CQPolitics.com - The victory came ugly and it was narrow. But it was also sweet. It was historic and, politically, it was big.

Politico - A behind-the-scenes battle about modernizing nukes is culminating with report release.

AP - President Barack Obama is asking Congress for $2.8 billion in emergency funding for the reconstruction effort in Haiti following January's devastating earthquake.

Reuters - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed frustration on Thursday at slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar, where planned elections have been derided in the West as a sham.

Time.com - As Netanyahu and Obama tussle over Israeli construction, many in the Holy City fear that Israeli control has extended beyond the point where the city can be shared between two states

Politico - Debate is likely over White House requests for $33 billion in new war funding.

Politico - 43 staffers earn the maximum $172,500 — more than three times median U.S. household income.

Reuters - The head of U.N. peacekeeping said on Thursday he wants a full investigation of an ambush of U.N.-African Union peacekeepers in Sudan's conflict-racked western Darfur region.

AP - These many years later, the riveting mental image remains: A lone man stands motionless in a street near Beijing's Tiananmen Square, his thin frame blocking a menacing column of army tanks.

Politico - In an Ideas piece, Franc says the notion of repeal will come to encompass the entire Obama agenda.

Politico - He threatens to publicize names of Fortune 500 Companies that don't participate in 'diversity survey.'

AFP - The European Union and the United States on Thursday took a 'major step forward' in aviation liberalisation, paving the way for foreign ownership of their airlines after lengthy talks, Brussels said.

AFP - Talks between Brussels and Washington on a permanent 'open skies' accord hailed as a breakthrough on Thursday were in fact disappointing, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.

AP - MOSCOW — President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are within hours of an agreement on the final details of a historic new treaty that would drastically slash the nations' nuclear arsenals, a senior Russian official said Friday.

AP - A U.S. official says a treaty expected to be sealed with Russia within hours would cut by 25 percent the number of deployed nuclear weapons.

Politico - Former Alaska governor will be in Tucson on Friday to stump for the Arizona senator.

Politico - MSNBC host takes out full-page ad to rip senator's suggestion that she may run against him in 2012.

AFP - EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton on Thursday unveiled her plans for a giant new diplomatic service to represent Europe around the world, to a chorus of internal criticism.

AP - Climaxing months of hard negotiations, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed on Friday to sharp cuts in the nuclear arsenals of both nations in the most comprehensive arms control treaty in two decades. 'We have turned words into action,' Obama declared.

AP - Freshman members of Congress are using a perk to blanket districts with mass mailings and other messages to promote themselves back home, particularly those in this year's tightest election contests, an Associated Press review shows.

AP - Congressional Democrats sent the final piece of landmark health care legislation to President Barack Obama on Friday before heading home to face a skeptical — and sometimes threatening — public.

Politico - The RNC chairman responds to Democrats' charges that his party is fueling grass-roots anger.

AP - The Republican National Committee has lost its bid to raise soft money, the unlimited contributions from corporations and individuals banned by a 2002 campaign finance law.

Reuters - More than $2.7 billion in pledges of aid to help earthquake-wracked Haiti recover and rebuild will be made next week by the European Union and a coalition of U.S.-based humanitarian groups at a U.N. conference.

AP - Mitt Romney has a problem with Obamacare. It looks a lot like Romneycare. The prospective Republican presidential candidate's vulnerability on the issue was evident this week, when he was interrupted during a tour for his new book by a woman upset with the Massachusetts health care law Romney signed as governor in 2006. That law has some of the same core features as the federal law President Barack Obama, a Democrat, signed on Tuesday.

Politico - The pasage of Social Security and Medicare stirred intense opposition but ultimate popularity.

Politico - Administration negotiates its first key arms treaty.

AP - A federal court Friday denied a Republican Party bid to raise soft money, the unlimited donations from corporations and individuals banned by a 2002 campaign finance law. In a separate ruling, judges said a conservative group can raise unlimited sums for independent election ads but must regularly disclose its donors.

AP - A federal judge has upheld limitations on gun ownership that the District of Columbia put in place following the Supreme Court's 2008 decision overturning the city's outright ban on handguns.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — The United States and Russia Friday announced further major reductions in their strategic nuclear arsenals under a new arms control treaty President Barack Obama sees as a key step toward his ambitious goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

CQPolitics.com - In the latest development in the debate over whether suspected terrorists should be tried in civilian courts or by military tribunals, the Justice Department on Friday turned over detailed information on criminal prosecutions of suspected terrorists since the Sept. 11 attacks.

AP - The U.S. and Russia sealed the first major nuclear weapons treaty in nearly two decades Friday, agreeing to slash the former Cold War rivals' warhead arsenals by nearly one-third and talking hopefully of eventually ridding a fearful world of nuclear arms altogether.

Politico - Though both parties insist unemployment is a top priority, lawmakers are fleeing Capitol Hill.

AP - Freshman members of Congress are using a perk to blanket districts with mass mailings and other messages to promote themselves back home, particularly those in this year's tightest election contests, an Associated Press review shows.

AP - Congress left for a two-week vacation Friday without extending jobless benefits for people who have been out of work for more than six months.

AP - Premier Silvio Berlusconi faces a significant test in regional voting to be held across Italy on Sunday and Monday — and danger is all around him.

AP - A Finnish court has convicted a corporate lawyer of kidnapping an heiress and holding her captive for two weeks until her family paid a multimillion euro (dollar) ransom.

Reuters - The Obama administration on Friday announced a $14 billion effort to try to stem a rising tide of home foreclosures by giving lenders incentives to erase some mortgage debt and slash mortgage payments for the unemployed.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — If it seems as if the political maneuvering over health care legislation has resembled a championship-level chess match, consider that one of the major players, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is widely acknowledged as a preternaturally skilled tactician.

CQPolitics.com - When it comes to possible Democratic candidates to succeed former Rep. Eric Massa (D) in upstate New York, there is a lot more clarity about who isn't interested in running than who is.

AFP - Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry has placed a hold on US funding for pro-democracy opposition activities in Cuba, the senator's office told AFP on Friday.

AP - The Republican National Committee says it will take a dispute over the kind of money it can raise to the Supreme Court.

AP - Attorney General Eric Holder is apologizing for failing to send the Senate Judiciary Committee Supreme Court briefs he signed regarding the case of convicted terrorism plotter Jose Padilla.

Reuters - A group of Democratic lawmakers urged President Barack Obama on Friday to take immediate action to resolve a long list of trade disputes with China, the European Union and other countries.

Reuters - A power struggle within the U.S. intelligence community has strained relations and raised questions about the role and future of Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, U.S. officials said.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Students and their families should find the student loan process simpler, and lower-income students should find more financial help, under the sweeping changes tucked into the health-care legislation that Congress passed this week.

Politico - Members of the DNC contacted their RNC counterparts in hopes of getting Steele to co-sign.

AFP - A federal judge on Friday upheld the US capital's ban on assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition clips that was put in place last year after the US Supreme Court struck down an earlier ban on all handguns in the city.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Problems in the nation's housing market are enormously complex, and the modest initiatives announced Friday by the Obama administration won't cover everyone in every situation, but it should help.

AP - President Barack Obama's second choice for transportation security chief has withdrawn from consideration because of questions over his background as a defense contractor.