Politics News

NEW YORK - Rudy Giuliani handed out presents and read a Christmas story to Harlem youngsters Monday, then talked about what, for him, might be the best gift of all.

DES MOINES, Iowa - Hattie Irving, an 81-year old Iowan, has never participated in her state's presidential caucuses, but she plans to this time — to support Hillary Rodham Clinton.

DES MOINES, Iowa - A little over a year ago, Kathy Stangl received a devastating prognosis: Doctors told her she had only a few months to live.

Clinton, Obama count on rookie caucus goers in Iowa ... Giuliani reads Christmas story to kids, says he's cancer free ... Dodd helps assemble packages for troops ... Dying Iowa woman prods candidates on health care

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. - With John McCain on vacation and Rudy Giuliani occupied elsewhere in the state, Mitt Romney sought this weekend to close the deal with New Hampshire Republicans who remain undecided about his presidential candidacy.

WASHINGTON - President Bush made Christmas Eve calls to 10 U.S. troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other spots around the world, thanking them for their sacrifice and wishing them a happy holiday even though they'll be far away from their families and friends.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge agreed Friday to let the Bush administration keep secret the lists of visitors to the White House until an appeals court decides whether the documents are public records.

WASHINGTON - President Bush's special envoy for Sudan, Andrew Natsios, resigned Friday and was replaced by a former U.S. diplomat to the United Nations amid questions about the administration's policies toward the vast African nation.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration issued a new rule Friday that eliminates Medicaid reimbursement for certain transportation and administrative tasks undertaken by schools on behalf of students with disabilities.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has made its position clear in legal filings and now gets a chance to say it to a judge in open court: Hold off on inquiring about the destruction of CIA videotapes that showed suspected terrorists being interrogated.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate is holding special one man sessions throughout Christmas and the New Year to prevent President George W. Bush from making appointments without the approval of the Democratic majority.

MAJORITY LOSSES: Democrats running Congress for the first time in more than a decade faltered at key points this year as they grudgingly passed important bills opposed by many, or even most, of their House members. When Republicans were in charge, they generally avoided a similar fate.

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats accomplished important goals this year but they need more cooperation from Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Saturday.

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday that Congress would closely scrutinize its decision to reject California's request to tighten rules on greenhouse gas emissions.

WASHINGTON - Senators are now allowed to use taxpayer dollars to travel to the funerals of service members in their home states.

WASHINGTON - The Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is disputing Democratic assertions that a new rule loosening restrictions on media ownership is full of loopholes and will lead to a wave of mergers and fewer choices for consumers.

WASHINGTON - The CIA on Saturday rebutted suggestions the spy agency was uncooperative and hid from the Sept. 11 commission the videotaped interrogations of two suspected terrorists, saying it waited until the panel went out of business before destroying the material now in question.

WASHINGTON - Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had a plan to suspend the rules against illegal detention and arrest up to 12,000 Americans he suspected of being disloyal, according to a newly declassified document.

WASHINGTON - Four days before Christmas, Planet Toys Inc. wants stores to remove the company's CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit from their shelves after some tests had revealed samples of asbestos included in the kits.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve, working to combat the effects of a severe credit crunch, announced Friday it had auctioned another $20 billion in funds to commercial banks at an interest rate of 4.67 percent. Fed officials pledged to continue with the auctions "for as long as necessary."

TORONTO (Reuters) - Air Canada has been included in the European Commission's investigation into price fixing on freight services, the airline said on Monday, adding that it might suffer a liability as a result.

NEW YORK - Rudy Giuliani revels in a reputation for being unstoppable — the bold prosecutor of mobsters and crooked politicians, the dauntless mayor at the World Trade Center. And now a Republican presidential contender.

MOGADISHU (AFP) - A second batch of around 100 Burundian soldiers arrived in the Somali capital on Monday to join other African Union peacekeepers trying to stabilise the war-torn country, an AU official said.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Burundi deployed a second contingent of 92 peacekeepers to the Somali capital on Monday, to bolster an African Union force struggling to stem violence in the turbulent Horn of Africa nation.

BALACIU, Romania (Reuters) - Desperate parents are fleeing the poverty of Romania's countryside in search of work elsewhere in the European Union, leaving their children behind to be cared for by others.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to toss out a lower court ruling that says the FBI was wrong to raid Democratic Rep. William Jefferson's office, a decision the Bush administration argues will hinder corruption investigations of Congress.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Thursday it will quickly release audio tapes after the Jan. 7 argument over the death penalty.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of a teen sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his grandparents when he was 12, arguing that the sentence is cruel.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal judges can impose shorter sentences for crack cocaine crimes, making them more in line with those for powder cocaine — a decision with a strong racial dimension because the vast majority of crack offenders are black.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Supreme Court ruled Monday judges had greater leeway in handing down sentences, allowing courts to address the disparity in punishments for crack and powder cocaine trafficking.

WASHINGTON - Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had a plan to suspend the rules against illegal detention and arrest up to 12,000 Americans he suspected of being disloyal, according to a newly declassified document.

SAN ANTONIO - Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made no apologies Sunday for the religious tone of a recent holiday campaign commercial and said it is important to look for Jesus at this time of year.

Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's diplomatic passport will acquire a slew of new country stamps during his final year in office as he tries to rebuild the U.S.'s international standing and create a foreign-policy legacy beyond Iraq.

WASHINGTON - The Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is disputing Democratic assertions that a new rule loosening restrictions on media ownership is full of loopholes and will lead to a wave of mergers and fewer choices for consumers.

DES MOINES, Iowa - A little over a year ago, Kathy Stangl received a devastating prognosis: Doctors told her she had only a few months to live.