Former Australian leader has Blair House reserved

By Manuel Balce Ceneta (AP)

Israel and militant Palestinians are locked in deadly battle in the Middle East, but Iran poses the biggest challenge in the region to the incoming Obama administration, President George W. Bush's national security adviser says.

At the same time, the Mideast offers President-elect Barack Obama the greatest opportunity to put his imprint on world affairs, Stephen Hadley said, referring to the need for a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace accord that eluded both Bush and former President Bill Clinton.

Outside the Mideast, it is Pakistan that should command Obama's keen...

By David Zalubowski (AP)

It was very windy when a Continental Airlines jet was destroyed while trying to take off in Denver last month, leading aviation safety experts to cite crosswinds as a likely factor in the accident.

But were those winds strong enough to "weather-vane" the Boeing 737-500? In that phenomenon, the wind pushes an airliner's tail hard enough to swing its nose into the wind, like a weather vane. In Denver, experts suspect weather-vaning caused the plane to skitter off the runway in a bone-jarring ride across open, snowy fields, eventually coming to a halt and catching fire. But some addit...

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

To a public wary of government spending, President-elect Barack Obama is offering a salve with his massive economic stimulus package: the promise of long-term fiscal discipline.

Budget-conscious lawmakers are pressing Obama to embrace deficit-reduction goals even as he promotes a spending and tax-cutting plan _ expected to cost about $775 billion _ to jolt the economy out of its downward spiral.

"Part of the discussion that needs to happen right now is not what we do just right now, but what we look to in the future _ about how we get back to a balanced budget and then start...

By Charles Dharapak (AP)

Senate Democrats are looking for ways to defuse the standoff that has denied Roland Burris the vacated Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama of Illinois, but maybe not much longer.

While Burris' paperwork was rejected at the opening of the 111th Congress, he was scheduled to meet Wednesday with the Senate's top two Democrats _ Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and assistant leader Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Knowledgeable Senate officials in both parties said the saga was widely expected to end with Burris being seated. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity...

By Charles Dharapak (AP)

If Senate Democrats stick to their refusal to seat Roland Burris as a senator from Illinois, his best bet could be getting a federal judge to force open the Senate's doors.

Burris would be relying on a constitutional provision listing just three, easily met qualifications for the job and a 1969 Supreme Court decision rebuking the House for excluding an elected, though scandal-tarred, lawmaker.

So far, Senate leaders are unwilling to seat Burris because he was named by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, ensnared by allegations of corruption, to replace President-elect Barack Obama...

By Susan Walsh (AP)

Roland Burris failed to capture President-elect Barack Obama's old Senate seat Tuesday in a wild piece of political theater, but the Democrats' opposition cracked when a key chairwoman said seating him was simply the legal thing to do. Democratic leaders, set to meet with Burris on Wednesday, were searching for a way to defuse the dispute before it further overshadows the 111th Congress.

Knowledgeable Senate officials of both parties widely predicted that the saga would end with Burris being seated. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak...

By David Zalubowski (AP)

Aviation safety experts said Tuesday strong crosswinds likely were a factor in an accident last month that sent a Continental Airlines jet into a bone-jarring veer off a Denver runway and across open, snowy fields before it came to a halt and caught fire.

Several safety experts raised the possibility that the Boeing 757-500 airliner, carrying 110 passengers, may have experienced "weather vaning," where a strong crosswind pushes a plane's tail and turns the aircraft's nose into the wind, much like it turns a weather vane.

While gusts of up to 37 mph were reported at Denver In...

By Susan Walsh (AP)

Roland Burris failed to capture President-elect Barack Obama's old Senate seat Tuesday in a wild piece of political theater, but the Democrats' opposition cracked when a key chairwoman said seating him was simply the legal thing to do. Democratic leaders, set to meet with Burris on Wednesday, were searching for a way to defuse the dispute before it further overshadows the 111th Congress.

Knowledgable officials of both parties who spoke on condition of anonymity widely predicted that the saga would end with Burris being seated.

That seemed more likely late Tuesday, when Sen....

By Susan Walsh (AP)

Roland Burris failed to capture President-elect Barack Obama's old Senate seat Tuesday in a wild piece of political theater, but the Democrats' opposition cracked when a key chairwoman said seating him was simply the legal thing to do. Sen. Dianne Feinstein rejected the reasoning that all of the chamber's Democrats, herself included, had cited in a letter last week _ that corruption charges against Burris' patron, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, tainted his appointment.

"Does the governor have the power, under law, to make the appointment? And the answer is yes," said Feinstein, ...

By Charles Dharapak (AP)

Rivals-turned-friends John Warner and Mark Warner shared a walk up the Senate aisle Tuesday in a ceremony that marked generational and political change for Virginia.

Mark Warner, 54, a Democrat, wanted Republican John Warner, 81, to accompany him as he was sworn in. The two men are not related, but share an affinity that goes beyond their common surname.

"John Warner epitomizes what it means to be a senator," Mark Warner said in an interview after he took his oath. "He's been a great friend of mine, and I was so proud to have him there." Warner retired after a 30-year Senat...

By Charles Dharapak (AP)

Roland Burris failed to capture President-elect Barack Obama's old Senate seat Tuesday in a wild piece of political theater, but the Democrats' opposition cracked when a key chairwoman said seating him was simply the legal thing to do.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein rejected the reasoning that all of the chamber's Democrats, herself included, had cited in a letter last week _ that corruption charges against Burris' patron, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, tainted his appointment.

"Does the governor have the power, under law, to make the appointment? And the answer is yes," said Feins...

