AP - Speaking in this ancient seat of Islamic learning and culture, President Barack Obama is hoping to usher in a new era in America's often fraught relations with the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.

Politico - However, she�stops just short of pledging to support the Supreme Court nominee.

Reuters - U.S. congressional Democrats have pared a war funding bill to buy seven Lockheed Martin C-130 military transport aircraft from the 11 that the U.S. House of Representatives initially approved, a congressional source close to the matter said on Wednesday.

AFP - Chinese President Hu Jintao held telephone talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama about North Korea's nuclear programmes following its weapons test last month, state media said.

AP - The battlefields of Normandy, launch point for the Allies' D-Day push to liberate France and crush Nazi Germany, lie far from the front lines of Afghanistan, focal point of today's war-by-coalition.

Politico - Brian Moran seeks to shake up the Va. Governor's by drawing sharp contrasts with his opponents.

AP - The federal government is reconsidering whether sports fields and playgrounds made from ground-up tires could harm children's health after some Environmental Protection Agency scientists raised concerns, documents show.

Bloomberg - June 4 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama arrived in Cairo today for a speech that aides say will address the hurdles to U.S. relations with the Muslim world as well the opportunities for closer engagement.

AP - President Barack Obama says he's open to requiring all Americans to buy health insurance, as long as the plan provides a 'hardship waiver' to exempt poor people from having to pay.

Politico - Former state delegate seeks to shake up primary contest by drawing sharp contrasts with�opponents.

Politico - Gay rights campaigners begin to voice their public frustration with Obama's inaction.

AP - In the half-century since the surgeon general issued his culture-changing report linking smoking to lung cancer, the tobacco industry has had little trouble defeating efforts to regulate cigarettes and other products. That could change this year.

AP - Responding to a challenge from President Barack Obama, House GOP leaders are offering up a roster of more than $23 billion in spending cuts over the next five years.

AP - Three former officials with a Christian humanitarian organization have been accused of massive fraud involving more than $1 million worth of U.S. aid to Liberia, stealing food and construction materials meant to help people of the African nation recover from a 14-year civil war.

AP - Federal officials have lowered the threshold that the nation's public housing agencies must meet to get some of the stimulus money set aside for new roofing, plumbing and other renovations.

AP - The Obama administration charged Wednesday that a U.N. investigator violated his mandate by accusing the U.S. of failing to properly investigate allegations of unlawful killings by American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

AP - President Barack Obama offered the world the audacity to hope for peace in the Middle East and a better understanding between the United States and Muslims. Still, a president known for his soaring oratory admitted his words alone would not change a thing.

AP - President Barack Obama's speech reaching out for a fresh start with the Islamic world was laced with references to the Koran and his Muslim roots.

Politico - The speech is a major test of Obama’s ability to translate his appealing rhetoric into real change.

Politico - Full text of Barack Obama's speech delivered.

AP - President Barack Obama says the Israelis and Palestinians must find a way to live side by side, peacefully as two independent states, arguing that this solution ultimately is the only way to end bloodshed and violence.

AP - The United States may miss a December deadline for committing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, but that should not block an international agreement on global warming, the chief U.S. negotiator said Wednesday.

Bloomberg - June 4 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama pledged to “seek a new beginning” between the U.S. and the Muslim world, calling for people in both societies to find common ground and end a “cycle of suspicion and discord.”

AP - President Obama in Egypt told Muslims he wants to engage them and their countries. More than 5,000 miles away, U.S. administration officials sent notes to supporters � and critics � via Twitter, Facebook and text messages to reinforce the point.

AP - Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik is making his first court appearance since being indicted a second time on charges of lying when he was being vetted to be Homeland Security secretary.

AP - European Union countries are likely to take in 'several dozen' former prisoners from the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, an EU official said Thursday.

AP - A court in Sicily says a man accused of Mafia ties can be held at home instead of jail because he is suffering from depression.

AP - The Obama administration's pick for a top intelligence post at the Homeland Security Department has ties to the CIA's harsh interrogation program, a congressional aide said.

Politico - In his speech, the president seeks to decouple Islam entirely from those who perpetrate violence.

Politico - Hoyer says a recent resolution calls for ethics committee to investigate Congress-lobbyist ties.

AP - President Barack Obama's pick to oversee the $700 billion bank bailout program told Congress Thursday that more time is needed for the recovery plan to work.

AP - The IRS is working on new rules that could require paid tax preparers to be licensed to improve tax compliance and reduce fraud, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman announced Thursday.

AP - Only a month old and already in a bad mood, a baby white rhino conceived through artificial insemination is delighting keepers at a Spanish zoo.

McClatchy Newspapers - CAIRO, Egypt � President Barack Obama, courting Muslims internationally, said Thursday that the United States didn't accept the legitimacy of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory and that 'just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's.'

Politico - One constituent gets creative with his 'ELECT ANYONE BUT HARRY REID' signs across the state.

AP - Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of lying to the White House, a case he described online as 'unprecedented, selective, and overreaching.'

AP - For years, the Environmental Protection Agency has endorsed the recycling of ground-up tires to cushion the surfaces of children's playgrounds and sports fields � the same material used for the Obama family's new White House playground.

AP - Who won the war?

