Reuters - The criminal justice system in the U.S. state of Alabama needs to be improved to ensure that no innocent people are executed but officials there seem indifferent to the problem, a U.N. envoy said on Monday.

AP - A Republican congressional candidate in a majority-white Mississippi district runs ads trying to tie his Democratic rival with Barack Obama's former pastor, seen by some as an anti-white firebrand. Democrats distribute fliers accusing the Republican of wanting a statue to honor the founder of the Ku Klux Klan.

AP - A Republican congressional candidate's small plane had less than a quart of fuel in its tanks when he crash landed in a cornfield last month, a federal National Transportation Safety Board accident report says.

AFP - Nepal will ask the United Nations to continue to monitor thousands of former Maoist guerrillas confined to camps as part of a peace deal, a minister said on Thursday.

Reuters - Twenty South Korean activist farmers have been detained by Japanese immigration for over 19 hours and expect to be deported, a spokesman for the group said, in further signs of growing security jitters from the host nation ahead of a G8 summit.

Reuters - Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has agreed with the main ethnic Albanian party to form a coalition government to aim at getting its NATO and European Union bids back on track, his party said on Saturday.

AP - Young Tad Lincoln herded goats into a White House sitting room. Quentin Roosevelt rammed his wagon into a historic painting. John Kennedy Jr. had to be scooped out of a hiding place in his father's desk. Amy Carter famously brought a book to a state dinner.

AP - Health care is returning as a campaign issue, with special interest and advocacy groups preparing to spend at least $60 million to push politicians to embrace universal access to medical coverage.

CQPolitics.com - A big and expensive television ad campaign began Tuesday for Democratic congressional hopeful Dan Maffei in his bid for the seat of retiring Republican Rep. James T. Walsh of New York's upstate 25th District.

Politico - For the past week, some activists in the abortion rights community have been trying to figure out why Barack Obama, a Democrat praised for his strong defense of reproductive rights, appeared to be turning soft.

Politico - Just as Barack Obama and John McCain are making subtle and not-so-subtle moves toward the center in preparation for the general election, another group of candidates is also repositioning, apparently with an eye toward November—their prospective vice presidential running mates.

AP - Comedian Bernie Mac endured some heckling and a campaign rebuke during a surprise appearance Friday night at a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

AFP - In the political white heat of the US presidential race, the truth cannot set a candidate free, it can only get them into trouble.

Politico - Barack Obama's campaign is condemning as “tasteless and offensive” a New Yorker magazine cover that depicts Obama in a turban, fist-bumping his gun-slinging wife.

AFP - African Union Commission chief Jean Ping will hold an emergency meeting on the political crisis in Zimbabwe with South African President Thabo Mbeki, a source said Monday.

Politico - The Republican reformer is back.

AFP - The US Senate has given a major boost to a program to combat AIDS and malaria around the world, voting to triple funding for a cause championed by President George W. Bush.

Politico - The Treasury Department and top Democrats took an upbeat tone after meetings Thursday to ease lawmakers’ concerns over an ambitious plan to boost investor confidence in the troubled mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

AP - John McCain was in his favorite campaign setting, a town hall meeting, when he spotted a promising target. 'I'd love to recognize you first, sir,' the Republican presidential candidate said to a man in a Vietnam War veteran's hat.

AP - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says U.S. troops should leave Iraq 'as soon as possible,' according to a magazine report, and he called presidential candidate Barack Obama's suggestion of 16 months 'the right timeframe for a withdrawal.'

AP - A U.S. Embassy official said Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama arrived in Iraq on Monday where he will meet with commanders and troops in a war he has long opposed.

Reuters - Recovery from a cyclone that tore into Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta in May, leaving at least 138,000 dead or missing, will cost more than $1 billion, a report by the United Nations and Southeast Asian nations concluded.

AP - Alaska's House of Representatives has approved a company's plan to pursue a natural gas pipeline that could unlock 4.5 billion cubic feet of gas reserves a day.

AP - A veterans group critical of the war in Iraq accuses John McCain of wanting to occupy Iraq indefinitely, against the wishes of the country's leaders, in an ad that will air later this week.

AP - Both Israelis and Palestinians came away from Barack Obama's visit to the Holy Land with the feeling he would do more for Mideast peace than President Bush has. But neither side seemed fully convinced that Obama would have their interests at heart.

AP - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, nearing the end of a fast-paced international campaign trip, warned Iran on Friday, 'don't wait for the next president' to take office before yielding to Western demands to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

AP - When federal regulators catch a drug company peddling prescription medications for an unapproved use, it takes them an average of seven months to issue a warning, according to a draft report by congressional investigators.

Politico - As Senator Barack Obama traveled overseas, the campaign against him appeared to take a decisive new turn with Senator John McCain zeroing in on his Democratic opponent’s character.

AP - After Hillary Rodham Clinton lost the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, one of her delegates wanted to send a message. So Mary Beth Pyle wore a Clinton T-shirt to a unity dinner meant to build support for Barack Obama.

CQPolitics.com - Here's another reason the Democrats probably will gain ground in the House of Representatives this year: of the 35 House districts where incumbents are not running this November, 28 are held by Republicans.

AP - Democrat Barack Obama, the first black candidate with a shot at winning the White House, says John McCain and his Republican allies will try to scare them by saying Obama 'doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.'