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WASHINGTON - Republican leaders, eager to deliver a pre-election victory to President Bush (news - web sites), moved closer to agreement Monday night on legislation needed to extend three popular middle-class tax cuts that are set to expire this year. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley announced that a joint House-Senate conference committee, which will work out differences between the two chambers, will meet on the tax legislation for the first time Tuesday. Officials reported agreement was close on the major provisions of the legislation. Under one optimistic scenario, the conference committee will be able to reach agreement on a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gun control activists, health care advocates and law enforcement groups geared up on Tuesday for a last-ditch effort to prevent a 1994 ban on assault weapons from expiring next week, but even its most ardent backers acknowledge the drive is all but futile. But the influential National Rifle Association gun lobby, meanwhile, said it would "not take anything for granted" as it works to send the ban into oblivion. Ban advocates called on President Bush (news - web sites) to intervene and get Congress to act. But Bush, who in his 2000 campaign promised to sign legislation,...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - With a new U.N. envoy expected in Baghdad shortly, Security Council members reached agreement Wednesday on the text of a resolution that will extend the U.N. mission in Iraq for a year. The brief draft resolution reaffirms "that the United Nations should play a leading role in assisting the Iraqi people and government in the formation of institutions for representative government." But Secretary-General Kofi Annan made clear to the council in a report Friday that the United Nations will remain "a high-value" target for attacks in Iraq for the foreseeable future, which will severely limit the...

<p>The state is poised next month to extend a telecommunications contract - valued at $1 billion - that some say could saddle agencies with obsolete technology and force taxpayers to needlessly spend more than $100 million for services, according to internal state documents obtained by The Orange County Register.</p>

Senate Republicans are planning a second consecutive night of floor debate over judicial nominees, GOP leaders said during the wee hours of last night’s marathon debate. “It may well go through to the next night,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). “The 30 hours was something for planning purposes,” he said, referring to the original intended length of the debate, which began at 6 p.m. Wednesday. A number of freshman senators have volunteered to push debate beyond the original cut-off time of midnight Thursday. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) have expressed an interest, said Senate Republican...