AP - The top U.S. Marine is checking on troops in one war zone as he gets ready to send more to the next.

Politico - Waxman’s investigation began with letters to the insurance industry’s powerful trade group.

AP - The final standing steel column removed from ground zero after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is returning to the site after more than seven years in storage.

Reuters - Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom canceled a private visit to Slovakia Friday after Bratislava called the trip a provocation, in fresh escalation of tensions between the two European Union and NATO members.

AP - Guaranty Bank became the second-largest U.S. bank to fail this year after the Texas lender was shut down by regulators and most of its operations sold at a loss of billions of dollars for the U.S. government to a major Spanish bank.

AP - A lawyer says the family of a French flight attendant who perished in an Air France plane crash on June 1 over the Atlantic Ocean is suing the airline to force it to release information on what caused the tragedy.

AP - A landslide at a Portuguese seaside resort killed five people and injured at least four Friday, officials said.

Politico - A ground zero view in a district like Rep. Allen Boyd’s underlines the anger and frustration that is bubbling over as summer wanes. 

AP - When Barack Obama's presidential prospects sagged, Sen. Edward Kennedy lifted the candidate with a coveted endorsement.

AP - One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition — just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the U.S.

Politico - A view in a district like Allen Boyd’s underlines the anger that is bubbling over as summer wanes.

Reuters - More than 100,000 people in Yemen, many of them children, have fled their homes during a recent surge in fighting between the government and Shi'ite Muslim rebels, a U.N. agency said on Friday.

AP - FBI Director Robert Mueller thundered down on Scotland's justice minister for releasing the Lockerbie bomber, an act that 'gives comfort to terrorists' all over the world.

AP - Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says pressure from fellow Cabinet members to raise the nation's terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election helped convince him it was time to quit working for President George W. Bush.

AP - When time comes for the Federal Reserve and other central banks to ward off inflation by boosting interest rates from the current super-low levels, they shouldn't pussyfoot around, an economist and expert on monetary policy warned Saturday.

Bloomberg - Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama is likely in September to end Democratic efforts to work with Republicans on health-care legislation and press for a party-line vote if the stalemate on the issue in the U.S. Senate persists, a person close to the White House said.

Reuters - An early agreement on a global trade deal is possible with more cooperation and negotiators are working overtime for the success of the Doha round of talks, a World Trade Organization (WTO) official said on Saturday.

AP - The U.S. military has quietly tightened its detention policy to require that the International Committee of the Red Cross be notified promptly of terror suspects held at a special camp in Iraq and another in Afghanistan, a senior military officer said Saturday.

AP - President Barack Obama is challenging critics of his push to overhaul the health care system to stop making 'phony claims' about proposals now the subject of intense coast-to-coast debate.

Politico - With his own health flickering, Kennedy is a rallying force for advocates of national health care reform.

AP - The U.S. military has quietly tightened its detention policy to require that the International Committee of the Red Cross be notified promptly of terror suspects held at a special camp in Iraq and another in Afghanistan, a senior military officer said Saturday.

AP - President Barack Obama is challenging critics of his push to overhaul the health care system to stop making 'phony claims' about proposals now the subject of intense coast-to-coast debate.

AP - A group opposed to President Barack Obama's health-care proposals is planning an ad campaign to run locally while the first family vacations for the week in Martha's Vineyard.

CQPolitics.com - Democratic Lt. Gov. John Garamendi appears in strong shape for the special election primary in California's 10th District, as the campaign for that Sept. 1 contest reaches its final days.