WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday he twice offered his resignation to President Bush over the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, but both times was asked to stay in the job.

AP - A high-stakes political fund-raising trial began Monday as Democrats argued that the treasurer of a committee formed by House Republican Leader Tom DeLay broke the law by using corporate money to get GOP legislative candidates elected.

AP - Religious charities in 10 states got 40 percent of the $2 billion in taxpayer money available to groups deemed 'faith-based' by the White House in 2004, according to figures the White House provided Thursday to The Associated Press.

AP - In April 28-29 stories about allegations against former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume, The Associated Press erroneously reported there had been a settlement with a woman threatening to sue the NAACP for Mfume's allegedly showing favoritism to another employee. Mfume said he didn't know whether a settlement had been reached or any terms. Lawyers involved in the case also declined to comment.

AP - The United States is sitting out the argument in Europe this week over the fate of the long drive to unite 25 nations under a single constitution, but the Bush administration stands to lose if the drive collapses.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to block the Bush administration from approving a Chinese company's attempt to acquire U.S. oil and gas producer Unocal Corp. UCL.N

AP - Anticipating President Bush soon will appoint John Bolton as U.N. ambassador, a leading Democrat said Sunday that Bolton would go without the confidence of Congress.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Under pressure from Sen. John McCain, the U.S. Air Force on Wednesday withdrew a request for information from companies interested in a multibillion-dollar competition to replace KC-135 aerial refueling tankers.

AP - From cutting the Capitol Christmas tree to minor forest thinning, the U.S. Forest Service has put hundreds of small projects across the country on hold while it reviews a judge's ruling throwing out limits on the public's right to participate in forest decisions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, Ohio Republican Rep. Michael Oxley, could announce his retirement as early as Tuesday, sources close to the congressman said on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The architect of the government's racketeering case against cigarette makers said on Wednesday that she had resigned at a time when the Justice Department is scaling back the legal team devoted to the case.

Reuters - In his first year-end report on the federal judiciary, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts on Sunday called for better court security to prevent violence and higher salaries to keep a diverse mix of judges on the bench.

Reuters - Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested in the House of Representatives chamber on Tuesday shortly before President George W. Bush gave his State of the Union address because she refused to cover up an anti-war slogan on her shirt.

AP - The Supreme Court was devoting an unusual two-hour session to the intricacies of political boundary drawing, in a case that could have a major impact on elections and even the balance of power in Congress.

AP - Rep. Jim McDermott says his eight-year dispute with House Majority Leader John Boehner over an intercepted telephone call is not personal, but involves a crucial right of voters to know what their leaders are doing.

AP - Prospects appear dim that President Bush will win significant changes in either Social Security or Medicare in his second term after his major effort to overhaul Social Security stalled in Congress last year.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea invited on Thursday the chief U.S. envoy to stalled six-country nuclear negotiations to visit Pyongyang for talks, provided Washington meets certain conditions.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada and the United States will agree on Saturday to the terms of a final deal to resolve their long-standing trade dispute over softwood lumber, an Ottawa source told Reuters on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Concern about airline relief included in a final bill to overhaul the U.S. private pension system will soon be discussed by key senators, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Monday.

AP - Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne made his first visit to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday and was greeted by local leaders concerned not about drilling in the refuge, but by plans for offshore oil development.

AP - With the nation's highest court set to open a new session, members of Washington's legal community gather Sunday to seek spiritual guidance for justice in the annual celebration of the Catholic Church's Red Mass.

AP - Sen. Joe Lieberman alienated plenty of Democrats with his independent bid. Just imagine their anger if he costs them control of the House.

AP - They call themselves Main Street Republicans, moderates consigned to the back alleys of politics by their own party. But despite a severe bruising in the fall election, this minority within a minority finds itself with new avenues to explore, including working more closely with Democrats.

AP - Pay for federal judges is so inadequate that it threatens to undermine the judiciary's independence, Chief Justice John Roberts says in a year-end report critical of Congress.

AP - Wary of lobbyists calling signals from the sidelines, Maine is taking steps to ban text messages and e-mails to lawmakers in session as it becomes the latest state to address the ever-expanding use of electronic communications in statehouses.

AP - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney can campaign in New Hampshire and still sleep at night in his own bed in Massachusetts. Yet, the neighbor's edge has been less than a home-court advantage in the nation's first 2008 presidential primary state.

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 - For the first time in history, a woman has the visibility, the reputation and the cash to make a serious run at the presidency.

AP - Sen. Barack Obama vowed Thursday to restore environmental protections the Bush administration has rolled back through executive orders, especially at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Reuters - NATO on Friday asked Kosovo Albanians to give Western powers more time to steer their independence from Serbia through the United Nations, but admitted the project was in trouble.

AP - In his time off between presidential bids, Democrat John Edwards courted Wall Street financial gurus and Main Street labor leaders.

AP - Government secrecy by almost any measure is expanding and little is being done to stop it, according to a coalition of 67 organizations favoring greater openness.

AP - Presidential campaigns aggressively competed for dollars up to the last minute of the third quarter, eager to build their bank accounts for an expensive stretch of media advertising and voter outreach.

Rasmussen Reports - In the 2008 race for Virginia's open U.S. Senate seat, a Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds Democrat Mark Warner leading Republican Jim Gilmore 53% to 37%. Both men are former Governors of Virginia and both considered running for their party's 2008 Presidential nomination. Warner dropped out before the campaigning really began while Gilmore hung around long enough to participate in a few early GOP debates.

AP - An agreement among congressional Democrats — including those from auto industry states — to support a 40 percent increase in vehicle fuel efficiency is likely to be the tonic needed to push energy legislation through Congress before Christmas.

AP - NAME — Nancy Pelosi.

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 - If the shuttered factories that dot the Ohio landscape tell the story of NAFTA, so too do the miles of trucks carrying auto parts, fruit and tequila across the Mexican border through this booming port city in South Texas.

AP - Matthew Buckingham, a stay-at-home father in Portland's suburbs and lifelong Republican, is fired up about voting for Sen. John McCain in November.

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.

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.

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.

AFP - Ministers saw a 'new order' take hold of global trade Wednesday, with emerging economies calling the shots after WTO plans collapsed in a potentially devastating blow to millions of the world's poor.

AP - With Hurricane Gustav spinning toward landfall, lobbyists, corporations and industry groups are scrambling to put a solemn face on their glitzy GOP convention parties and still revel with big donors, delegates and members of Congress.

AP - Several car booster seats do a poor job of positioning children to fit in their seat belts, according to a review by the insurance industry and researchers.

AFP - Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame have agreed to attend an emergency summit on the crisis in Congo, the EU development and humanitarian aid commissioner Louis Michel said Friday.

AP - The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents.