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• "President Bush signed a bill Thursday that overhauls rules about government eavesdropping and grants immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the U.S. spy on Americans in suspected terrorism cases," AP reports. "He called it 'landmark legislation that is vital to the security of our people.'"

• "The Bush administration has decided not to take any new steps to regulate greenhouse gas emissions before the president leaves office, despite pressure from the Supreme Court and broad accord among senior federal officials that new regulation is appropriate now," the Washington Post reports. "The Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce today that it will seek months of further public comment on the threat posed by global warming to human health and welfare -- a matter that federal climate experts and international scientists have repeatedly said should be urgently addressed."

• The New York Times reports on the "latest perplexing challenge" for the military tribunals in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: "how to handle detainees who are insisting on representing themselves, and keep them from turning the military commissions upside down."

• "Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey rejected calls to appoint a special counsel to investigate Bush administration officials who approved the use of coercive interrogation techniques against terrorism suspects," the Washington Post reports. "In a letter sent" Thursday "to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), Mukasey said opening a criminal investigation would be 'unfair' and 'seriously short-sighted.'"

• "The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday he will recommend that the nation's largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet," AP reports. "The potentially precedent-setting move stems from a complaint against Comcast Corp. that the company had blocked Internet traffic among users of a certain type of 'file sharing' software that allows them to exchange large amounts of data."

• "The Pentagon’s top acquisition official acknowledged Thursday that the Defense Department may not award a new contract for the Air Force’s fleet of aerial refueling tankers by the end of the Bush administration," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

Congress: Lawmakers Slow The Pace As Election Approaches

• "Some fights of the 110th Congress have lost their oomph in the waning months before the November elections, with both parties content to run out the clock on messy matters like the war in Iraq, spending bills and various disputes with the White House," AP reports. "Democrats dropped any pretense of trying to address some of the stickiest issues when their Senate leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, told reporters Thursday that Congress will punt until next year its biggest job, setting most of the government's spending priorities."

• "The Senate on Thursday confirmed Gen. David H. Petraeus of the United States Army as commanding officer of the Central Command, the military headquarters responsible for Iraq and Afghanistan, among other areas of operation," the New York Times reports. "The Senate also approved the nomination of Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno to replace General Petraeus as the top military commander in Iraq."

• "Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify Thursday about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former Democratic governor of Alabama," AP reports. "Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairman of a House subcommittee, ruled with backing from fellow Democrats on the panel that Rove was breaking the law by refusing to cooperate -- perhaps the first step toward holding him in contempt of Congress."

• "The House is going to have its own 'gang' of Republicans and Democrats who want to push for more drilling to relieve gas prices," The Hill reports. These Democrats "will be bucking Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who earlier Thursday called efforts to open up new areas to drilling 'a hoax.'"

• "Struggling homeowners who can't afford their mortgages and banks facing big losses would get government help under a foreclosure rescue that has broad bipartisan support," AP reports. "The plan is headed for Senate passage" today, "but faces a bumpy road, with the House planning a rewrite and the White House threatening a veto without major changes."

• "The White House on Thursday renewed a vow to veto popular legislation that would avert imminent fee cuts to doctors who treat patients under the federal Medicare program," the Los Angeles Times reports. "The threat came even as Democratic leaders confidently predicted that enough Republicans would side with them to ensure that the bill, which affects 44 million seniors and an additional 9 million military personnel, will become law."

• "Congress has had its hands full with the mad dash to wrap up major legislation, but proposals to revamp health care and make it more accessible and affordable are taking shape as lawmakers and their staffs gear up for a healthcare overhaul in the near future," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

• "Concerned the added cost of the Census Bureau’s decision to reduce use of handheld computers in 2010 will cause cutbacks, minority lawmakers are pushing the agency to maintain funding for programs to identify historically undercounted groups," CongressDailyAM (subscription) also reports.

Iraq: Gov't. Offers To Help Turkey With Kurdish Rebels

• "Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on his first trip to Iraq, said Thursday that Baghdad and Kurdish leaders had offered support in Turkey's battle against Kurdish rebels and that Ankara would assist Iraq's reconstruction efforts," Agence France-Presse reports. "'We received support from [Prime Minister] Nouri al-Maliki's government and the Kurdistan regional government against the PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party],' Mr. Erdogan told reporters during a joint news conference with Mr. Maliki."

• "Britain’s Defense Ministry agreed on Thursday to pay compensation to the family of an Iraqi hotel receptionist who died in the custody of British troops in Basra in September 2003, and to nine other Iraqis detained with him who the ministry said suffered 'substantive breaches' of their human rights," the New York Times reports. "Lawyers for the Iraqis said the government agreed to pay nearly $6 million."

