AP - Working well past midnight, a weary Senate was mowing down a parade of Republican proposals aimed at undercutting President Barack Obama's signature health care law as Democrats push toward final passage of the companion piece to his overhaul plan.

Politico - In her remarks, Bachmann attacked the anti-abortion Democrats favored  the health care bill.

CQPolitics.com - Hold the phone, Martha. Congressional Republicans may give Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and President Barack Obama a big present with a beautiful bow wrapped around it.

AFP - US President Barack Obama slammed Cuba for its continued political and human rights repression and called for an end to the Communist regime's 'clenched fist' policy against its people.

CQPolitics.com - The Senate has no immediate plans to send the chamber's attorneys into the tussle over a Tea Party effort to recall Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a legal case that could potentially address whether voters can recall federal lawmakers.

Politico - McConnell says top priority for a possible GOP Senate majority is repealing health care bill.

AP - At the high-water mark, President Barack Obama was getting about 40,000 letters, e-mails and faxes a day.

Politico - Handful who switched from yes to no shouldn't expect help with their reelection campaigns.

AFP - The Cold War-era Western European Union defence alliance, set up in the wake of World War II, is to cease functioning, its assembly's head Robert Walter said on Wednesday.

Time.com - How Obama's epic victory in pushing forward health reform revitalized his presidency

Politico - Two minor provisions violate the chamber's rules and cannot be included in the final health bill.

Politico - In an Ideas piece, Coelho outlines a plan for Dems to use health bill to their advantage in November.

AFP - The US dollar climbed to the highest level in more than 10 months against the euro on mounting speculation the EU would ask the IMF to help bail out debt-ridden Greece in a sign of European weakness.

AFP - The United Nations human rights organisation called Thursday for the repeal of a controversial amnesty law in Afghanistan that shields alleged war criminals from prosecution.

Reuters - France denied on Thursday that European countries planned sending a formal protest to U.S. President Barack Obama over a contest to supply aerial refueling tankers but said President Nicolas Sarkoy would raise the issue during a visit to Washington next week.

AP - Record-low interest rates are still needed to rev up the economic recovery, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Thursday.

AP - President Barack Obama could make his first recess appointment during the upcoming Easter break, but it won't come without strong pushback from Republicans.

AP - Families of those killed on United Airlines Flight 93 say plans for a national memorial at the Sept. 11 crash site in southwestern Pennsylvania are on track.

AFP - US President Barack Obama's Republican foes in the Senate used procedural challenges Thursday to force a new House of Representatives vote on a package of fixes to his historic health overhaul.

AP - President Barack Obama is calling on the Cuban government to respect the rights of its people.

AP - An accident investigation official in Norway says faulty brakes at a rail yard caused 16 empty cargo train cars to careen downhill for 3 miles (5 kilometers) before slamming into a port and killing three dock workers.

AP - The EU Naval Force freed six Somalis seized after their companion was shot dead by a private security contractor during an attempt to hijack a ship off the East African coast, a naval spokesman said Thursday.

Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama's use of the Web on his way to the White House in 2008 has inspired British political parties to ramp up their digital campaigns for a general election expected in May.

AP - Republican senators and business groups urged President Barack Obama against using the Easter recess to name a union lawyer to the National Labor Relations Board.

Politico - GOP senators urge the president not to grant recess appointment to Craig Becker.

Politico - The condemnations mark a more forceful response and show need to protect tea party brand.

AP - The military's top uniformed officer has publicly admonished a three-star Army general for urging troops to speak out against allowing gays to serve openly.

AP - Evenflo is recalling 150,000 wooden gates that block stairways from young children.

AP - Israel should pay Palestinians reparations for loss and damages suffered during last year's war in the Gaza Strip, the U.N. Human Rights Council suggested Thursday.

AP - A report alleging widespread corruption in Somali food deliveries lacks evidence and is endangering lifesaving assistance to the impoverished African country, the U.N.'s aid chief in Somalia says.

AP - It perhaps was not the endorsement President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress were looking for.

Politico - He says bullets were fired at his campaign office.

AP - The U.S. Mint has unveiled design of new quarters featuring four national parks and a national forest.

AP - Former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, an eloquent, silver-haired diplomat, launched a new political party Thursday that prepares the way for him to challenge longtime rival Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012 presidential elections.

