• Senate votes to permit drug imports from Canada
  People in the United States could get lower-cost drugs from Canada over the Internet under a plan that has passed the Senate.

• Senate votes to block release of detainee photos
  The Senate has again voted to allow the Obama administration to refuse to release new photos showing U.S. personnel abusing detainees held overseas.

• DNC fundraiser tapped as ambassador to Germany
  President Obama plans to nominate Philip Murphy, a former finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee, to be ambassador to Germany, the White House announced Thursday.

• House passes bill to boost food stamp spending
  With rising unemployment forcing millions of additional people onto food stamps, the House on Tuesday passed a bill to boost the program's budget by 14 percent.

• Keep them playing: Stimulus money aids orchestras
  Dozens of orchestras around the nation can keep playing for now, kept in tune by federal stimulus dollars aimed at saving jobs.

• Honduras losing $20 million in U.S. aid, and counting
  The political crisis in Honduras has cost the country nearly $20 million in U.S. aid - and the price tag could rise if the dueling governments aren't able to reach a solution.

• U.S. turns over to Iraq Iranians suspected of aiding insurgents
  The U.S. military on Thursday reluctantly turned over to Iraq five Iranians it had accused of fomenting violence in Iraq. The Iraqi government promptly invited them to meet Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and then released them to Iranian custody.

• Poll: World has little confidence in leaders' economic measures
  As President Barack Obama and other world leaders meet in Italy, a global survey released Thursday reflects wide concern that governments won't meet their budgets in this economic climate - and a universal preference to respond by cutting services rather than raising taxes.

• House Democrats, White House at odds over CIA briefings
  House Democrats were working Thursday to avert a showdown with President Barack Obama and the CIA over who in Congress should receive sensitive information on the agency's covert activities.

• Michael Jackson resolution isn't needed, Pelosi says
  Amid the great debates of the day over health care, global warming and economic recovery, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday there will be no pause in the action to honor Michael Jackson.

• Hastert son running for Congress
  The Illinois congressional seat that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert once held for 20 years may see a Hastert comeback.

• DEA reassigns agent over refusal to go to Afghanistan
  The Drug Enforcement Administration has removed an agent from his pilot duties after he refused to be sent to Afghanistan on a 60-day detail.

• Senate votes to keep Bush era illegal worker rule
  The Senate wants to force the Homeland Security Department to stick with a proposed Bush administration policy requiring employers to fire immigrant workers whose names don't match their Social Security numbers.

• AP sources: Burris won't run for full Senate term
  Sen. Roland Burris, whose deep ties to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich seemed to doom his Senate tenure from the start, will not run for a full Senate term in 2010. The move increases Democrats' chances of holding on to the former Senate seat of President Barack Obama.

• House Democrats likely to alter intel bill
  Congressional aides said Thursday that Democratic leaders are prepared to soften a proposal that more lawmakers be briefed on secret CIA operations to make an intelligence bill more acceptable to the White House.

• Group urges Congress to pass catastrophe insurance bill
  A group is urging Congress to enact a federal homeowners' insurance program for natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires before the next one strikes, saying such events pose a serious threat to the economy.

• US panel demands Iran release 7 Baha'is on trial
  A U.S. government agency is demanding that Iran release seven Baha'i prisoners rather than submit them to trials on charges of spying for Israel and religious charges.

• Health care overhaul suffers another setback
  The drive to remake the nation's health care system suffered yet another setback in Congress on Thursday when a pivotal group of House Democrats demanded changes in legislation the leadership was drafting on a fast track.

• A glance at Obama's overseas itinerary
  A glance at President Barack Obama's itinerary for his overseas trip:

• Analysis: Mixed reviews greet Biden as a diplomat
  Joe Biden, the vice president who might have been secretary of state, is widening his role as globe-trotting diplomat, drawing praise on some fronts and puzzlement on others.

• House orders engraving of 'In God We Trust' motto
  The national motto, "In God We Trust," will be engraved in the Capitol Visitor Center, responding to critics who said Congress spent $621 million on the new facility without paying due respect to the nation's religious heritage.

• With assets less toxic, banks have other troubles
  The bundles of bad home mortgages that panicked the Bush and Obama administrations have turned out to be not so toxic for the financial industry after all.

• Michael Jackson resolution isn't needed, Pelosi says
  Amid the great debates of the day over health care, global warming and economic recovery, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that there will be no pause in the action to honor Michael Jackson.

• Dodd warns banks on credit card rate increases
  Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee, on Thursday warned credit card companies against jacking up interest rates before legislation takes effect that would limit their ability to do so.

• HUD releases $1.2B in stimulus funds for homeless
  The Housing and Urban Development Department is using $1.2 billion in stimulus money to fight homelessness in hundreds of locations across the country.