By Susan Walsh (AP)

The chairman of the Senate Rules Committee has parted with many of her Democratic colleagues and says that the Senate should seat former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said Tuesday that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, however tainted by corruption charges, has the right to appoint someone to President-elect Barack Obama's former seat. The Rules Committee decides whether Burris is qualified to serve.

Feinstein said that blocking Burris would have ramifications for other governors' appointments.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE....

By Charles Dharapak (AP)

A prominent businessman caught up in a grand jury probe and whose political donations ended any role for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in the Obama administration also was a generous contributor in support of the president-elect.

Records filed with the Federal Election Commission show that David Rubin gave $26,200 to the Democratic Party on Sept. 19 and $2,300 to Barack Obama's campaign on Sept. 30.

Rubin donated $100,000 in 2003-2004 to political committees of Richardson. The contributions came both before and after Rubin's company won a state contract to help finance $1.4...

By Jose Luis Magana (AP)

Five former Blackwater Worldwide security guards pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal manslaughter and gun charges resulting from a 2007 shooting in a crowded Baghdad square that killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured dozens of others.

The five _ all decorated military veterans _ stood silently in a line behind their lawyers as their not guilty plea on all charges was entered in front of U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina in federal court.

They are charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of using a machine gun to commit a...

By Pablo Martinez Monsivais (AP)

The Capitol rang loud with vows to fix the crisis-ridden economy Tuesday as Congress opened for business at the dawn of a new Democratic era. "We need action and we need action now," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Republicans agreed, and pledged cooperation in Congress as well as with President-elect Barack Obama _ to a point.

On a day largely devoted to ceremony, new members of Congress and those newly re-elected swore to defend the Constitution. The Senate galleries were crowded; children and grandchildren of lawmakers squirmed in their seats in the House chamber as the winners...

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

President-elect Barack Obama is defending his unexpected CIA nominee Leon Panetta, who faced a surge of skepticism in Congress on Tuesday but is not expected to draw serious opposition when his confirmation reaches the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Obama promised that his intelligence team_ led by Panetta and retired Adm. Dennis Blair, the nominee for national intelligence director _ will break with Bush administration practices that he said tarnished U.S. intelligence agencies and American foreign policy.

Word of Panetta's selection Monday caught key senators by surprise_...

By Manuel Balce Ceneta (AP)

Republicans, who lost control of the White House and Congress in the past two elections, must decide whether to give party chairman Mike Duncan a chance to reverse the losing streak or select one of his five challengers to chart a new path.

The party will have no natural standard-bearer when President George W. Bush leaves office this month, and failed GOP presidential nominee John McCain isn't close to the Republican National Committee. So there is no one Republican in a position to steer the party to a winning formula after back-to-back shellackings.

As a result, this...

By Diane Bondareff (AP)

CNN says President-elect Barack Obama has approached its medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, to be the country's next surgeon general.

The cable news network said Tuesday that it has kept Gupta from reporting on health care policy and other matters involving the incoming Obama administration since learning he was under consideration for the post.

Gupta hosts "House Call" on CNN and also is a correspondent for CBS.

The surgeon general typically isn't heavily involved in shaping an administration's policy, but it can be a very effective bully pulpit. Past surgeons gene...

By Charles Dharapak (AP)

Roland Burris tried to take President-elect Barack Obama's Illinois Senate seat Tuesday but failed in a scripted piece of political theater staged just before the opening of the 111th Congress.

"Mr. Burris is not in possession of the necessary credentials from the state of Illinois," declared Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Burris, 71, earlier confirmed that Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson had informed him in a private meeting that his credentials lacked a required signature and his state's seal.

He said he had been advised that "I would not be acc...

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

President-elect Barack Obama apparently plans a more aggressive approach than the Bush administration to helping friendly nations get better at fighting terrorism within their own borders, the State Department's top counterterrorism official said Tuesday.

Dell L. Dailey, who has led the counterterrorism office at State since June 2007, told reporters that he is encouraged by what he has seen and heard in multiple meetings with Obama's transition team.

"We do see the Obama administration being much, much more aggressive than maybe even their campaign actions indicated," Daile...

By Jean Kenyon (AP)

In the largest marine conservation effort in history, President George W. Bush on Tuesday designated what he called "three beautiful and biologically diverse areas of the Pacific Ocean" as national marine monuments.

The areas include the home of a giant land crab, a sunken island ringed by pink-colored coral, and equatorial waters teeming with sharks and other predators and total some 195,274 square miles. Included in the new designation formally announced by Bush at the White House are the Mariana Trench and the waters and corals surrounding three uninhabited islands in the...

By Charles Dharapak (AP)

The Senate put Washington's massive shift of power on public display Tuesday when senators convened for the opening of the 111th session of Congress.

There, for example, was a tanned and grinning Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who _ bizarrely _ was sworn in to a seventh Senate term. He'll resign from the Senate before he's sworn into the higher office with President-elect Barack Obama at the end of the month, ending eight years of the Republican Bush administration.

Biden brought the biggest Bible _ an ancient, leather-bound volume about six inches thick. He held it by his s...

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

The woman who made history two years ago by becoming the first female speaker of the House has been re-elected to that post. House colleagues today chose Nancy Pelosi to continue as speaker.

Her fellow Democrats, with an expanded majority, elected her over Republican John Boehner (BAY'-nur) on the first day of the 111th Congress.

Pelosi received 255 votes, to Boehner's 174. The announcement was met with a standing ovation from fellow lawmakers.

Pelosi, a Californian who represents one of the nation's most liberal congressional districts, will lead a Democratic majority ...