AFP - The United States is looking to break a taboo and train an elite Indonesian force linked to past abuses, as President Barack Obama courts the world's largest Muslim-majority nation with a visit.

AFP - Colombians vote Sunday to renew both houses of their scandal-tainted Congress as major political parties choose candidates for the May election to succeed President Alvaro Uribe.

AFP - US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev have agreed that Washington and Moscow are close to reaching agreement on a new nuclear disarmament treaty, the Kremlin said.

AP - The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration.

AP - President Barack Obama came into office promising 'a new era of open government,' but a new study says he's having a tough time getting all federal agencies to follow through on that pledge.

Politico - Some Democrats are unenthusiastic about riding the president's coattails this year.

Reuters - Karl Rove, architect of George W. Bush's two presidential election wins, says he believes Republicans need to offer more than just opposition to Democrats in the November congressional elections.

AP - The Democrat's chief vote counter in the House says that right now there aren't enough votes to pass President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

AP - The White House isn't relenting in its strong criticism of Israel for plans to build 1,600 new apartments for Jews in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians are seeking as their future capital.

Politico - House Minority Whip Eric Cantor criticized Democrats on Sunday for considering “bending the rules” to pass health care reform.

Reuters - A new United Nations mission chief arrived in Kabul on Saturday to take up his post after a difficult year that saw the mission divided over election fraud and forced to cut back staff after a deadly attack.

Politico - Karl Rove said Sunday that President Barack Obama has been too 'disengaged' from the health care reform process.

AP - The State Department is authorizing U.S. government employees at six U.S. consulates in northern Mexico to send their family members out of the area because of concerns about rising drug-related violence.

Reuters - White House officials on Sunday confidently predicted quick final passage of healthcare reform but a top Democratic vote-counter said they still need to line up more support in the House of Representatives.

AP - The White House isn't backing down from its criticism of the Supreme Court over a campaign finance ruling.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — The looming vote for final passage of the historic health-care bill is the stiffest challenge House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn has faced in his three-plus years as the lawmaker responsible for counting heads and ensuring passage of major legislation.

CQPolitics.com - House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) on Sunday downplayed recent criticism of the GOP's 2010 political strategy and asserted that Republicans 'have a chance' of winning the House in November's midterm elections.

AP - Three people with ties to the American consulate in a drug-plagued Mexican city were killed in a drive-by shooting, a U.S. official said Sunday.

AP - The U.S. is taking a go-slow approach on one of the touchiest and least discussed national security issues: whether to remove the last remaining Cold War-era U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe.

AP - The White House on Sunday defended President Barack Obama's scathing criticism of a Supreme Court decision that allows unions and corporations to funnel unlimited dollars to political campaigns.

AP - Around 60 people have reported being victims of abuse by Catholic priests in Switzerland, a Swiss abbot said in an interview published by a newspaper Saturday.

AP - Vandals sprayed anti-Semitic graffiti on Holocaust memorials at a former Nazi concentration camp in Poland, desecration that authorities discovered Saturday and are investigating.

Politico - Obama's overhaul could mean wins all-around.

Politico - Chris Dodd will unveil a revised financial reform bill Monday that seeks to find middle ground.

AP - A law enforcement official says a New Jersey man charged in Yemen with being a member of al-Qaida traveled to that country with the goal of joining a terrorist group.

AP - Four people, including an American woman, arrested over an alleged plot to assassinate Swedish artist Lars Vilks have been freed without charge, but three others remain in custody, Irish police said Saturday.

Politico - Chris Dodd will unveil a revised financial reform bill Monday that seeks to find middle ground.

AP - Yemen's embassy in Washington says its nation's air force launched an airstrike on an al-Qaida hideout ahead of a likely terror attack.

AP - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife has been released from a Virginia hospital, where she was taken after being seriously injured in a traffic accident.

AP - As of Friday, March 12, 2010, at least 936 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count.

CQPolitics.com - The reverberations on K Street are still being felt nearly a year after Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) switched political parties, with Specter loyalists maintaining their support while some big business interests and longtime Republican donors are distancing themselves.