Politico - There is little disputing that right now Barack Obama is the world’s biggest celebrity.

Politico - In a letter to Congress, the White House lists its reasons for firing Walpin.

AP - Britain has abandoned some attempts to gather intelligence from detainees held overseas for fear they may be abused, the foreign secretary said Tuesday.

Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama will sign a memorandum on Wednesday to extend healthcare and other benefits to unmarried domestic partners of federal workers, a White House official said on Tuesday.

AP - In a show of unity, President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak have issued a stern warning to North Korea, vowing to stop the reclusive nation from using nuclear brinkmanship to squeeze concessions from a frightened world.

AP - NAME — John Ensign.

Politico - POLITICO's Arena contributors discuss health care reform and what Obama should anticipate.

Politico - Democrats from rural districts are threatening to revolt against parts Obama’s first-year agenda.

Politico - Industry is critical of the organic push from the Obama White House.

AP - Evidently, there's a new SWAT team at the White House — and it's Barack Obama.

Reuters - Private developers of New York's World Trade Center site and the public agency that owns the land have failed to reach a deal to allow construction to go forward, the city's Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday.

AP - Until its surprise move to buy Saab from General Motors, luxury automaker Koenigsegg Automotive AB was known mainly to a privileged few who could afford to spend more than a $1 million on a high-speed, customized sports car.

Reuters - Stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday as caution prevailed ahead of key inflation data for May and quarterly results from package delivery company FedEx Corp that may shed light on the strength of the economic recovery.

Bloomberg - June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The largest expansion of U.S. health care since the creation of Medicare in 1965 may emerge from legislation designed to reshape the medical industry and change how Americans receive and pay for care.

AP - The Associated Press has learned that a review of deadly airstrikes in Afghanistan last month is recommending better training for air and ground forces.

AP - Facing a world of diplomatic woes from Iran to North Korea, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had the opportunity to get some heavyweight advice at a dinner held by eight of her living predecessors.

AFP - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari pushed for greater access to European markets on Wednesday, saying that trade rather than aid was his chief goal in a landmark summit with the EU.

AP - Turkish and Turkish Cypriot warships staged search and rescue drills off the island of Cyprus on Wednesday amid tensions over a disputed search for oil and gas.

AP - A husband and wife charged with three decades of spying for Cuba want a judge to let them out of jail and confine them at home, without access to their sailboat and maps of Cuban waters that prosecutors said were evidence they planned to flee to the island nation.

Politico - His party uncertain whether to proceed with sanctions on a senator once viewed as a rising star.

AP - The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee says there have not been flagrant violations of rules governing surveillance of American e-mails and phone calls.

AP - Fewer people sought refuge outside their homelands last year than in 2007, but the world remained an unwelcoming place for many who fled.

AP - A White House lawyer says President Barack Obama fired the watchdog for federal AmeriCorps programs because he was 'unduly disruptive' and engaged in 'trouble and inappropriate conduct.'

AP - The U.S. urged North Korea on Wednesday to stop its nuclear saber-rattling and negotiate with the world's great powers, vowing that Washington would never accept Pyongyang as an atomic weapons state.

AP - EU leaders hope to save their ambitious reform treaty at a two day summit starting Thursday by cutting a deal with Ireland on sovereignty issues in an effort to persuade reluctant Irish voters who have already rejected the pact once to say 'yes' in a new vote.

Reuters - President Barack Obama laid out his vision for reshaping U.S. financial regulation on Wednesday, aiming to tighten oversight of large firms whose excessive risk-taking triggered a global economic slump.

CQPolitics.com - For the second time in three weeks, House Democrats on Tuesday blocked a Republican attempt to open an investigation into Speaker Nancy Pelosi's charge that the CIA misled her in 2002 about its use of harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding on terrorism suspects.

AP - The Environmental Protection Agency for the first time has declared a public health emergency in a contaminated community, targeting a Montana town Wednesday for immediate federal attention.

Politico - The GOP's swift movement is a sign that the party wants nothing to do with another sex scandal.

AP - Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday there may be 50 or more trials of Guantanamo Bay detainees as the Obama administration works to shut the detention center by early next year.

AP - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is urging greater counterterrorism cooperation among the United States, India and Pakistan and says she'll visit India next month as the Obama administration moves to strengthen ties with New Delhi.

AFP - Republican US Senator John Ensign has resigned his Senate leadership post one day after admitting to an extra-marital affair, the chamber's top Republican said in a statement Wednesday.

AP - President Barack Obama will unveil his proposal to overhaul regulations covering major financial institutions.

AFP - President Barack Obama will Wednesday extend some federal benefits to same-sex partners of US government workers, in a nod to gay and lesbian groups becoming critical of his administration.

