Politico - Both Democrats and Republicans are speaking against the ban.

Politico - Mike Allen speaks with Karl Rove about his new book 'Courage and Consequence.'

The Christian Science Monitor - It’s starting to look like the Hatfields versus the McCoys. Except, in this instance, it’s two branches of government duking it out: the judicial branch (Chief Justice John Roberts) versus the executive (President Obama).

CQPolitics.com - While Senate Republicans boast top-flight female candidates in several marquee races, there appears to be a dearth of GOP women running in some of the most competitive House races across the country.

AP - Toyota's massive recalls are bringing new scrutiny to the government's auto safety agency, prompting Congress to look at how federal safety officials have lived up to their mission of protecting motorists.

AP - A conservative group's bashing of several Obama administration lawyers as the 'al-Qaida Seven' has struck a nerve in the U.S. legal community, prompting even some fellow Republicans to denounce the group's attack.

AP - One is a former Democratic freshman little known outside his Corning-Olean-Pittsford, N.Y., district. The other, a 20-term Democratic kingpin from Harlem, is widely known to New Yorkers and anyone following tax legislation.

AP - On Christmas Day, a passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit tried to blow up the plane with plastic explosives in his underwear. He failed, yet the very attempt shook the U.S. government, set federal agencies against each other and triggered months of political second-guessing.

Politico - Tensions are rising as the caucus attempts to address the high unemployment rate among blacks.

Time.com - Caught short on civilian trials for terrorism suspects and closing GuantÁnamo, the Obama Administration is negotiating with GOP Senator Lindsey Graham. But it's not clear he can deliver

AP - Two years after receiving its first deposits, a 'doomsday' seed vault on an Arctic island has amassed half a million seed samples, making it the world's most diverse repository of crop seeds, the vault's operators announced Thursday.

Reuters - President Barack Obama, anxious to spur growth and tackle unemployment, will name two top executives from Boeing and Xerox on Thursday to spearhead his drive to boost U.S. exports, the White House said.

AP - U.S. highway deaths have fallen to their lowest levels since the 1950s.

AP - A British boy kidnapped from his family's home in Pakistan has yet to be found, British and Pakistani officials said Thursday, following erroneous news of his release which one Pakistani diplomat here said was the result of mistaken identity.

AP - A U.N. food agency said Thursday it will cooperate with any independent probe into its food operations in Somalia, after a report found that up to half the food aid intended for the nation's hungry people does not reach its destination.

AP - President Barack Obama says doubling exports over the next five years will boost the economy by helping U.S. companies sell their goods and services abroad and creating new jobs at home.

AP - Over the years, 'Little Billy' learned much from the country's top minds.

Politico - But he says talks with Sen. Bob Corker continue.

AFP - A key US senator said Thursday he would unveil new legislation come Monday to rewrite US financial rules and prevent a repeat of the global economic meltdown of 2008.

AP - Excerpts from the responses by prominent figures to letters from 'Little Billy,' the grade-schooler alter ego of prankster Bill Geerhart, appearing in the book 'Little Billy's Letters':

AP - The Wisconsin Supreme Court has sided with a truck dealership in a dispute with a major manufacturer of semitrailers.

AP - A British Airways computer expert is in court charged with plotting suicide bombings — including one he allegedly planned to carry out himself.

AP - House Democratic leaders Thursday walked their rank-and-file members through last-minute agreements that could move President Barack Obama's overhaul of the nation's health care system a step closer to reality.

AP - House Minority Leader John Boehner said Thursday he wants the ethics panel probe of former Rep. Eric Massa reopened to find out what Democratic leaders and their staff knew about the allegations.

Politico - Republican leaders will offer resolution asking ethics committee to continue Massa investigation.

AP - The House voted unanimously Thursday to impeach a U.S. district judge from Louisiana, who lawmakers said avoided likely criminal charges related to alleged payoffs in part because the statute of limitations expired.

AP - As of Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at least 4,382 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

AP - The European Parliament voted Thursday to condemn Cuba for the 'avoidable and cruel' death of a dissident hunger striker, earning a stinging response from Havana, which said it did not appreciate the lecture and would not respond to international pressure.

AP - A Rome high school has decided to install vending machines selling condoms for its students, sparking angry reaction from the Catholic Church which claims the move will only encourage youths to have sex.

