AP - President Barack Obama on Saturday had what the White House described as an "encouraging" phone conversation with Russian President Dmitrty Medvedev as the two countries sought to work out the remaining issues on a treaty to significantly reduce nuclear arsenals.

AP - A group representing Catholic hospitals Saturday rallied behind President Barack Obama's health care bill ahead of a House vote in which anti-abortion lawmakers could play a decisive role.

AP - President Barack Obama says he wants projects helping specific states yanked from the health care bill Congress is writing. Democratic senators, being senators, beg to differ.

AP - President Barack Obama is promising parents and their kids that with his administration's help they will have better teachers in improved schools so U.S. students can make up for academic ground lost against youngsters in other countries.

AP - Before her daughter disappeared last fall, Christine Mott recalls that the 31-year-old who had been held in connection with an alleged assassination plot announced she had converted to Islam and told her family they'd go to hell if they didn't follow in her steps.

AP - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Saturday she's confident the House will pass health care legislation and dismissed Republican criticism that she did not have enough votes for the measure.

AP - For all the evidence of a divided GOP, the Democratic Party has its own widening cracks that could make a potentially bleak election year even more dour.

AP - Thirteen months into his presidency, Barack Obama finally gave liberal supporters the kind of judicial nominee they had sought and conservatives feared.

AP - Newly arrived Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts accused President Barack Obama and Democrats on Saturday of a "bitter, destructive and endless" drive to pass health overhaul legislation that Brown warned would be disastrous.

AP - Senate candidate Carly Fiorina on Saturday attempted to win over California Republicans by attacking two of their strongest dislikes — incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer and a federal government she says is broken.

AP - Utah's House majority leader resigned from the Legislature Saturday, two days after acknowledging he paid a woman $150,000 to keep quiet about a nude hot-tubbing incident that took place a quarter century ago when she was a teenager.

AP - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife has been transferred out of a Virginia hospital's intensive care unit and is improving after she was seriously injured in an accident on an interstate highway near Washington.

AP - A U.N. meeting to assess progress in advancing the fight for women's equality that ended Friday had a dramatically different slant than a similar session held five years ago: This time, the United States was not trying to make an anti-abortion declaration a crucial theme.

AP - The judge didn't believe the father was a threat and denied the mother's plea to keep him away from their 9-month-old son. It was a seemingly routine ruling in a busy family law court called on too often to referee passionate fights between broken young families over the care of babies.

AFP - US President Barack Obama announced Saturday he will be sending to Congress a new education initiative designed to better prepare high school graduates for college and a professional career.

Reuters - Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held a wide lead on Saturday in early results from Baghdad, the major prize in a tight election race that Iraqis hope will bring stability after years of sectarian conflict.

AP - Under White House pressure to act swiftly, House and Senate Democratic leaders reached for agreement Friday on President Barack Obama's health care bill, sweetened suddenly by fresh billions for student aid and a sense that breakthroughs are at hand.