AP - A former campaign aide to Sen. John Ensign confirmed her involvement Wednesday in an extramarital affair with the conservative Republican, lamented his decision to 'air this very personal matter' and said she eventually would tell her side of the story.

AP - The Obama administration and Israel gave no ground Wednesday in their opposing views over Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory despite speculation the two sides might be nearing compromise.

CQPolitics.com - Did it. Sorry. Moving on. These are the new talking points for politicians ensnared in sex scandals, say political image consultants.

Politico - Organizers of the Democratic fundraising dinner find a way around Obama's lobbyist contribution ban.

AP - The Obama administration and the House's top Democrat on transportation policy agree on the need to improve highways, cut traffic congestion and get people out of their cars by providing better transportation alternatives.

AP - Health care costs are weighing heavily on Americans, with nearly half of those polled in a new survey saying they're worried about paying for future care.

AFP - President Barack Obama has extended partial federal benefits to same-sex partners of US government workers, in what he said was a historic step towards equality for gays and lesbians.

Politico - In an Ideas piece, Penn says the core political problem with health care is about the math.

Politico - Simon says: Prosecutors once said John Hinckley was sane. Now they say he is crazy.

AP - Steve Cohen, a two-term white congressman from a mostly black House district, faces a bruising Democratic primary next year and race again will likely be at the center of the campaign.

AP - Russia and Belarus stepped back from their growing trade dispute Wednesday, as Minsk said it would dismantle new customs posts following Moscow's agreement to resume dairy imports from its western neighbor.

AP - The United States has asked Spain to accept four prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorism suspects, the foreign minister said Wednesday.

AP - Democratic leaders have committed to enacting by the end of the year the biggest regulatory revision to the U.S. financial system since the 1930s — an undertaking so ambitious it has some lawmakers worried about missteps.

AP - Former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean gave the Obama administration high marks Thursday for its arms-length response to the disputed presidential election in Iran.

AP - Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean says there can be no meaningful health care overhaul in America without a public option for individuals not now covered.

AFP - European Union leaders meet Thursday to grant Ireland guarantees to ensure its voters will back a sweeping reform package and decide the future of the EU's most high-profile post.

AP - About 1,500 years after Christian zealots vandalized the Parthenon's pagan sculptures, Greece's Orthodox Church Wednesday formally blessed the new Acropolis Museum, set to open this weekend after years of delays.

AP - The Supreme Court says convicts have no constitutional right to test DNA evidence in hopes of proving their innocence long after they were found guilty of a crime.

AP - The Supreme Court has agreed to reinstate a roughly $500 million settlement of asbestos lawsuits against the Travelers Companies Inc.

AP - The Obama administration on Wednesday offered a temporary finance plan that could put off an overhaul of federal highway programs — and what is likely to be a politically sensitive vote to raise gas taxes — until after next year's midterm congressional elections.

AP - Spain's bishops are urging Catholic lawmakers to vote against a bill that would ease the country's abortion law.

Reuters - Russia said on Thursday that U.S. President Barack Obama was the sole western leader not to belittle the Soviet role in defeating Nazi Germany at this month's D-Day commemorations.

AP - The Senate has unanimously passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and racial segregation and sent the measure to the House.

AP - The Obama administration is warning it may withhold millions of extra stimulus dollars from states that use the money to plug budget holes instead of boosting aid for schools.

AP - A top Justice Department attorney under criminal investigation for withholding evidence in the case against former Sen. Ted Stevens has been removed as the supervisor of another congressional corruption trial.

AP - Senior lawmakers are questioning the Obama administration's plan to task the Federal Reserve with monitoring firms deemed so big and influential that their demise could hurt the economy.

AP - Omar Bongo of Gabon, one of the world's longest ruling heads of state, was buried Thursday in his native province after a weeklong state funeral that saw nearly two dozen world leaders pay their respects.

AP - Israel accused the head of the U.N. atomic agency of political bias in its probe of Syria Thursday, provoking a bitter response by the agency chief.

Reuters - The United States risks being 'wallflowers at the dance' as other countries pursue trade deals while the Obama administration sits on the sidelines, a senior Republican senator said on Thursday.

AP - Terrorist groups that have long used the Internet to spread propaganda are increasingly tapping the Web to teach Islamic extremists how to be hackers, recruit techies for cyberwarfare and raise money through online fraud, U.S. officials say.

AP - House Democrats are pushing for a big increase in the number of lawmakers who hear briefings on the nation's most sensitive intelligence operations, from the current 'Gang of Eight' to about 40.

Politico - The Olive Garden says it is cancelling all of its scheduled ads on Letterman’s “Late Show” for the year.

AP - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expects to have surgery soon to repair a broken elbow she suffered in a fall in the State Department garage.

AP - Russia says talks with the United States on nuclear arms reductions have been constructive, but suggests a summit next month may not bring a new deal.

AP - A Spanish cruise ship hit by a small outbreak of swine flu was headed Thursday for the Caribbean island of Aruba, where more than 400 passengers will disembark, the vessel's Spanish owner said.