• "Nearly half of the members of British armed forces regularly think of quitting, according to a major Defense Ministry survey that comes amid concerns that sustained war in Iraq and Afghanistan is hurting morale," the Washington Post reports. "In a survey of nearly 9,000 people in the army, air force and navy, the first of its kind, respondents cited the impact of overseas tours on personal life, pay and job opportunities outside the military as top reasons to leave."

• "The bodies of two U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq for more than a year have been found, their families said Thursday night. The military would not immediately confirm the report," AP reports. "The father of Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, of Lawrence, Mass., said the remains of his son and another soldier, Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, of Waterford, Mich., had been identified in Iraq."

• "Sgt. Ryan Weemer came home from Iraq with a secret he eventually had to tell: He and two other Marines had coldly shot four unarmed Iraqis taken captive inside a barricaded house during the battle of Fallujah, the fiercest of the Iraq war," AP reports. "Weemer revealed the story of the November 2004 killings during an interview for a U.S. Secret Service job," and "now, all three Marines are facing charges of murder and the possibility of life imprisonment."

Nation: Miss. Mayor Indicted; Ohio Residents Ruled Victims Of Racism

• "A day after being indicted by a federal grand jury, Jackson," Mississippi, "Mayor Frank Melton [D] belittled the charges as lacking heft despite their heavyweight appearance," the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports. "After more than a year of investigating Melton, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that Melton and his police bodyguards Marcus Wright and Michael Recio had been charged with two civil rights violations and a gun charge as a result of their role in wrecking a duplex on Ridgeway Street in west Jackson."

• "Residents of a mostly black neighborhood in rural Ohio were awarded nearly $11 million Thursday by a federal jury that found local authorities denied them public water service for decades out of racial discrimination," AP reports. "Each of the 67 plaintiffs was awarded $15,000 to $300,000, depending on how long they had lived in the Coal Run neighborhood, about 5 miles east of Zanesville in Muskingum County in east-central Ohio."

• "Under pressure from farmers, livestock producers and soaring food prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is weighing a policy change that could lead to the plowing of millions of acres of land that had been set aside for conservation," the Washington Post reports. "At issue is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), under which the government has paid farmers to stop growing row crops, such as corn and soybeans, on 34 million acres across the country."

• "Thousands of students nationwide, including many who were previously reluctant to study online, have suddenly decided to take one or more college classes over the Internet," the New York Times reports. "The vast majority of the nation’s 15 million college students -- at least 79 percent -- live off campus, and with gas prices above $4 a gallon, many are seeking to cut commuting costs by studying online."

• "Long a port of entry for immigrants, California has bolstered its position as a portal to citizenship, and as the center of a national surge in citizenship among Mexican immigrants," the San Jose Mercury News reports. "According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the number of new citizens in California rose by 19 percent, with 181,684 residents taking the oath of citizenship last year -- the most since 2001 and more than twice as many as any other state.

• "For the third time in a year, a Louisiana judge facing questions about his impartiality in overseeing the racially charged Jena 6 case has had one of his rulings reversed," the Chicago Tribune reports. "LaSalle Parish District Judge J.P. Mauffray had been holding Jesse Ray Beard, 17, one of the six black high school students charged with beating a white classmate, under house arrest" and "had refused repeated requests from Beard's attorneys to allow the teenager to attend a supervised summer educational program in New York state. But this week another judge from neighboring Rapides Parish, Thomas Yeager, ordered Beard released so he could participate in the program."

• "Increasing numbers of younger women continue to receive diagnoses of the most dangerous form of skin cancer even as the rate of new cases has leveled off in younger men, federal health officials reported" Thursday, the Washington Post reports. "An analysis of government cancer statistics from 1973 to 2004 found that the rate of new melanoma cases in younger women had jumped 50 percent since 1980 but did not increase for younger men in that period."

Economy: Consumers Opt For Cheaper Products

• "Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged lawmakers Thursday to help modernize how the nation's beleaguered financial system is regulated," CNNMoney.com reports. "In a joint appearance before the House Financial Services Committee, the two officials pressed for greater regulatory power of the nation's financial institutions, and the creation of a system that could handle the potential failure of a large securities firm in the wake of the near-collapse of Bear Stearns."

• "Spurred by economic worries, American shoppers have quickly decided that cheaper is better," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports. "They are trading down to store brands from fancy labels, to small cars from SUVs, and to deep-discounters from full-service stores."

