CQPolitics.com - Lost in the fuss over next week's Super Tuesday presidential contests is the fact that the 2008 congressional campaign also has its official kickoff that day, with primaries in Illinois. Not that this event is being greeted with enthusiasm by many Republicans, who appear desperate to hold the White House to counteract the near-certain extension of the majorities Democrats won in both the Senate and the House in 2006.

AP - The Los Angeles Times endorsed the presidential bids of Barack Obama and John McCain on Friday.

AFP - Taiwan will hold a referendum next month on joining the United Nations under the name 'Taiwan', the election commission said Friday, in a move certain to infuriate rival China.

Reuters - Turkey must lift a ban on headscarves at university as part of democratic reforms aimed at European Union accession, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said on Saturday.

AP - CHARLESTON, W.Va. AP) — Former Sen. Bob Dole, the failed Republican presidential candidate in 1996, became the focus Tuesday of an increasingly testy exchange between GOP presidential contenders John McCain and Mitt Romney.

AP - Hillary Rodham Clinton captured needed states Tuesday night — including the brass ring of California — even as Barack Obama ate into her traditional base of support on a topsy-turvy night where ballot victories were not the only measure of success.

Time.com - A Senate committee will hear allegations that a young U.S. resident was tortured and videotaped - after the CIA says such videotaping had stopped

AP - More than 17,000 provisional ballots are the only thing that stand between either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama from claiming victory in the state's Super Tuesday caucus.

AP - John McCain got here by keeping it real. A bus to drive him. A microphone when he arrived. Coffee and doughnuts to keep him going.

AP - A federal judge has temporarily blocked Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States, from removing real estate sales proceeds from the United States pending resolution of a class-action lawsuit.

CQPolitics.com - Democratic hopes for a gain of at least one Senate seat in 2008 are growing, buoyed by new campaign finance reports and polls in New Mexico. Despite retiring Republican Sen. Pete V. Domenici's long tenure, popularity and strong reputation in the state, Democratic Rep. Tom Udall already dominates his two Republican challengers.

Reuters - The European Union is set to complete authorization of a big supervisory mission in Kosovo this week, just before the territory is expected to declare independence from Serbia, diplomats and EU officials said.

AP - Sen. Barack Obama took the lead in the race for Democratic delegates for the first time Tuesday, moving ahead of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

AFP - The US Senate passed legislation Wednesday to bar the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods including waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique denounced by rights groups as torture.

AP - Rep. John Shadegg, who announced earlier this week that he wouldn't seek an eighth term, may be reconsidering his decision to retire, a newspaper reported Thursday.

AP - Gathering strength, Sen. Barack Obama collected a key labor endorsement and coaxed away one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's delegates on Friday, at the same time he criticized his rival for supporting legislation harmful to workers.

AP - Hillary Rodham Clinton renewed her call Saturday to debate Democratic rival Barack Obama in Wisconsin before Tuesday's primary, even as she acknowledged she would cease campaigning in the state a full day before voters go to the polls.

AP - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign released a 13-page blueprint for fixing the economy Monday, detailing the former first lady's plans to achieve universal health care, address the home foreclosure crisis and develop jobs for the middle class.

AP - Top advisers to Hillary Rodham Clinton accused Democratic rival Barack Obama of plagiarism Monday, the latest effort by her campaign to undermine the Illinois senator's credibility. Obama shrugged off the criticism and noted Clinton has used his slogans, too.

AP - Republican John McCain cruised to a comfortable victory in Wisconsin, and criticized Barack Obama in a clear indication he's betting that the Democrat will be his opponent.

AFP - Thomson Corporation said Tuesday it expected to close the takeover of British media group Reuters during the week of April 13 after regulatory approval in the US, Canada and European Union.

AP - Hillary Clinton, the front-runner no more, sought to bury Barack Obama, but also to praise him in their latest campaign debate and revive her own White House hopes in the process.

AP - Winning the delegates wasn't enough. Now the Democrats running for president must keep them from straying. The party's arcane system of caucuses and conventions has both campaigns working to keep delegates they had already claimed in Nevada, Iowa, Kansas and elsewhere.

AP - The European Commission on Friday said Poland and Romania have been dodging requests for clarification about allegations they were involved in Washington's program of secretly transporting terror suspects to clandestine prisons.

AFP - Consumer champion Ralph Nader is defying Democratic scorn with a fresh White House tilt, eight years after splitting the anti-Republican vote in a razor-thin election won by George W. Bush.

Reuters - Time is working against the United States in its dispute with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, Washington's ambassador to the United Nations said in an interview published on Monday.

AP - The two sons of Ann Richards, the late former Texas governor, are objecting to an Internet video published by Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign that suggests their mother would have supported Clinton.

AFP - The European Commission said Wednesday that it reserves the right to take action over an agreement signed between US and Czech officials aimed at lifting visa requirements for Czech citizens.

AP - Once a migrant farm worker and now an important fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton, Alonzo Cantu won't even take the microphone in his own home to introduce the politicians whose fundraisers he hosts.