Reuters - The U.N. Security Council plans to push hard for lasting peace in Sudan and Somalia during a 10-day trip to five African countries starting next week, diplomats said.

AP - The purification ceremony isn't an everyday ritual of U.S. presidential politics.

CQPolitics.com - Leonard Lance, a state senator, and public relations consultant Kate Whitman, the daughter of a former governor, are the front-runners in the seven-candidate field for Tuesday's Republican primary in New Jersey's open 7th Congressional District -- a key contest that pivots on whether the district's GOP voters favor political experience or a fresh face.

Politico - Sen. Barack Obama Tuesday night swept aside two centuries of American history and dethroned the dynasty that has dominated national politics for a generation.

Reuters - The U.S. Senate confirmed Steve Preston as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) late on Wednesday.

AP - Senate Republicans appeared ready to turn back an ambitious plan to reduce the risks of global warming after a week in which bipartisan bickering and political posturing seemed to drown out the environmental debate.

AFP - A poll showing that the EU reform treaty could be rejected in an Irish referendum next week set alarm bells ringing in Dublin and Brussels on Friday.

AP - This one's for the girls.

Politico - To understand the stylistic gulf between Barack Obama and John McCain, first consider their cultural references.

Reuters - Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is keeping options open as he heads into a discussion on soaring oil prices at a meeting this weekend of finance ministers from the world's top industrialized countries.

AP - A political infrastructure that pushed Barack Obama to victory in the Iowa caucuses and an increase in Democratic voter registration make him the favorite in the state in November, but an intense catch-up effort could put Republican John McCain back in the game, veteran political strategists in both parties say.

AP - Two political rivals on a stage, unfiltered questions from undeclared voters, thoughtful answers, no soundbites. Democracy at its best or risky politics?

CQPolitics.com - A wide-open Republican field of challengers to first-term Democratic Rep. Harry E. Mitchell has sparked endorsements and bold claims of conservative credentials. But the GOP still has no single consensus candidate for Arizona's 5th District race.

Reuters - European Union states support upgrading relations with Israel but some want the move to be linked to progress on Middle East peace, EU diplomats said before talks with Israel on Monday.

AP - The European Union on Saturday presented Iran with a modified package of incentives to suspend its uranium enrichment program, but an Iran government spokesman said the country would reject the offer if it requires a halt to sensitive nuclear work.

Politico - The conservative Evangelical biographer of George W. Bush and Tom DeLay has moved on to a new subject: Barack Obama. And his new book, due out this summer, may lend credibility to Senator Obama's bid to win Evangelical Christian voters away from the Republican Party.

AP - Make more than $250,000 a year? Watch out. Barack Obama wants to raise your income taxes. Social Security taxes, too.

Reuters - Sudan must stop turning a blind eye to crimes committed during the conflict in Darfur and hand over suspected war criminals to the International Criminal Court, the U.N. Security Council said on Monday.

AP - Cindy McCain ranged far afield from the U.S. presidential campaign trail Thursday to showcase her charity work helping Vietnamese kids born with facial deformities.

AP - An aide to Gov. Chet Culver said Thursday that Republican presidential candidate John McCain ignored the governor's request to cancel a campaign visit amid a massive flood recovery effort in the state.

AP - Sen. John McCain may be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but supporters of Ron Paul in Montana refused to abandon their candidate.

Politico - With iconoclast Ron Paul having ended his quixotic bid for the Republican presidential nomination — his platform had called for, among other things, ending the Iraq War, repealing the PATRIOT Act, returning to the gold standard and eliminating taxes on tips — his many dedicated supporters are up for grabs.

AP - John McCain hopes to solve the country's energy crisis with cold hard cash.

AP - The choice for John McCain's running mate is such a mystery that few people even know who is helping in that search.

AP - Barack Obama raised nearly $5 million Tuesday at a celebrity-packed fundraiser that was the equivalent of the entertainment industry's coming-out party for the likely Democratic presidential nominee.

AP - The head of the U.N.'s food agency has warned that food prices will remain high and has called for increased production.

AP - A Democratic National Convention delegate pledged to Hillary Rodham Clinton says she hopes to fight off an attempt by Wisconsin Democrats to take away her credentials because of her past statement that she would vote for John McCain if Clinton wasn't the nominee.

AP - East Timor's president said Friday he would not take a new job as the U.N. human rights commissioner, citing possible political instability in his fledgling democracy.

Politico - Last Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi touted Chet Edwards, the little-known Democratic congressman from Waco, Texas, for her party's vice-presidential slot. The players of the popular D.C. parlor game Guess-the-Veep—busy bandying about hot names like former North Carolina Senator and veteran vice presidential candidate John Edwards and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty—paused to offer a collective, 'huh?'

AFP - Austria's Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer tapped into anti-EU sentiment last week in a bid to shore up his tenuous position, announcing that all future European treaties would be subject to a referendum.