AP - From cutting the Capitol Christmas tree to minor forest thinning, the U.S. Forest Service has put hundreds of small projects across the country on hold while it reviews a judge's ruling throwing out limits on the public's right to participate in forest decisions.

AP - President Bush said Saturday he is encouraged by the increasing size and capability of the Iraqi security forces, touting progress on a key measure for when U.S. troops can come home.

AFP - British former prime minister Margaret Thatcher will be questioned by police as part of a US corruption probe which has forced Republican House of Representatives majority leader Tom DeLay to step down, according to a report here.

AFP - Chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, on a visit to Croatia said she was "disappointed" with Zagreb's cooperation with the UN tribunal despite some "positive developments," ahead of an EU decision on starting long-delayed membership talks with the Balkan state.

AP - President Bush's conservative allies in Congress hope his vow to use some of his political capital pushing for more budget cuts will help persuade lawmakers to pay for hurricane relief without raising the deficit.

AFP - The US Senate explicitly barred US soldiers from torturing or mistreating prisoners in a measure outlining strict military interrogation guidelines that passed by 90 votes to nine, despite White House opposition.

AP - There he goes again. The vice president has been throwing stones, and he's not the least bit sorry about it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon officials said on Friday they could fight insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan more effectively if Congress would allow intelligence operatives to hide their identities from potential informants in the U.S. Muslim population.

AP - Some Senate Democrats are jumping in the middle of a Republican fray to defend Harriet Miers from conservative criticism that she isn't qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. That doesn't mean Democrats will vote to approve President Bush's longtime confidante for the high court or give her an easy time at a Senate confirmation hearing.

AP - A reward of up to $10 million was offered Thursday by the State Department for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspected mastermind in the nightclub bombings in 2002 in Bali, Indonesia.

AP - Long before his criminal case gets a hearing in a court of law, Rep. Tom DeLay is fighting in the court of public opinion. With his trademark zeal, he assails the prosecutor in one sentence and portrays himself as a victim in the next.

Knight Ridder - WASHINGTON - In a private conversation designed to garner support for the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, White House aide Karl Rove told a key conservative Christian leader that the Texas lawyer had taken positions that 'would not be supportive of abortion.'

AP - Former Rep. Frank Ballance was sentenced Wednesday to four years in federal prison for conspiring to divert taxpayer money to his law firm and family through a charitable organization he helped start.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sen. John Kerry, losing Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 2004 and a possible contender in 2008, took on Republican California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday by lobbying against his initiative to curb the power of the state's labor unions.

AP - With the criminal investigation into who leaked the identity of a covert CIA officer apparently nearing an end, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald could seek indictments of top White House aides or quietly close up shop.

AP - Jack Carter, the son of the former president, took aim at the Bush administration Saturday during his first stop on a tour to gauge support for a possible run for U.S. Senate.

AP - Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers looked close to home, or the office, in choosing the free legal cases to take on as a private lawyer. No sweeping constitutional matters for her, or even terribly contentious ones.

AP - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick defended his administration's delivery of city services while challenger Freman Hendrix pledged to summon his years of experience as a deputy mayor if elected.

AP - Former President Clinton asked an audience of Canadian business executives to help end child poverty and terrorism by embracing the outside world and its many religions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought to reassure skeptical lawmakers on Wednesday the Bush administration had a plan for Iraq but faced strong criticism for not having a strategy to get troops home.

AP - Democrat Jim Gibson, a lawyer and the mayor of Henderson, Nevada's second-largest city, said Thursday that he's running for governor.

AP - A federal judge Friday refused to let the jury at George Ryan's corruption trial hear grisly details about a highway accident that killed six children and prompted the investigation that eventually ensnared the former governor.

AP - The New York Times enthusiastically endorsed Mayor Michael Bloomberg for re-election, saying he was on course to be one of the best mayors the city has ever had.

AP - Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasted the developer of the World Trade Center site in comments to a newspaper editorial board, saying space at ground zero might be better used for schools and residential buildings than office towers.

AP - Organic food is a multibillion-dollar industry with growing pains it wants Congress to help soothe. At issue is whether small amounts of non-organic ingredients — vitamins, spices, citric acid, even carbonation — should be allowed in food bearing the "USDA Organic" seal.

AP - Former President George H.W. Bush reminisced about his political life Tuesday and said at a fundraiser that he has enjoyed working with former President Clinton.

AP - Lawyers could lose their licenses for a year for repeatedly filing frivolous lawsuits under a bill the House is debating as part of the Republicans' drive to crack down on what they consider costly abuses of the legal system.

AP - Governments and other donors told the United Nations on Wednesday they were pledging an additional $605 million for Pakistani earthquake victims, but U.N. officials said it was unclear how much would be earmarked for immediate relief efforts with the bitter Himalayan winter looming.

AP - It was President Bush's kind of crowd. Well, mostly. The president spoke Friday morning to about 2,000 invited supporters in Norfolk, home to the world's largest navy base and numerous service members. About half the crowd was in uniform, and more than 70 military members sat on risers on the stage.

AP - Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Jerry Kilgore are in a tight race for governor, two new statewide polls show.

AP - Two recent White House dinner menus prepared by Cristeta Comerford before her appointment in August as executive chef. She was an assistant chef at the time the meals were served: at a state dinner for Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2003, and at an official dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July. The White House pastry chef prepared dessert.