AP - Rep. Jim McDermott says his eight-year dispute with House Majority Leader John Boehner over an intercepted telephone call is not personal, but involves a crucial right of voters to know what their leaders are doing.

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - George W. Bush is taking time to explain himself, open up to the public in new ways and court the U.S. Congress as he tries to breathe life into a presidency beset by sagging ratings and influence.

AP - From Iraq to deficits, from immigration to port security, some of the most pointed criticism leveled at President Bush is coming from within his own party. Republicans these days are almost sounding like perennially divided Democrats.

AFP - Scandal-tainted US Republican Representative Tom Delay will withdraw from his race for reelection to the House of Representatives, US media reported.

AP - Has the 'Straight Talk Express' veered to the right?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation designed to help telephone companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications roll out subscription television service faster won approval from a U.S. House of Representatives panel on Wednesday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea's top negotiator in six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear arms program said on Friday it is up to the United States to take steps to restart the stalled talks on the thorny topic.

AP - President Bush insists a president "better mean what he says." Those words could return to haunt him.

AP - Despite the collapse of a bipartisan deal on immigration legislation, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee expressed optimism on Sunday that senators can pass a bill when they return from vacation.

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea should return to six-party talks over its nuclear arms program without preconditions, Washington's chief envoy to the talks said on Monday.

AP - A state senator was charged Monday with misusing taxpayer money by having state employees work to support his re-election campaign in 2004.

AP - The Bush administration claimed trailers captured soon after the fall of Baghdad proved Iraq had weapons of mass destruction even though U.S. intelligence officials had strong evidence that was not the case, The Washington Post reported.

AP - Lawyers for a former top White House aide accused a prosecutor Wednesday of trying to "have it both ways" by playing up President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney's role in leaking intelligence on Iraq to reporters but refusing to turn over evidence in the case.

AP - Laura Bush, a reserved former librarian who only reluctantly warmed to politicking, said often and somewhat nostalgically in 2004 that her husband's re-election bid was the couple's last campaign. So much for that idea.

AP - A batch of 278 e-mails between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a Bush administration official show a highly inappropriate relationship where gifts and business interests mixed freely and frequently, federal prosecutors said Friday.

AP - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an architect of the Republican takeover of the House in 1994, says incumbents sometimes forget they are in office to change the government, not to be changed by it.

AP - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did not intimidate members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during planning of the Iraq war as some retired generals have charged, a former chairman said Sunday.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A worried Taiwan urged Washington on Tuesday not to criticize its independence-leaning president during a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to the United States this week.

BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Wednesday he may shut down a U.S. military base in his country if Washington does not agree to a new contract.

AP - Wielding hammers, crowbars and shovels, Democrats plan to clean out hurricane-ravaged homes in this slowly recovering city, a project designed to highlight the party's criticism of the Bush administration.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund called for cooperation as it prepared to host a meeting on Friday of established and emerging economic powers aimed at forging a consensus on restoring balance to the world economy.

AP - Unable to drive down high oil prices, President Bush is spending Earth Day promoting futuristic hydrogen fuel technology as a way to wean Americans from gas-guzzling vehicles.

AP - Contrary to speculation that incumbents could be thrown out wholesale after Hurricane Katrina, voters on Saturday held steady for many of the leaders they had before the disaster.

AP - Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, who once occupied the lofty No. 2 spot on his party's presidential ticket, is too Republican for some Democrats.

BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States has not ruled out taking Beijing to the World Trade Organization over rampant counterfeiting in China, Washington's point man on piracy said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced legislation that would require satellite radio companies to compensate the music industry for downloads, industry and congressional sources said.

AP - Venezuela's president said Sunday that he would welcome a visit by a top U.S. State Department official and hopes to build close ties with like-minded Americans despite his vehement opposition to President Bush.

AP - The Ohio Elections Commission on Thursday reprimanded U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt for claiming on her Web site last year that she had two college degrees when she had only one.

AP - Hoping to head off a messy fight for the Democratic Party endorsement in the governor's race, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on Friday asked candidates to avoid attacking each other.

AP - The California Democratic Party endorsed state Treasurer Phil Angelides late Saturday as their candidate for governor in the hotly contested primary election to determine who will challenge Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.