AP - Government vehicle safety regulators may seek greater authority to investigate defects in cars and trucks following Toyota's recall of more than 8 million vehicles for safety problems.

AP - House Democrats have stopped a Republican bid to force an investigation into whether Democratic leaders covered up allegations that former Rep. Eric Massa sexually harassed male employees.

Politico - Senators already agitated by a trickle of bad news about the program make their discomfort plain.

Politico - They'll offer resolution to continue investigation.

CQPolitics.com - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he is leaving it up to his caucus to decide whether to wrap a health care overhaul and a student loan bill into a single budget reconciliation package.

AP - German educators sharply criticized Catholic church officials for their handling of a spiraling child abuse scandal even as more alledged victims came forward Thursday, including a former member of the all-boys choir led by the pope's brother.

AFP - Somali government forces backed by African Union troops raided Islamist rebel positions in Mogadishu Thursday, sparking a heavy fire exchange which killed more than 20 civilians and injured scores.

CQPolitics.com - House Democratic leaders worked Thursday to assuage the concerns of nervous rank-and-file members while they awaited final budget numbers for their planned revisions to a Senate-passed health care overhaul.

AP - President Barack Obama sought Thursday to put some detail behind his lofty drive to double U.S. exports over the next five years, calling the effort imperative to putting people back to work. But doubts remain about how many net jobs his trade agenda will create — and how he will get it done.

AP - House Democrats on Thursday stopped a Republican bid to force an investigation of Democratic leaders aimed at determining whether they covered up sexual harassment allegations against ex-Rep. Eric Massa.

AP - The Senate is pushing to strengthen pilot training and hiring requirements in an effort to improve the safety of regional airlines, a problem exposed by an air crash last year that killed 50 people.

AP - The Republican candidate running to replace Rep. Patrick Kennedy in Congress says he's getting help in his bid from several former GOP presidential candidates.

AFP - World leaders should follow the example of US President Barack Obama and meet the Dalai Lama despite China's objections, the Tibetan spiritual leader's envoy to Europe said Thursday.

AP - Britain's High Court granted bail Thursday to former Bosnian Vice President Ejup Ganic, who was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport on a Serbian war crimes warrant earlier this month.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — As the White House reconsiders the decision to prosecute the five alleged plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in civilian court, the likely change of course seems designed to protect vulnerable Democrats in Congress than it is to improve the chances for conviction.

AP - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife and daughter were being treated in a hospital Thursday for serious injuries they sustained when their vehicle was rear-ended by a truck, a spokesman said.

AP - The Obama administration accused China on Thursday of abusing its citizens' rights and maintaining currency policies that cost millions of U.S. jobs, a double-barrel attack that comes amid a growing willingness to confront and even antagonize the Asian power.

Politico - A Libertarian Senate candidate in Oregon has removed a campaign logo from his website after an ESPN blogger pointed out it bore a striking resemblance to the insignia of the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team.

AP - The body of former Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos was reburied on Thursday, three months to the day after it was dug up from its grave and stolen in an apparent extortion bid.

AP - Two former members of the famed Vienna Boys' Choir say they were sexually abused by their supervisors, a top Austrian newspaper reported Thursday, as allegations of misconduct against children in Austria spread beyond the Roman Catholic Church.

AFP - Reform activists emerged from a meeting with US President Barack Obama Thursday convinced that he could enact sweeping immigration reform this year, despite a toxic political environment.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Long-awaited Senate legislation that would direct the broadest overhaul of financial regulation since the Great Depression will be introduced on Monday without any Republican support, despite weeks of bipartisan negotiations.

Politico - Dem leaders gear up for hearings that will start clock on final, down-to-the-wire vote.

Politico - The Defense Department is switching its decision to cancel the program after it ran out of money.

AP - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is endorsing an end to the election of judges at the state and local levels.

AP - A man convicted in the 2007 slaying of a British student has written a letter implicating his co-defendants and denying he had ever said they had nothing to do with the murder.

Reuters - President Barack Obama plans to nominate San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellen to be vice chairman of the central bank, a source familiar with the process said on Thursday.

Politico - Congressional Black Caucus presses Obama to do more for African-Americans.

AP - Republicans in Pennsylvania have nominated a political newcomer to fill the congressional seat of the late Rep. John Murtha.

Reuters - President Barack Obama plans to nominate San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellen to be vice chairman of the central bank, a source familiar with the process said on Thursday.