CQPolitics.com - Senate Democrats will try to clear short-term extensions of several federal programs on Thursday, including unemployment benefits, but it's still unclear whether they will be able to do so quickly.

AP - Senate Republicans are blocking speedy passage of a stopgap bill to extend jobless benefits, saying its $9 billion cost should not be added to the national debt.

Politico - He challenges them to debate on repealing the health care bill signed into law two days ago.

Politico - Former Massachusetts Treasurer Joe Malone has no hard feelings for Sen. Scott Brown, even after Brown endorsed Malone's primary opponent in the race for the Bay State's open 10th Congressional District.

AP - Mexican criminal organizations have more than doubled heroin production in a year and have cemented their grip as the predominant wholesale suppliers of illicit drugs in the United States, a government report concluded Thursday.

AP - The 56-43 roll call Thursday by which the Senate passed legislation to reshape parts of the new health care overhaul law.

AP - The following recalls have been announced:

AP - Even in this freewheeling land of tolerated soft drugs, the Checkpoint marijuana bar went too far. A Dutch judge fined it euro10 million ($13.34 million) on Thursday for overstepping the rarely enforced limit on how much weed can be held in stock, in what as seen as a test case in a growing effort to rein in drug tourism.

AFP - The European Union and the United States on Thursday took a 'major step forward' towards a permanent 'open skies' deal for aviation, agreeing to remove market barriers, the EU Commission said.

Time.com - How President Obama's epic victory in pushing forward health care reform revitalized his presidency

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — With the overhaul of the nation's health care system almost off his to-do list, President Barack Obama has renewed his promise to revamp immigration laws this year.

CQPolitics.com - With Republican leaders on the defensive following a string of ugly and increasingly violent threats against Democratic lawmakers and their families, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) sought to turn the tables on Democratic leaders Thursday.

AP - Once again, a stubborn Senate Republican is blocking speedy passage of a stopgap bill to extend jobless benefits, saying its $9 billion cost should not be added to the national debt.

AP - The Pentagon made it harder to boot gays out of the military Thursday, acting on its own while Congress considers President Barack Obama's goal of lifting the ban on gays serving openly .

Politico - In an Ideas piece, Soros says the business model of Fannie Mae is fundamentally unsound.

AP - Spain's Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for the judge known for indicting Osama bin Laden and Augusto Pinochet to be charged with abuse of power in a probe of Spanish civil war atrocities.

AP - Denmark's famed Little Mermaid statue left her perch in the Copenhagen harbor Thursday and started a journey to the World Expo in Shanghai — the first trip abroad in her 96-year history.

CQPolitics.com - Devine Intervention. The duo behind the Democratic media firm Devine Mulvey is working with three Independent candidates running for governor in 2010.

Politico - Authorities conclude a severed gas line outside of his brother's house was “an act of vandalism.”

Reuters - EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton suffered a setback on Thursday when the main political groups in the European Parliament rejected her proposal for a new European diplomatic corps as unacceptable.

AP - As long as Ireland has had pubs, Good Friday has been off-limits as a 'dry' holy day — until now.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — He was a two-term president and World War II commander who has buildings, schools, an aircraft carrier, a highway tunnel and even a mountain named after him.

AP - More needy college students will have access to bigger Pell Grants, and future borrowers of government loans will have an easier time repaying them, under a vast overhaul of higher education aid that Congress passed Thursday and sent to President Barack Obama.

Politico - The House approves the clean-up bill, 220 to 207.

Politico - Dems may limit the extension to two weeks.

AP - The 220-207 roll call Thursday by which the House voted to alter student aid programs and approved changes to the health care law President Barack Obama signed Tuesday. The changes include better benefits for seniors and low-income and middle-class families.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Congress Thursday passed and sent to President Barack Obama the final piece of landmark health care legislation intended to change dramatically how most Americans buy, use and maintain insurance coverage.

Politico - Pennsylvania Democrat Doug Pike, running for a suburban Philadelphia House seat, has asked J Street, the liberal-leaning Israel policy organization, to remove him from its endorsed list of candidates.

Reuters - The U.S. Congress approved a package of final changes to President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare overhaul on Thursday, and Obama dared Republicans to try to repeal the new law.