Politico - Despite President Obama's trip to the Hill on Tuesday, he couldn't pry loose a single Republican vote for his stimulus plan, which nonetheless passed with overwhelming Democratic support. Still, the partisan split signalled that despite their weakened political state and the popularity of the new president, Republicans won't be won over by charm alone.

AP - France plans to call home 15 percent of its 13,000 troops overseas, pulling forces out of Chad and Ivory Coast as part of a new doctrine of more selective foreign deployments, Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced Wednesday.

AP - President Barack Obama is signing into law an equal-pay bill that is popular with labor and women's groups and is expected to make it easier for workers to sue for decades-old discrimination.

AP - President Barack Obama already is testing whether Europe will match its enthusiastic words about his administration with concrete actions. After seeking help shutting the Guantanamo Bay prison, Obama now has a potentially more contentious request: He wants more European troops fighting in Afghanistan.

AP - Democrats are edging closer to giving President Barack Obama a big victory on health care.

AP - The list of recalled peanut products linked to a national salmonella outbreak just keeps growing.

Politico - On this day in 1890, House Speaker Thomas Reed (R-Maine) torpedoed a long-standing “disappearing quorum” maneuver, thereby expanding the speaker’s powers at the expense of the minority.

AP - President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy turned his attention to the Western-backed Palestinian government in the West Bank on Thursday as rockets thudded into southern Israel and Israeli warplanes attacked new targets in Gaza.

Reuters - The United States wants the United Nations to take strong action to push Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to reach a power-sharing deal with the opposition, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

AP - Defense officials say suicide among U.S. soldiers increased again last year and is at a nearly three-decade high.

AP - President Barack Obama's economic stimulus legislation is headed for the Senate after a surprisingly partisan vote in the House in which Republicans united in opposition and 11 mostly conservative Democrats defected.

AP - White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says President Barack Obama is going to continue to work with Republicans to craft a stimulus package supported on both sides of the aisle.

AFP - The United Nations evacuated hundreds of severely wounded civilians from behind rebel lines in Sri Lanka on Thursday as government troops fought to secure final victory over the Tamil Tigers.

Politico - Blog: One of John McCain's and other Republicans' harshest charges against Democrats during the debate over Iraq policy was that they were rooting for Ame

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CQPolitics.com - The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved the nomination of Eric H. Holder Jr. to be attorney general.

AP - A former deputy to lobbyist Jack Abramoff said Thursday he is taking responsibility for his role in the corruption scandal and is cooperating with federal investigators.

AP - A top Republican congressional aide says the $800 billion-plus economic stimulus measure could steer government checks to illegal immigrants.

Politico - Blog: The Obama White House has hired a set of former campaign staffers to serve as liaisons between the White House and executive agencies, according to

Politico - In what could be a preview of the 2012 presidential race, Sarah Palin and Barack Obama will share a stage together this Saturday night in Washington, Politico has learned.

AP - The White House says President Barack Obama spoke by telephone with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on issues ranging from bilateral relations to the global economic crisis.

AP - Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the economy won't improve without the billions of dollars for schools in President Barack Obama's recovery plan.

AP - A small but growing number of community banks are backing out of the government's bailout, which they see as fraught with hidden strings and government interference.

AP - Save the economy. Build fighter jets.

Politico - Blog: This blog can't really capture the long-form style of Blagojevich's swan song, but he's going down swinging, with a call to fire Rahm Emanuel.

AFP - Angry Republican senators vowed Thursday to put up a fight against President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill after the package passed the House of Representatives with no opposition support.

AP - Russia's Supreme Court has rejected appeals to re-open the investigation into the World War II-era massacre of Polish military officers and intellectuals by Soviet secret police.

Politico - Blog: A touch of (ironic, I hope) messianism on wouldyoudothatifbarackwaswatching.com.

Politico - In what might be his last act as governor, Democrat Rod Blagojevich delivered a speech Thursday that stuck to criticism that the Illinois state Senate’s impeachment trial is illegitimate.

AP - Declaring that ending pay disparity is not just a women's issue, President Barack Obama signed legislation Thursday that gives workers more time to take their pay discrimination cases to court.

AP - A Washington watchdog group says special interests spent a record $3.2 billion to influence lawmakers and policies in the capital last year. That's a nearly 14 percent increase from a year earlier.

AP - The United Nations launched an emergency appeal Thursday for $613 million to help Palestinians recover from Israel's three weeks of military operations in Gaza.

Politico - Blog: Chip Saltsman, whose bid for RNC Chairman was derailed and defined by distributing (and defending) the 'Barack the Magic Negro' song, has

Politico - GOP insiders say Friday’s contest to elect the next chairman of the Republican National Committee will be a long and drawn-out affair, with multiple ballots necessary to determine the winner.

AP - A congressman has announced the first public hearing on the salmonella outbreak that's being blamed on tainted peanut butter.

AP - President Barack Obama intends to overturn four Bush-era executive orders that unions opposed, a labor official said Thursday.

AP - Forensic tests have turned up no evidence that Poland's exiled World War II leader was murdered before his plane crashed into the sea, according to experts probing a death that spawned decades of conspiracy theories.

AP - WASHINGTON (AP — Eight days after Barack Obama took office as a 'change' president, House Republicans have made a huge political gamble that could set the tone for the next election cycle.

Politico - Blog: The new Blago?

AP - Illegal immigrants who lack Social Security numbers could not get tax credits under the $800 billion-plus economic stimulus package making its way through Congress.

AP - Pope Benedict XVI decried what he called a spreading pessimism about marriage, saying Thursday it is not the impossible undertaking many make it out to be.

AP - Senate Democrats moved one step closer to handing President Barack Obama an early health care victory Thursday, passing a bill extending government-sponsored health insurance coverage to about 4 million uninsured children.

Politico - Blog: Barack Obama's campaign realized the potential of the Internet in politics, but his new White House website is still scrambling to approach his camp

Politico - Staking his presidency on the success of the middle class, President Barack Obama will sign three executive orders Friday to reverse Bush administration policies on organized labor, and formally establish a middle class task force headed by Vice President Joe Biden, a White House official said.

AP - The following recalls have been announced:

Politico - Blog: An amateur videographer captured the scene outside Rod Blagojevich's Chicago home tonight, where he greeted a visiting minister, posed for a picture

Politico - The Obama administration backed off Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s statement last week that China is “manipulating” its currency.

AP - The 66-32 roll call by which the Senate on Thursday passed a bill to add 4 million lower-income children to government insurance programs.

AP - Hirsute, paunchy men recline voluptuously against each other, dressed in flimsy scraps of pink. In another room, shimmering rows of veiled women modeled from twisted and scrunched aluminum foil kneel in anonymous submission.