Politico - Fox host jokes on air about poisoning Nancy Pelosi, drawing a sharp rebuke from a liberal media group.

AP - Wanda Sykes says she wasn't interested in hosting a late night talk show until Barack Obama decided to run for president.

Politico - Eric Massa feels the heat during a two-hour health care town hall meeting.

Politico - Obama may 'own' the economy now — but he’s not ready to let anyone forget who left it to him.

AFP - The situation in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region is stabilizing with UN-African Union peacekeepers able to provide improved security but still in need of crucial air mobility, their outgoing commander said here Thursday.

AP - The Obama White House is applauding an encouraging jobs report as evidence the country has retreated from the brink of depression.

Politico - The drop is an unexpected burst of good news for Obama after a very rough month for his agenda.

AP - A pregnant Briton sentenced to life imprisonment in Laos for trafficking heroin has arrived back in Britain to serve the remainder of her sentence.

AP - Gunshots were fired during a confrontation between U.N. troops and demonstrators on Haiti's central plateau that injured at least three people, peacekeepers said Thursday.

AP - U.S. authorities are increasingly confident that top Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud was killed in Wednesday's U.S. missile strike in northeastern Pakistan, officials said Friday.

AP - New York congresswoman Carolyn Maloney will not challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (KEHR'-sten JIL'-uh-brand) in the state's Democratic primary.

Politico - Citing personal reasons, Martinez tells staff and allies that he will step down before the end of August.

AP - The White House on Friday welcomed a dip in the nation's unemployment rate but said President Barack Obama still expects it to hit 10 percent this year.

AFP - Millions more people in Nepal are suffering severe food shortages after a 'sharp and sustained decline in food security' in recent years, the United Nations warned Friday.

AP - On at least a dozen recent flights by U.S. jetliners, malfunctioning equipment made it impossible for pilots to know how fast they were flying, federal investigators have discovered. A similar breakdown is believed to have played a role in the Air France crash into the Atlantic that killed all 228 people aboard in June.

Politico - Jenny Sanford, South Carolina’s first lady, announces that she is moving out of the Governor’s mansion.

Politico - Citing personal reasons, Martinez tells staff and allies that he will step down before the end of August.

AP - The Department of Defense says no criminal charges will be filed against military contractor KBR Inc. in connection with the electrocution of a Green Beret soldier who died while showering in his barracks in Iraq.

CQPolitics.com - Two days after irate committee leaders threatened to hold up his nomination, the Senate on Friday confirmed Daniel R. Elliott to serve on the Surface Transportation Board.

AP - Airlines are replacing airspeed sensors on their Airbus A330 and A340 airliners, which have been a focus of the investigation into the June 1 crash of Air France Flight 447. The only U.S. airlines operating the planes are Northwest, with 32, and US Airways, with 11. The airlines with the greatest number of the planes are:

AP - President Barack Obama says his nominee for ambassador to Japan will be able to communicate directly with him on U.S.-Japanese issues.

AFP - US President Barack Obama has nominated former top communications watchdog William Kennard to become the US representative to the European Union.

AP - Parisians and tourists, relax. That goofy-looking tricycle equipped with loads of high-tech equipment roaming the streets is not some mad scientist's invention on the rampage.

CQPolitics.com - New York Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney's on-again-off-again campaign for the Senate came to an end on Friday.

AP - Don't panic, schools. The government is urging school officials to stay calm when swine flu strikes this fall, closing buildings only in drastic cases and allowing sick students to return as soon as 24 hours after their fever is gone.

AP - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't want to break the link with anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.

Politico - Dodd, Conrad didn’t violate Senate ethics rules with VIP loans.

AP - Charles Taylor accuses the United States of gunboat diplomacy, of dumping him as part of a global policy of 'regime change' and of hypocrisy on human rights. Defending himself in court against war crimes charges, the former Liberian president is hitting back at his nemesis.

AP - The Senate on Friday approved the nomination of two of President Barack Obama's top Interior Department officials to help oversee public land use policies.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Republicans are aggressively spreading a simple but tart message across the nation this summer: Democrats only want to tax and spend wildly and expand an already-bloated government.

CQPolitics.com - Florida Sen. Mel Martinez announced Friday that he will soon resign his Senate seat.

Bloomberg - Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate Ethics Committee said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd of Connecticut and fellow Democrat Kent Conrad of North Dakota didn’t violate ethics rules in refinancing their home mortgages with Countrywide Financial Corp.

AP - It's the clearest sign yet the recession is finally ending: Employers laid off far fewer workers in July, the jobless rate dipped for the first time in 15 months and workers' hours and pay edged upward.

AP - The family of a long-missing Navy pilot will get another military briefing Tuesday on information surrounding his death in Iraq nearly 20 years ago. That will be followed by a memorial service on Friday.

AP - The lethal drone attack that apparently killed a top Taliban leader in Pakistan is likely to bolster America's dual effort there: solidifying a sometimes shaky partnership with Islamabad while pursuing insurgents hidden along the country's border.

AP - The Senate on Friday confirmed Dr. Francis Collins, a scientist who helped unravel the human genetic code, as director of the National Institutes of Health.

AP - The Obama administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to block the release of disturbing pictures of detainee abuse on grounds their disclosure could incite violence in Afghanistan and Iraq and endanger U.S. troops there.

AFP - Last year's unrest in Tibet and July's violence in Xinjiang were instigated by separatists abroad, China told a United Nations human rights hearing Friday.

AP - Hundreds of people gathered Friday to pay their respects at the funeral of a 45-year-old woman, the sixth fatal victim in a series of attacks against Gypsies in Hungary.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Science and technology are key to solving the interconnected challenges of the economy, energy, climate change and health care, President Barack Obama's science advisers said this week.

CQPolitics.com - Fourteen people have been nominated as Supreme Court justices since 1975, the year that John Paul Stevens, the longest-serving member of the current court, was nominated. CQ's interactive chart shows how long the process took for each of those 13 nominees, and breaks it down into each step along the way.

Politico - 'We haven't had time to settle into a routine yet,' says Sen. Franken's spokesman Jess McIntosh.

AP - Portugal has agreed to take two Syrian detainees from Guantanamo on humanitarian grounds, the government said Friday — becoming the third EU nation to accept inmates from the U.S. military prison.

Reuters - President Barack Obama said on Friday that he has no quick way to resolve the political crisis in Honduras, where supporters of a coup are refusing to let ousted President Manuel Zelaya return to power.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Rep. Emanuel Cleaver will hold his monthly 'Coffee with Cleaver' Saturday morning, and the Missouri Democrat, a Methodist minister, is praying for the best.

AP - The lethal drone attack that apparently killed a top Taliban leader in Pakistan is likely to bolster America's dual effort there: solidifying a sometimes shaky partnership with Islamabad while pursuing insurgents hidden along the country's border.

AP - Congress' longest-serving member and a fierce health care advocate vowed Friday to push ahead with Democratic-led efforts to extend coverage to all, saying he won't be intimidated by protesters who disrupted his town-hall meetings.

AP - A North Carolina congressman who supports an overhaul of the health care system had his life threatened by a caller upset that he was not holding a public forum on the proposal, his office said Friday.