AP - Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson on Sunday joined the crowded field of Republicans running for the White House in 2008 and proclaimed himself the 'reliable conservative' in the race.

AP - The Senate's top Republican leader is calling on Democrats to hurry up with legislation calling for a troop withdrawal from Iraq — so President Bush can veto it quickly and lawmakers can get back to work on a new version.

AFP - Environmentalists hailed a US Supreme Court ruling that the government has the power to regulate greenhouse gases, as a watershed decision in fighting global warming.

Reuters - Germany's Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm, which will host the G8 summit in June, has revoked the honorary citizenship it awarded to Adolf Hitler in 1932.

Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co. is in talks with New York state and local officials to build a 50-story office building in lower Manhattan near the site of the World Trade Center towers destroyed on September 11, 2001, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

AP - THE RACE: The presidential race for Republicans, Democrats in New York.

AP - In putting together the House's war spending bill, Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey gave false information to fellow Democrats, yelled at anti-war protesters and slammed The Washington Post.

AP - Bill and Hillary Clinton had lunch Saturday with Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, the Caribbean leader's press office said.

AP - The 2008 presidential campaign is long on war rhetoric and short on warriors.

AP - Republican Mitt Romney believes the United States needs to increase its defense spending, refocus its alliances on terrorism and reduce bureaucracy so U.S. organizations can do good works across the globe.

AP - Democrat presidential contender John Edwards spends his days shaking hands, giving speeches and persuading wealthy donors to write hefty checks.

AFP - China said Wednesday a WTO complaint lodged by the United States against it for alleged copyright abuse was inconsistent with a consensus between the two countries.

AFP - US President George W. Bush may meet Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi here before or after the Group of Eight (G8) summit June 6-8 in Germany, the ANSA news agency reported Thursday.

AP - The United Nations is seeking the return of millions of dollars in compensation to victims of the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait after an investigation showed they were given more money than they were entitled to, officials said Thursday.

U.S. News & World Report - The White House's withdrawal of nominees to two key EPA posts yesterday was a welcome surprise to Democrats. A congressional aide tells U.S. News that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee received the news just as it was poised to announce a hearing scheduled for next week to consider the controversial nominations of Alex Beehler as inspector general and William Wehrum as assistant administrator for air and radiation.

Bloomberg - April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Illinois Senator Barack Obama raised a record amount for a presidential primary election in the first quarter, helping blunt the power of rival Hillary Clinton's war chest of campaign cash.

AP - A senior Council of Europe official warned Monday that U.S. plans for a missile defense system based in eastern Europe could undermine the continent's unity.

AFP - Four Nepalese security guards and their Afghan driver were killed Tuesday when a roadside bomb ripped through a United Nations vehicle in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

AP - Fred Thompson, a Republican registering well in national polls as he flirts with a presidential run, is the talk of this town's political elite.

AP - The upcoming report on Medicare's financial health is likely to contain a first-of-its-kind warning that will require President Bush to find ways to make the entitlement program more self-reliant.

AFP - The United States on Friday welcomed the planned renewal of talks between the European Union and Iran aimed at ending an international showdown over Tehran's nuclear program.

AP - Nevada Republicans agreed Saturday to hold their presidential caucus Jan. 19, the same day state Democrats vote for their candidates.

AP - Lebanon's democratic government apparently cannot convene a promised tribunal to address the assassination of a leading politician, and the United States may ask the United Nations Security Council to step in, U.S. officials said Friday.

AP - House and Senate Democrats tentatively have agreed to 2007 war spending legislation that:

AP - Congressional Democrats set their sights on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and a former top aide as they considered the next step — and possibly subpoenas — in digging deeper into the firing of eight federal prosecutors.

AP - Those lofty promises of cooperation between the Bush White House and the newly Democratic Congress have been drowned out by acrid bursts of name-calling.

AP - The Securities and Exchange Commission has decided not to file insider-trading charges against former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in connection with the sales of stock in the hospital chain his family owns, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Reuters - The United Nations refugee agency plans to bolster its operations in West Darfur, where more than 700,000 have been driven from their homes, spokesman William Spindler said on Friday.

AP - White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who will soon begin chemotherapy to fight a cancer recurrence, told fellow alumni at Davidson College that he feels great and plans to return to work Monday.

AP - As U.S. and European Union officials showcase closer ties at a summit Monday, they may have found common ground over Iran's nuclear program and Russia's objections to a missile defense plan.