• "Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two pillars of the nation's housing market, continued to plummet" Thursday "as investors and federal officials contemplated the possibility that the giants of the mortgage business could require a federal bailout," the Washington Post reports.

• "Blood is in the water, and short sellers, often viewed as the sharks of Wall Street, are circling. As shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac watched their investments plunge in value Thursday, short sellers, who bet against stocks, could count their winnings," the New York Times reports.

• "Let there be no mistaking it now: The hotel boom is kaput," the Washington Post reports. "Marriott International, one of the world's largest hotel operators, released a stream of unsettling news for the industry" Thursday: "Its second quarter profit fell 24 percent, to $157 million; it lowered yearly profit estimates again; and most importantly, it said revenue per available room, a key measure of hotel strength, could decrease this year in the United States by 1 percent."

• "In a reversal of its previous hostility to the idea, Anheuser-Busch is in active talks to sell itself to the Belgian brewer InBev in a friendly deal, people briefed on the matter said Thursday night," the New York Times reports. "Exact terms of the potential deal could not be learned, but one person said that InBev had indicated that it would be willing to pay more than the $65 a share it had originally offered."

World: ICC To Charge Sudanese Leader With Genocide

• "The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor will ask judges to issue an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan next week on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity," the Los Angeles Times reports. "The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, issued a statement Thursday announcing that he would submit evidence of crimes committed against civilians in Sudan's western region of Darfur over the last five years" and "if the judges issue an arrest warrant, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir would be the first sitting or former head of state to be charged with genocide."

• "The United States and its allies ran into a wall of opposition Thursday in an effort to impose new sanctions against Zimbabwe, with Russia, China and South Africa objecting," the Washington Times reports. "A resolution sponsored by the United States and Britain would impose financial and travel restrictions against Zimbabwe's leadership in response to a flawed June 27 election in which President Robert Mugabe ran unopposed for a sixth term."

• "Zimbabwe’s ruling party began preliminary discussions with the opposition on Thursday in an effort to settle a political crisis in which both sides have staked a claim to the nation’s presidency," the New York Times reports. "But in a statement late in the day, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, said the talks, in Pretoria, South Africa, could not lead to genuine negotiations until state-sponsored violence stopped and 1,500 of his supporters were freed from prison."

• "The confrontation between Iran and the United States seemed to sharpen on Thursday as Iran said it tested missiles for a second day and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States would defend its allies and protect its interests against an attack," the New York Times reports.

• "Last week, various Iranian officials made positive comments about a new diplomatic outreach by the United States and its allies, suggesting negotiations on Iran's nuclear program might be possible. This week, Iran test-fired medium-range and long-range missiles, bluntly warning that thousands more were ready to be launched," the Washington Post reports. "The conflicting signals are typical of the opaque Islamic republic, with its many competing power centers and complex system of government."

• "Italy's controversial decision to fingerprint Gypsies as part of what it said was a crackdown on crime received a sharp rebuke Thursday from the European Parliament, which declared the campaign distinctly racist," the Los Angeles Times reports. "The proclamation from Europe's chief elected body was an especially embarrassing blow to the 2-month-old right-wing administration of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi."

• "Russia will reject moves by the United States to play a bigger role in defusing a standoff with Georgia, Interfax news agency quoted a Russian diplomatic source as saying" today, Reuters reports. "Condoleezza Rice, on a visit to U.S. ally Georgia on Thursday, called for a more intensive international effort to resolve a conflict over Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia."

• "South Korean President Lee Myung-bak" today "proposed reopening stalled reconciliation talks with North Korea in an address to the opening session of the National Assembly," CNN reports. "The offer is an apparent softening of a position by the conservative Lee, who came into office in February promising a tougher stance toward the North than his liberal predecessor Roh Moo-Hyun."

• "The Mexican government plans to nearly double the size of its federal police force in order to reduce the role of the military in combating drug trafficking, under a confidential anti-narcotics strategy that officials made available Thursday," the Washington Post reports.

• "Pakistan and the United Nations have agreed in principle to set up a UN panel to investigate the killing of Pakistani ex-PM Benazir Bhutto," BBC News reports. "A UN statement said a broad understanding had been reached, but further consultation would be required."

Campaigns: The Tortoise And The Hare

• Barack Obama’s money machine shows signs of slowing just as John McCain’s camp boasts of its strongest fundraising month yet. Earlybird's Campaign News section has details.

Commentary: The Perks Of High Gasoline Prices

• Commentators explain what both American citizens and the Middle East are gaining from skyrocketing oil costs in Earlybird's Pundits & Editorials section.

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