CQPolitics.com - President Obama's expansive proposal to reshape the battered financial system, set to be unveiled Wednesday afternoon, centers on expanding the power of the Federal Reserve to regulate the nation's largest financial institutions, as well as creating two new regulators with broad authority over key sectors of the industry.

Bloomberg - June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The largest expansion of U.S. health care since the creation of Medicare in 1965 may emerge from legislation designed to reshape the medical industry and change how Americans receive and pay for care.

Politico - In 2008, son receives paycheck from NRSC.

Politico - At issue, House GOP leaders say, is the late Tuesday night move by Democratic leaders.

AP - A Spanish cruise ship was turned away from two Caribbean ports Wednesday because of fears of swine flu among crew members, the vessel's owner said.

AFP - The EU pledged aid to Pakistan Wednesday for the hundreds of thousands of families displaced by a government offensive on the Taliban and vowed to help Islamabad tackle the root causes of extremism.

Reuters - The Obama administration proposed on Wednesday an immediate 18-month extension of the law funding highway and transit repairs as well as a timetable for replenishing the dwindling trust account that funds those projects.

CQPolitics.com - Sen. John Ensign has resigned his GOP leadership post a day after announcing he had an affair with a campaign staffer who was married to one of his Senate aides.

AP - The Obama administration will pursue talks with Iran on nuclear and other issues regardless of who emerges as president in the aftermath of Iran's disputed election, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday.

AP - It's just about the last thing the beleaguered Republican Party needed: a Christian conservative with national aspirations admitting to an extramarital affair with an ex-staffer.

Politico - The actress gives President Obama an an unqualified endorsement.

Politico - Rep. John Kline will serve as the top GOP lawmaker on the House Committee on Education and Labor.

AP - The pendulum of government regulation is swinging in a new direction. The government spent most of the past three decades dismantling rules put in place to fix the bad practices that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s. President Barack Obama's financial overhaul plan marks a clear step back toward greater regulation.

AP - Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday there may be 50 or more trials of Guantanamo Bay detainees as the Obama administration works to shut the detention center by early next year.

AP - The national service agency's inspector general, fired by President Barack Obama, disputed on Wednesday claims from the White House that he was 'confused' and 'disoriented' at an agency meeting.

AP - The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday voted to give judges authority over how witnesses dress in court after a Muslim woman refused to remove her veil while testifying in a small claims case.

AP - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday that his nation and its allies will not be intimidated by nuclear threats from neighboring North Korea.

AP - An Austrian court has convicted a man of glorifying Nazi ideology and sentenced him to two years in prison.

AFP - EU leaders are set to back Jose Manuel Barroso's bid for a second term as EU Commission chief, at a summit starting Thursday, though hurdles remain, European sources said Wednesday.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama moved Wednesday to shift the pendulum of history, proposing sweeping new government regulation of the nation's financial system and turning sharply away from the anti-government, pro-free-market passion that's dominated American politics for three decades.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Even the most hardened partisans agree: Republicans and Democrats must find common ground on overhauling America's health care system or the effort is likely to fail.

Politico - News poll shows high levels of optimism on economy, but skepticism about the policies of Obama.

Politico - After weeks of relative calm on the issue, the process hit its roughest stretch all year.

AP - A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for a man accused of telling bank employees in Utah he was 'on a mission to kill' President Barack Obama.

CQPolitics.com - A top Air Force general says President Obama's plan to end production of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet puts U.S. military strategy at 'high risk.'

AP - It's just about the last thing the beleaguered Republican Party needed: a Christian conservative with national aspirations admitting to an extramarital affair with an ex-staffer.

AP - The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he's bedeviled by a fly in the White House.

AP - The pendulum of government regulation is swinging in a new direction. The government spent most of the past three decades dismantling rules put in place to fix the bad practices that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s. President Barack Obama's financial overhaul plan marks a clear step back toward greater regulation.

AP - Government efforts to stop the flow of guns from the United States to Mexico have suffered in recent years from having no clear plan to combat gunrunners affiliated with drug cartels, investigators have concluded.

CQPolitics.com - Democrats have long said overhauling health care will be difficult. And this week, as Congress begins trying to move legislation, they have stumbled over how to provide broader coverage without sending taxpayers into sticker shock.

Reuters - Legislation that could radically change how the United States plans and pays for roads and transit, and which will likely cost $450 billion, will be passed the House of Representatives by August, two influential lawmakers said on Wednesday.

AFP - President Barack Obama hinted at the lethal force he will bring to bear on intruders who float past his security detail when he squashed a fly during an interview at the White House.