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Obama to tell Putin: Time to move past Cold War (AP)
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President Barack Obama gestures during his interview with The Associated Press, Thursday, July 2, 2009, in the West Wing of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)AP - Days from his first Moscow summit, President Barack Obama declared Thursday that former Russian President Vladimir Putin "still has a lot of sway" in his nation and needs an in-person reminder the Cold War is over.


GOP, White House at odds on Sotomayor documents (AP)
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FILE - This June 2, 2009 file photo shows Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Capitol Hill in Washington. The top Republican on the Senate committee that will consider Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination says a Puerto Rican civil rights group's papers could shed light on her judicial approach, particularly her view of racial preferences in hiring. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)AP - A top Republican pressed for more information Thursday about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's ties to a Puerto Rican civil rights group he said took extreme positions on race, as the White House argued that the material was irrelevant to the judge's nomination.


Senate bill fines people refusing health coverage (AP)
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Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., right, and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee ranking Republican Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., preside over the markup of the health care reform bill and its amendments, seen on documents before them, Wednesday, June 17, 2009, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - Americans who refuse to buy affordable medical coverage could be hit with fines of more than $1,000 under a health care overhaul bill unveiled Thursday by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.


Obama calls Dems to talk health care (Politico)
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Politico - The president tells top Democrats he'll put his political capital behind health care reform.
Capitol Hell: Worst states to govern (Politico)
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Politico - Serving as chief executive can be an unenviable task -- especially in these five states.
Documents describe chaos of Gitmo's early months (AP)
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AP - Newly released Defense Department documents and memos about the first years of operation of the jail at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, portray a chaotic and sometimes violent operation that its own commanders described as dysfunctional.
SC senator defends ouster of Honduran president (AP)
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AP - South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint is defending the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and says the rule of law is working in Honduras.
Pa. senator guilty of $3.5M fraud seeks new trial (AP)
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AP - A former Pennsylvania state senator convicted of a multimillion-dollar fraud is seeking a new trial on corruption charges, alleging the jury was tainted.
FBI notes: Saddam feared Iran more than US attack (AP)
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AP - The farm where Saddam Hussein hid from U.S. forces before he was captured in December 2003 was familiar ground for the Iraqi dictator: It was the same place, he told an FBI agent, where he sought refuge 44 years earlier after taking part in a failed attempt to kill Iraq's president.
Gay marriage case will go to Supreme Court: attorney (Reuters)
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Attorney Theodore Olson, center, shakes hands with Prop. 8 opponents after a news conference at the Federal Building in San Francisco, Thursday, July 2, 2009. Attorneys behind the federal court challenge to California's voter-approved gay marriage ban plan to argue during a pretrial hearing Thursday that by stripping gays of the right to wed, Proposition 8 runs afoul of the constitutional requirement that the government should treat its citizens equally absent a compelling reason not to do so. (AP Photo/Russel A. Daniels)Reuters - The attorney representing two same-sex couples who were denied a right to wed in California said on Thursday he expected the case to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has yet to hear a case on the gay marriage issue.


Education secretary challenges NEA on teacher pay (AP)
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AP - Education Secretary Arne Duncan challenged members of the National Education Association Thursday to stop resisting the idea of linking teacher pay to student achievement.
Stavridis takes helm at NATO command (AP)
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AP - NATO's new commander said Thursday that the situation in Afghanistan remains "very challenging," but that the Taliban and other insurgents can be defeated.
Rare copy of Declaration of Independence found (AP)
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This undated image released by Britain's National Archives Thursday, July 2, 2009, shows a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence, which has been discovered at the National Archives in Kew, England.  The rare copy of the American Declaration of Independence has been found hidden in a file at the British National Archives. The Archives say that the print, known as the Dunlap print after the printer who commissioned it, is the 26th copy of the document to be found. The last Dunlap print found was sold at an auction for $8.14 million in 2000.  Archives spokeswoman Katrina McClintock said Thursday that the file was found by a researcher looking through late 18th Century files for something unrelated. McClintock said it was discovered months ago but not revealed to the public until it could be extracted and catalogued.  (AP Photo/National Archives)AP - British researchers have announced the discovery of a rare original copy of America's Declaration of Independence — just in time for the Fourth of July.


Obama sure of rebound despite job loss figures (AFP)
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A job seeker sits near an employment bulletin board at the New York State Labor Department's Division of Employment Services in New York City. President Barack Obama said he was confident the US economy would recover, despite new data showing unemployment at a 26-year-high of 9.5 percent, which dampened hopes of a quick rebound.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Hondros)AFP - President Barack Obama said he was confident the US economy would recover, despite new data showing unemployment at a 26-year-high of 9.5 percent, which dampened hopes of a quick rebound.


Did hacker threaten Sanford and lover over affair? (McClatchy Newspapers)
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South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford gestures during an interview with The Associated Press in his office in Columbia, S. C. Tuesday, June 30, 2009. Sanford admitted that there were more encounters with his Argentine mistress than he previously has disclosed.(AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)McClatchy Newspapers - RIO DE JANEIRO — A television anchor who's the only journalist known to have spoken with South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's Argentine lover since news of their affair broke last week said the couple received an e-mail threat from the person who hacked into her Hotmail account.


Franken Likely To Take Senate Seat on Tuesday (CQPolitics.com)
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CQPolitics.com - Senate Democratic leaders are inching closer to seating Democrat Al Franken as the junior senator from Minnesota and clinching control, at least on paper, of 60 votes.
Senate’s Warner Concerned Obama Agency May be ‘Gotcha’ Enforcer (Bloomberg)
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Bloomberg - July 2 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Mark Warner expressed concern that President Barack Obama’s proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, centerpiece of a rules overhaul, is “divorced” from markets and would be a “gotcha” enforcer.