Bloomberg - Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said legislation to revamp the U.S. health-care system won’t get through her chamber unless it creates a government-run insurance program to compete with the private industry.

AP - Outside the Veterans Affairs Department, severely wounded veterans have faced financial hardship waiting for their first disability payment. Inside, money has been flowing in the form of $24 million in bonuses.

AP - Iran has lifted a yearlong ban and allowed U.N. inspectors to visit a nearly completed nuclear reactor as well as granting greater monitoring rights at another atomic site, diplomats said Thursday.

AP - For close to a year, diplomats say, a report on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons experiments has been sitting in a drawer of a U.N. nuclear monitoring agency, with access limited to only a few top officials.

Time.com - Been a big fuss this week because Michelle Obama wore shorts. She's worn shorts before, but the photos of her wearing them in that iconic descending-from-Air-Force-One-onto-the-tarmac setting proved too much for the media

AP - North Korea is a mysterious place for most Americans. Even senior U.S. diplomats rarely set foot there, let alone meet top North Korean officials face to face.

Politico - August didn't clarify health care reform, but it shined a bright light on a beltway secret.

AP - Two men were sentenced Thursday for stealing photos of Britain's Prince William relaxing with his girlfriend, Kate Middleton, on a Caribbean vacation last year.

AP - Three men are in custody in connection with one of Britain's biggest jewel heists, police said Thursday.

Reuters - Israel and the Palestinians on Friday traded blame for failure to resume stalled peace talks after President Barack Obama renewed his call on both sides to resume negotiations as soon as possible.

Politico - August didn't clarify health care reform, but it shined a bright light on a beltway secret.

AP - Training the U.S. military is giving Georgian soldiers headed to Afghanistan include skills that could be used in any new outbreak of fighting between Georgia and Russia.

Reuters - Fighting erupted between Islamist rebels, government forces and African Union peacekeepers in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least 22 people, witnesses and medical staff said.

AP - The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is 'shocked' over reports of neglect from five African migrants who survived for three weeks in the Mediterranean Sea before being rescued by Italian authorities. Survivors told Italian authorities that up to 75 others died at sea.

AP - Georgia's defense minister said Friday that training the U.S. military is giving to the country's soldiers headed to Afghanistan involve skills that could be used in any new outbreak of fighting between Georgia and Russia.

Politico - Pundits confused about Obama's terminology at a national health care forum.

AP - The New Hampshire Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a former congressional candidate convicted of faking his disappearance in 2006.

AP - All that is golden in bank Credito Emiliano's temperature-controlled vault is not precious metal, but something equally prized in Italy: aging Parmesan cheese.

AP - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the site of the Siberia power plant accident Friday, acknowledging there's little chance of finding any of 49 missing workers alive and promising compensation for their families.

Time.com - Been a big fuss this week because Michelle Obama wore shorts. She's worn shorts before, but the photos of her wearing them in that iconic descending-from-Air-Force-One-onto-the-tarmac setting proved too much for the media

Bloomberg - Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said legislation to revamp the U.S. health-care system won’t get through her chamber unless it creates a government-run insurance program to compete with the private industry.

AP - Spain's Catholic Church has new advice for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela: Don't kiss the saint.

AP - Thousands of scientists and experts urged world leaders Friday to include strategies for global water management in the planned Copenhagen climate agreement.

AP - President Barack Obama congratulated the Afghan people Friday for pulling off a presidential election in the midst of violent intimidation by Taliban militants but cautioned that more difficult days lie ahead for the war-weary nation.

AP - President Barack Obama on Friday called the elaborate Libyan homecoming for the freed Lockerbie bomber 'highly objectionable.'

AP - The idea of a government medical plan to compete with private insurance has become a litmus test in the health care debate. It could easily have been nothing more than a forgotten proposal gathering dust on some professor's bookshelf.

Politico - Steny Hoyer says that the public option may have to go in order to get a bill passed.

AP - An insurgent attack on a peacekeeping base sparked gunbattles that killed at least 24 people Friday, as the undermanned African peacekeeping force tried to maintain the government's tenuous hold on Somalia's battered capital.

