - How do you count scorpions?

AP - The deadly attacks in India may have provided a low-frills but bloody blueprint for other violent groups to follow, U.S. anti-terrorism officials told Congress on Thursday.

Politico - Her former boss may be heading to the State Department, but Neera Tanden, a longtime adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton who later worked for the Obama campaign, will stick with a topic she knows well: health care reform.

AP - The Bush administration has decided that immigrants facing deportation do not have an automatic right to an effective lawyer.

AP - The Environmental Protection Agency is taking a second look at its decision not to limit the amount of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient allowed in drinking water.

AP - Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday that he sees no reason for President George W. Bush to pre-emptively pardon anyone at the CIA involved in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists. 'I don't have any reason to believe that anybody in the agency did anything illegal,' he said.

AP - For Barack Obama, winning a giant economic revival bill in Congress should be the easy part.

Politico - New fissures opened up among Democrats on Thursday over Barack Obama’s stimulus plan – with some Democratic mayors and governors saying they disagreed with Obama’s decision to put $300 billion in tax cuts ahead of added brick-and-mortar projects.

AP - U.S. policy to win in Afghanistan must recognize the poor nation's limitations and its neighborhood, especially its intertwined relationship with U.S. terrorism-fighting ally Pakistan, the top U.S. military commander in the region said Thursday.

AP - Automakers recalled the fewest number of vehicles last year since 1994, helped by more scrutiny of faulty parts and improved quality.

AP - She's out of the maternity ward and into a Cabinet meeting, dressed in elegant black and stiletto heels — five days after giving birth at age 43. Justice Minister Rachida Dati, single and guarding the daddy's name like a state secret, doesn't stop surprising the French.

Politico - The long embattled bankruptcy “cramdown” bill just took a major leap toward reality.

Politico - After calling on Congress to “act boldly and act now,” Barack Obama got a lesson Thursday from his old Senate Democratic colleagues: a little more time for takeoff could avoid a crash landing of his economic recovery plan.

AP - Two Kenyans said to be among al-Qaida's top operatives on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list were killed New Year's Eve in a U.S. strike in Pakistan, a U.S. counterterrorism official said Thursday.