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President Obama kept a campaign promise Monday by overturning President Bush's restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. But the stem cell executive order — and a companion presidential memo intended to rebuild the wall between politics and science — aren't helping the administration's efforts to reach out to the pro-life community.

Russia leaves the deal that allowed Ukrainian ports to export food. Alabama will redraw its congressional voting map after a Supreme Court ruling. President Biden leads the field in 2024 fundraising.

A special U.S. Navy operation freed Richard Phillips — the captain who was held captive by Somali pirates for five days off the east coast of Africa. U.S. Navy snipers shot to death three of the pirates on Sunday.

The attorneys general of Utah and Arizona say they won't do what Texas did. They won't raid polygamist groups in their states, even though the polygamists targeted in Texas last month are based on the Utah-Arizona border. The officials spoke at a town meeting on polygamy Thursday night in Utah.

California has until July 1 to come up with solutions to fix its $24 billion budget deficit. Joe Mathews, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times and now a senior fellow with the New America Foundation, offers his insight. Joe Mathews, senior fellow with the New America Foundation, offers his insight.

Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania announced Wednesday that he is switching parties and is now a Democrat. The switch means that if Democrat Al Franken is declared the winner in the contested Minnesota Senate race, Democrats will have the 60 votes needed to block GOP filibusters.

The nation's 19 largest banks have gotten the final results from the government's stress tests. Some banks were told they need to raise more capital in order to be considered healthy. The results are scheduled to be released to the public Thursday.

In his fourth formal news conference, President Obama took questions Tuesday that focused on Iran and health care. He said he was "appalled and outraged" by Iran's violent reaction to protests following the disputed presidential election. The president also talked at length about the cost of overhauling health care and the role of a public insurance plan.

Saying he looks at his brief tenure as "what might have been," New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned Wednesday. The former state attorney general, who fought Wall Street and organized crime, was named as a client of a prostitution ring.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is visiting the United States this week. Brown will meet with President Bush and all three U.S. presidential candidates, but he has also focused his trip on the current economic downturn.

Intelligence officials told the Senate Homeland Security committee Monday that the U.S. is still at high risk of terrorist attacks. Some aspects of security have been improved, they say, but not enough to justify complacency.

Reaction is divided to a New York Times article that explored alleged ethics violations by Sen. John McCain, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.

NPR's A Martinez talks to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin ahead of a congressional hearing on the planned merger between golf's major organizations, PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

Meta's new app Threads aims to be a friendlier alternative to Twitter by deemphasizing news and politics. But for many people, partisan brawls are a big part of Twitter's appeal.

In a startling upset, Hillary Clinton resurrects her bid for the White House with a win in New Hampshire's Democratic presidential primary. The victory caps a comeback from last week's third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.

Mississippi voters are preparing for a Tuesday primary that has taken on new significance as the race between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton remains tight. What do Democrats in Mississippi think about the prospects of a so-called "dream ticket" that would match the two?

The chairman of the Murray Energy Corp., Robert Murray, says his miners were not "retreat mining" when they became trapped in a central Utah mine. "Retreat mining" is when workers remove pillars of coal from a distance and then let the roof fall in.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is refusing to resign Monday after a special commission harshly criticized his leadership during last July's war in Lebanon. The two Israeli soldiers whose kidnapping sparked the war in Lebanon are still not free.

The Senate is expected to pass legislation that would expand the number of embryonic stem-cell lines eligible for federal research funding. The House passed similar legislation, but a presidential veto is expected.

Documents relating to the late-night hospital room standoff between the Justice Department and the White House over the domestic spying program suggest that Vice President Dick Cheney punished a DOJ official who stood in the way of the reauthorization of the controversial program.

The Bush administration has announced plans to replace Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Rather than risk a Senate confirmation struggle by reappointing Pace, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he would recommend Adm. Mike Mullen to replace him.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's Capitol Hill colleagues react to news of his malignant brain tumor with sadness, prayers and disbelief. Some are contemplating what Congress might look like without one of the Senate's most prolific legislators.

Recovery efforts in Dujiangyan, China are also focused on hydropower dams around the ancient city. The epicenter of last week's massive earthquake was near the huge Zipingpu dam, cracking its walls. Officials say Zipingpu is structurally safe and are releasing water to decrease pressure. Scientists warn that if the dam fails, the destruction would be even greater than the quake. NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with NPR's Melissa Block.

The Senate is taking up the $700 billion plan to rescue Wall Street. Benton Ives, economics and finance reporter for the Congressional Quarterly, says the legislation is largely the same as the one the House rejected Monday, but with added tax breaks and an increase on the deposit insurance cap.

President Bush announced a plan that will allow the U.S. government to spend about $250 billion of its $700 billion bailout program to buy equity stakes in banks. The government has been careful to call the program a "recapitalization" plan.