AP - British naturalist Sir David Attenborough won Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias social sciences prize Thursday for his 'great contributions to the defense of life and conservation of our planet.'

AP - Muslim shopkeepers, students and even radical groups such as Hamas praised President Barack Obama's address Thursday as a positive shift in U.S. attitude and tone. But Arabs and Muslims of all political stripes said they want him to turn his words into action � particularly in standing up to Israel.

AP - Republican senators said Thursday prospects for a health overhaul deal dimmed after President Barack Obama declared his strong support a public insurance plan.

Politico - Adds divisive issue to his packed agenda.

AP - President Obama in Egypt told Muslims he wants to engage them and their countries. More than 5,000 miles away, U.S. administration officials sent notes to supporters � and critics � via Twitter, Facebook and text messages to reinforce the point.

AP - President Barack Obama's speech to Muslims also had a huge and attentive Jewish audience, attuned to any suggestion that he might soften U.S. support for Israel or make nice with Iran at the expense of the Jewish state. His careful words illustrate the constraints posed by Obama's political obligations as he tries to reinvigorate America's honest-broker status in the Islamic world.

Reuters - Merchants and retailers would be able to negotiate with banks to reduce costs associated with credit card purchases, according to legislation introduced on Thursday by lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives.

AP - The IRS wants to start regulating paid tax preparers used by more than half the nation's taxpayers in an effort to reduce fraud and errors.

AP - South Carolina's Supreme Court ordered Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday to take $700 million in federal stimulus money aimed primarily at struggling schools.

AFP - EU parliamentary elections began in Britain and the Netherlands Thursday with European leaders urging a high turnout amid fears that low turnouts and national protest votes could boost extremist parties.

AP - Queen Elizabeth II has marked the 500th anniversary of a troop of royal bodyguards.

CQPolitics.com - Conservative House Democrats set strict conditions Thursday for any government-run insurance plan Congress creates as part of a health care overhaul, ruling out support for a plan that resembles Medicare -- the option favored by many liberals.

AP - Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday asked a court to release two imprisoned former Alaska state lawmakers after the Justice Department found prosecutors improperly handled evidence in their trials on corruption charges.

AP - Insurgent use of roadside bombs in Afghanistan has surged 80 percent this year, remaining the No. l killer of foreign troops, a NATO official said Thursday.

AP - Defying President Barack Obama, lawmakers on Thursday saved a program that helps states with the cost of incarcerating criminal illegal immigrants as the House began the annual process of crafting the legislation to fund the government.

AP - South Carolina's Supreme Court ordered Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday to request $700 million in federal stimulus money aimed primarily at struggling schools, ending months of wrangling with legislators who accused him of playing politics with people's lives.

AP - Prosecutors are investigating Premier Silvio Berlusconi for alleged improper use of a government plane, a charge the Italian leader dismissed Thursday as politically motivated.

AP - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin traveled Thursday to a small Russian town where all three main factories were shut down and pushed through a deal to put residents back to work.

Reuters - The Obama administration stepped up its push for tougher bank and financial firm rules on Thursday, scheduling a briefing for lobbyists, with a focus on insurance oversight, and sending a top regulator to a Senate hearing to discuss plans for regulating derivatives markets.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON � Firing the opening shot in a likely battle with Wall Street, the federal regulator who's overseeing the trading of oil contracts asked Congress on Thursday for broad powers to regulate the exotic private contracts that are thought to contribute to rising oil prices and the global financial crisis.

CQPolitics.com - Rep. Carolyn McCarthy will not challenge New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a Democratic primary next year.

Politico - He says he will 'withhold judgment... until we have hearings.'

Politico - Democratic campaign ace Kiki McLean joins the magafirm's D.C. team.

AP - The practice of sending unlicensed psychologists to Iraq to treat troops did not violate Army regulations, according to a military inspector general's investigation instigated by a complaint from the father of a soldier who committed suicide.

AFP - US House Democrats said Thursday they would not vote this week on a war supplemental spending bill after Republicans balked at funding for the International Monetary Fund.

AP - Fresh commercial satellite images show that North Korea's sophisticated new missile base on its west coast � designed for multiple test flights in a short time � is ready for use, according to an independent analyst.

AP - As a federal judge, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor dealt with two important media issues � copyrights and access � and was reversed by higher courts when she ruled that freelance writers need not be compensated for online use of their published work, documents released Thursday show.

CQPolitics.com - The White House and Senate Democrats on Thursday kept up their push for a July confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Politico - The Belizean Grove has about 125 members, including Army generals, Wall St. executives and former diplomats.

AFP - A solid partnership between China and the United States will be key to assuring an effective global response to the threat posed by a changing climate, US Senator John Kerry said.

AP - Insurgent use of roadside bombs in Afghanistan has surged 80 percent this year, remaining the No. l killer of foreign troops, a NATO official said Thursday.

Politico - Obama's firm statement on settlements have become a key concern for many American supporters of Israel.

Reuters - Sonia Sotomayor's most famous race ruling will be scrutinized by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Senate in the coming weeks but the first Hispanic nominated to serve on the high court does not consider it to be among the most significant decisions of her career.

CQPolitics.com - Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor delivered multiple speeches between 1994 and 2003 in which she suggested 'a wise Latina woman' or 'wise woman' judge might 'reach a better conclusion' than a male judge.