AFP - The EU signed up to closer ties with Serbia on Tuesday, nudging it towards eventual membership despite disputes over Kosovo's independence and Belgrade's failure to catch war criminals.

Politico - There has been a basic demographic calculus to this prolonged Democratic nomination fight. In states and areas with high numbers of young, educated voters, as well as African-Americans, Sen. Barack Obama generally does well. In areas where the voters are older, less well-educated and either Hispanic or Anglo, the advantage goes to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

AFP - The traditional Cumberland sausage could be granted protected status by the European Union, giving the specialist banger a similar status to Champagne and Parma ham.

AP - Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton by seven votes in the Guam Democratic presidential caucuses Saturday. The count of more than 4,500 ballots took all night.

CQPolitics.com - Indiana Republican Rep. Dan Burton is as ensconced in the U.S.

Politico - If Barack Obama's late decision to hold his election night rally in Raleigh is any indication (his campaign didn't settle on a location until Monday afternoon), the Illinois senator is feeling confident about his chances in North Carolina.

AP - Hillary Rodham Clinton has narrowly won the Indiana Democratic primary. Barack Obama won earlier in North Carolina and declared he was closing in on the presidential nomination.

AP - Strapped homeowners could refinance into government-backed mortgages and states would get money to deal with foreclosed property under Democrats' housing aid plan.

AP - Perhaps Barack Obama's competitive juices need new outlets now that he has expanded his lead over Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.

AFP - Democrat Barack Obama promised Americans a clean break from Washington's politics-as-usual as he campaigned Saturday to sew up the Democratic presidential nomination and rally more superdelegates to his side.

Politico - Conservatives are despondent, liberals are as enthused about a presidential candidate as they've been in 40 years, and the candidate he has long loathed won the Republican nomination.

AFP - Five European Union foreign ministers will travel to Georgia next week to try to help to cool tensions with Russia over the separatist region of Abkhazia, Slovenia said Friday.

CQPolitics.com - Democratic and Republican top party officials may be more focused on Mississippi tonight than on the West Virginia presidential primary. After all, the primary's outcome is already predicted, while the outcome of the Mississippi's 1st Congressional District special election is much less certain.

AP - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won most of the delegates in West Virginia's Democratic primary Tuesday.

AP - John McCain, looking through a crystal ball to 2013 and the end of a prospective first term, sees 'spasmodic' but reduced violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden dead or captured and government spending curbed by his ready veto pen.

AFP - The UN said on Thursday it had airlifted more than 250 civilian staff from Sudan's flashpoint town of Abyei, where thousands of Sudanese are believed to have fled clashes in the contested oil region.

AP - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday she wasn't ceding Oregon — or the nomination — to opponent Barack Obama, who is heavily favored to collect another victory here next week as he comes closer to winning the Democratic nomination.

AFP - US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed Iraq's upcoming provincial elections and security issues during a flying visit to Baghdad, officials said Sunday.

AP - A United Nations translator was sentenced to a year in prison for using U.N. stationery and fraudulent documents to smuggle people into the United States from Uzbekistan.

AP - Democrats and their allies are ready to convert Sen. John McCain's stance on college aid for military veterans into a presidential campaign cause.

AP - Barack Obama declared himself 'within reach' of the Democratic nomination Tuesday and celebrated in the state where his win in the opening contest of the presidential primary season helped reshape the race.

AP - Rep. Laura Richardson has an unusual perspective on the housing foreclosure bills moving through Congress: One of her own homes was threatened with repossession after she failed to pay the mortgage.

AP - A months-long logjam over a new government surveillance bill may be coming to an end, with Republicans offering a compromise that would let people who think they were illegally spied on by the government have their day in court — albeit a secret one.

Politico - It sounds crazy at first. Amid dire reports about the toxic political environment for Republican candidates and the challenges facing John McCain, many top GOP strategists believe he can defeat Barack Obama — and by a margin exceeding President Bush’s Electoral College victory in 2004.

AP - Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton each picked up a delegate in Georgia on Saturday as state Democrats selected their delegation to the party's national convention in Denver this summer.

AP - Saudi Arabia made an unprecedented contribution of $500 million to the U.N. World Food Program to respond to rising prices, meaning the agency won't have to cut rations to the world's needy, the United Nations announced Friday.

AP - There's been a Clinton running for the White House or living in it for approximately forever.

AP - Her chances of securing the Democratic presidential nomination narrowing by the day, Hillary Rodham Clinton asserted Tuesday that she would be a stronger candidate than Barack Obama to square off against John McCain in November.

CQPolitics.com - Congressional candidates have racked up more than $130 million in debt this election cycle, although some of it has been carried over from prior years. Republican House and Senate candidates lead the way with $88 million, while the Democrats are carrying $42 million in IOUs.

AFP - The Texas Supreme Court ruled that 468 children seized from a polygamist sect must be returned to their parents, saying state child welfare officials had overstepped their authority.

AP - The Rocky Mountain region represents friendly terrain for Barack Obama, who is angling to add Montana to his string of victories on Tuesday.