Reuters - Bookmaker Paddy Power has cut the odds on a 'No' vote in a second Irish referendum on the European Union's Lisbon treaty after a flow of punters gambled on another defeat, a spokeswoman said Friday.

CQPolitics.com - Although a comprehensive immigration overhaul appears to be too much for Congress to contemplate this year, some targeted proposals still may advance when lawmakers return to work in September.

AP - President Barack Obama left the White House on Friday for a 10-day vacation, taking with him the beloved family dog and leaving behind an acrimonious debate about a proposed overhaul of the nation's health care system.

AP - Georgia's defense minister asserted Friday that U.S. training for his Afghanistan-bound troops could also be put to use in any new flare-up with Russia, then retracted the statement amid American handwringing.

Politico - Some Democrats point to a decision in June as the first vivid sign of trouble for Obama.

Reuters - Around 75 African migrants died in the Mediterranean after their stranded boat ran out of food and water, the United Nations said Friday, quoting the only five survivors of what it called a 'shocking tragedy.'

AP - Seventy years ago Sunday, the Soviet Union signed a pact with Nazi Germany that gave dictator Josef Stalin a free hand to take over part of Poland and the Baltic states on the eve of World War II.

Politico - The latest weather projections indicate that Hurricane Bill could spoil some of President Barack Obama’s vacation plans this coming week in Martha’s Vineyard.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — As President Barack Obama tries to regain control over the health care debate, one challenge is holding together the massive roster of organizations that support an overhaul of the system, or at least some parts of it.

CQPolitics.com - State Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia, sought Friday to regain momentum with a heavily promoted speech aimed at sharpening his themes for the Nov. 3 election -- and his differences with his Republican opponent, former state Attorney General Bob McDonnell, who has been leading in recent polls.

Bloomberg - Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said legislation to revamp the U.S. health-care system won’t get through her chamber unless it creates a government-run insurance program to compete with the private industry.

AP - Expiring Monday, the Cash for Clunkers program encouraged more than a half-million Americans to dump their gas guzzlers for new cars and provided a much-needed, short-term boost to the economy.

AP - The Obama administration expects the federal deficit over the next decade to be $2 trillion bigger than previously estimated, White House officials said Friday, a setback for a president already facing a Congress and public wary over spending.

AFP - A bitter war of words between EU members Hungary and Slovakia was Friday ratched up as Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom cancelled a private visit after Bratislava said it would bar him from entering.

AFP - US President Barack Obama still hopes to pass his embattled health care overhaul in 2009 in the face of growing public doubts about his approach, the White House said Friday.

Politico - White House is likely to dramatically increase its projected 10-year budget deficit estimate next week.

AP - New York Gov. David Paterson said Friday that the media has exploited racial stereotypes in coverage of him, President Barack Obama and fellow black Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts.

AP - The National Education Association pointedly criticized the Obama administration, saying the president is relying too heavily on charter schools and standardized tests in his attempt to overhaul the nation's schools.

Politico - New poll: 55 percent of Montana Dems disapprove of longtime senator's actions on health care.

AP - The pilot of an airliner stranded overnight on an airport tarmac in Minnesota pleaded unsuccessfully for her 47 passengers to be allowed to get off and go inside a terminal. 'We just need to work out some way to get them off ... We can't keep them here any longer,' she said.

AP - The idea of a government medical plan to compete with private insurance has become a litmus test in the health care debate. It could easily have been nothing more than a forgotten proposal gathering dust on some professor's bookshelf.

AP - The White House will hold a series of community discussions on HIV and AIDS throughout the country beginning next week.

AP - President Barack Obama puzzled people when he said Washington 'gets all wee-weed up.' The White House offered a translation Friday: Folks are wetting the bed over the health care debate.

AP - The CIA's internal investigator found that agency interrogators conducted mock executions of terror suspects and in one case threatened a detainee suspected in the USS Cole bombing with a gun and power drill, congressional officials said late Friday.

CQPolitics.com - If you are a congressional incumbent facing a difficult re-election campaign in 2010, you are more likely than most colleagues to buck the leadership of your party on legislative votes.