Reuters - A uranium fuel supply plan hailed by U.S. President Barack Obama as a way to stem the spread of nuclear arms stalled in talks at the U.N. atomic watchdog on Thursday after resistance from developing nations.

AP - Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the accidental killing of civilians in Afghanistan has become one of the military's greatest strategic problems in the faltering war.

AP - Mud season has been extended.

AP - Republicans have lost an effort to kill a $1 billion 'cash for clunkers' program that would offer government incentives of $3,500 to $4,500 to consumers who trade in old gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient vehicles.

AP - The Supreme Court said Thursday that a convicted rapist has no constitutional right to test biological evidence used at his trial in Alaska years earlier, leaving it to the states to decide when prisoners get access to genetic evidence that might prove their innocence.

AP - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown backed down Thursday on a decision that an inquiry into the Iraq war be held in private, inviting the panel's chairman to indicate whether some sessions could be held in public.

AP - In a rare victory for Western countries, the U.N. Human Rights Council voted Thursday to continue its close scrutiny of the situation in Sudan against the wishes of the African country and its allies on the 47-member body.

Reuters - The U.S. Senate rejected on Thursday an attempt to strip a $1 billion program aimed at spurring flagging U.S. car sales from a pending $106 billion war funding bill.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a resolution Thursday calling on the U.S. to apologize officially for the enslavement and segregation of millions of African-Americans and to acknowledge 'the fundamental injustice, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws.'

CQPolitics.com - The Senate adopted a resolution Thursday offering a formal apology for slavery and the era of 'separate but equal' Jim Crow laws that followed.

Bloomberg - June 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate Finance Committee may postpone action on a health-care overhaul bill until July, a possible delay that comes as the potential costs of a revamp give Democrats pause and hand Republican opponents fresh ammunition.

AP - U.S. officials say the military is tracking a ship from North Korea, the first vessel monitored under the new United Nations nonproliferation resolution.

AP - U.S. special operations forces in Afghanistan need more precision weapons systems to better avoid unintended civilian deaths, a top military officer told Congress Thursday.

AP - The solid armor of President Barack Obama's popularity may have a crack — a nearly $2 trillion-sized one.

AP - Congress approved a 'cash for clunkers' program Thursday to provide government incentives of $3,500 to $4,500 to motorists who trade in their gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient vehicles after Senate Democrats narrowly defeated a Republican effort to kill the plan.

AP - A federal judge said Thursday that he wants to look at notes from the FBI's interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative.

AP - A GOP senator said Thursday he will use hearings on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court to ask whether she intends to be a justice 'for all of us, or just for some of us.'

AP - A Swiss court sentenced a woman to eight and a half years in prison Thursday for murdering one of France's richest men by shooting him while he was dressed in a latex suit and tied up in a chair during sex games.

AP - Of all the financial regulatory changes the Obama administration has proposed, one stands tallest as a threat to bank industry profits: the creation of an agency to protect consumers from risky products.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — The Senate approved a $105.9 billion emergency war-spending bill Thursday after the White House assured lawmakers that it would bar the release of photos of detained terrorism suspects by an executive order if necessary. The vote was 91-5.

CQPolitics.com - It looks like Sen. John Kerry may have to wait at least another week to find out if he can add executive film producer to his resume.

AP - The House on Thursday used the first spending bill for 2010 to notify the White House that it will not go along with President Barack Obama's plan to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

AP - The House on Thursday postponed a vote on the impeachment of a federal judge now in prison for lying about the sexual assaults of two female workers.

AP - The Obama administration again chose caution over condemnation in its comments Thursday on the Iranian election crisis, a careful tack followed by other democratic nations anxious not to damage prospects for engaging whatever government emerges.

AP - Britain's Parliament posted copies of lawmakers' expense claims online Thursday, weeks after uncensored files were leaked to a newspaper. Here are some of the new revelations about what legislators charged the public for:

AP - Diplomats posted in Britain owe more than 27 million pounds ($44 million) in unpaid parking tickets, traffic fines and fees for driving in London's so-called congestion zone, the government said Thursday.

Reuters - A top Air Force general, swerving from the Pentagon leadership, said ending production of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22 Raptor fighter jet, as proposed by President Barack Obama, posed a high risk to U.S. ability to carry out its current military strategy.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday said he was having 'a big problem' with Congressional efforts to restore funding for the F-22, indicating that a showdown is looming between the Pentagon and Capitol Hill over the future of the one of the Air Force's most advanced fighter jets.

CQPolitics.com - The leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday pressed a Latino advocacy group to quickly search its records for documents related to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who is a former member of the group.

AP - U.S. special operations forces in Afghanistan need more precision weapons systems to better avoid unintended civilian deaths, a top military officer told Congress Thursday.

AP - A French court convicted a woman of murdering three of her newborn children and sentenced her Thursday to eight years in prison.

AP - Britain's Prince William has hinted he would like to follow in the army-booted footsteps of his younger brother and fight on the front line.

AP - Britons won the chance on Thursday to see the lawmaker expenses claims that sparked a political scandal — but found the most outrageous details hidden by the thick black strokes of a censor's pen.