WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, Ohio Republican Rep. Michael Oxley, could announce his retirement as early as Tuesday, sources close to the congressman said on Monday.

AP - Despite tense relations with Venezuela, President Bush says it might be OK for the South American nation to have a nuclear reactor for peaceful energy uses.

AP - A group of centrist senators who halted a previous filibuster fight is making plans for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, but at least two of the group's Republicans say their decision is already made: no filibuster.

AFP - The US Senate will vote on the controversial Supreme Court nomination of judge Samuel Alito in January, a month later than the White House had wished, senators said.

USATODAY.com - Trade and creating jobs to combat poverty and strengthening democracy in Latin America are at the center of the two-day Summit of the Americas beginning Friday. President Bush and leaders from 33 other democratic governments were to attend. Major protests were expected.

AP - Fresh from the Summit of the Americas, President Bush is sitting down for a meeting Sunday that may have an even greater impact on his relationship with Latin America, and it's with one man — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

AP - Nearing the end of a bitterly fought campaign, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday accused his rivals of trying to frighten voters by depicting him as "a dictator" while distorting the intent of his slate of ballot proposals.

SAN RAMON, California (Reuters) - A day before a special election that could influence his re-election chances, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigned across California on Monday for four ballot initiatives lagging in recent polls.

DOVER, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Voters on Tuesday ousted a Pennsylvania local school board that promoted an 'intelligent-design' alternative to teaching evolution, and elected a new slate of candidates who promised to remove the concept from science classes.

AP - State Rep. Steve Urquhart said he's abandoning his plan to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch next year.

AP - Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are vowing to revive a sweeping budget-cut bill despite an embarrassing setback this week. But they won't have an easy time of it considering divisions within the GOP and a revolt by party moderates over cuts to social programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and student loans.

AP - Other presidents have recovered from ratings slumps like the one George W. Bush is in right now: Dwight Eisenhower came back after the Sherman Adams scandal; Ronald Reagan rebounded after Iran-Contra; Bill Clinton triumphed after Monica Lewinsky.

AP - After the bruising defeat of his reform package in last week's special election, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's trade mission to China offers him the chance to represent California in a country where his political woes are overshadowed by his celebrity.

AP - Preparing for a possible bird flu pandemic. Boosting global free-trade talks and tackling sticky trade issues with China. Promoting democracy. Keeping U.S. partners on track in ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons programs. President Bush embarks Monday on an eight-day Asian trip with a full plate.

AFP - A US federal judge ordered the suspension of the trial of accused "Australian Taliban" David Hicks ahead of an anticipated ruling by the US Supreme Court on the legality of post-September 11 special military tribunals.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate and House of Representatives panels approved competing tax cut bills on Tuesday setting the stage for a congressional battle over President George W. Bush's tax and spending priorities.

AP - Vice President Dick Cheney is joining President Bush and other Republicans in accusing Democrats of foul play for asserting that the administration misrepresented intelligence to build support for taking the nation to war in Iraq.

The Christian Science Monitor - In its efforts this week to bring clarity to the confusion surrounding the Bush administration's military tribunals, the US Senate might also have helped to make the controversial process a fixture of American law.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican heads of the two congressional intelligence committees urged the U.S. government on Friday to let the public help translate a massive backlog of documents captured in counterterrorism operations.

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday blamed Washington for orchestrating his dispute with Mexico's president over U.S. free-trade accords, but he insisted Mexico would have to resolve the dispute.

AP - For Wynita Lee, an Inupiaq Eskimo in the small village of Shungnak, Alaska, a trip to the dentist for her family meant a 150-mile trip by airplane, at a cost of more than $200.

AP - The American Bar Association will grade Samuel Alit in the coming weeks. Alito is likely to receive the same rating that he did in 1990 when President Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, nominated him to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — unanimous well-qualified, the highest rating.

AP - Identified in new court documents as "Representative No. 1," Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio has become the poster boy in the Jack Abramoff bribery probe, a beneficiary of trips, tickets and campaign donations, allegedly in exchange for official acts.

AP - When police in a small Pennsylvania coal town went to the home of a suspected methamphetamine dealer, they sent for a female meter maid to search the suspect's wife and 10-year-old daughter.

AP - Though abortion has dominated the early politicking over Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination, another hot-button issue — religion — has cheered conservatives and worried liberals.

AP - Lawmakers from states untouched by Hurricane Katrina face a conundrum — showing compassion toward the devastated Gulf Coast without breaking the bank and, at the same time, balancing disaster-relief needs in their own regions.

AP - A former Green Party member who advocates an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq says he will challenge incumbent Hillary Rodham Clinton for the 2006 Democratic nomination for Senate.

AP - U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth may have long ago chosen to work in straight-laced Washington, but he radiates his love for his home state of Texas.

AP - New evidence is emerging that the top Democrat on the Senate committee currently investigating Jack Abramoff got political money arranged by the lobbyist back in 2002 shortly after the lawmaker took action favorable to Abramoff's tribal clients.

AP - A federal judge has dropped an associate and co-defendant of former House majority leader Tom DeLay from a campaign finance lawsuit.