Politics - Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain accused Democratic front-runner Barack Obama on Tuesday of wanting to soften the U.S. embargo on Cuba and meet Cuban President Raul Castro.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella of New York, under pressure from fellow Republicans to step aside after two headline-grabbing scandals, announced on Tuesday he will not seek re-election in November.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to help win approval of three free trade deals pending in Congress could qualify millions of U.S. service industry workers, in jobs ranging from low-level data entry clerks to high-paid financial analysts, for government aid if their jobs move overseas.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. Barney Frank on Tuesday said "a fight is brewing" over a Senate agreement to finance a new federal mortgage insurance fund by taking money from a proposed trust fund for affordable housing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Determined to show him life outside Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will take Britain's foreign secretary to her California hometown this week, the State Department said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will visit Britain, France, Italy and Germany during a trip to Europe June 9-16 and attend the U.S.-European Union summit in Slovenia, the White House said on Tuesday.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said on Tuesday he still had not decided whether to endorse a candidate in the Democratic presidential race.

CROW AGENCY, Montana (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama became an honorary member of an American Indian tribe on Monday and promised a proactive policy to help tribal people if he wins the White House in November.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee said on Monday they had reached a deal on legislation to create a multibillion-dollar mortgage rescue fund and a new regulator for housing finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy to the United Nations on Monday welcomed the visit of a special U.N. human rights investigator to probe racism but said the Human Rights Council should focus on "real problems" elsewhere.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, on Monday said he agreed with President George W. Bush's decision to the $289 billion farm bill because it did not cut subsidies to wealthy farmers enough.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea appears close to making a long-overdue declaration of its nuclear programs, the top U.S. negotiator with Pyongyang said on Monday in an upbeat assessment after months of difficult negotiations.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite President George W. Bush opposing a bill to temporarily halt adding oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, on Monday he signed into law the measure Congress passed in an effort to lower gasoline prices.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats on Monday said White House pressure may have influenced the Environmental Protection Agency to reject a bid by California to impose strict limits on emissions from new cars and trucks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new book on the scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon accuses then-White House counsel John Dean of ordering the infamous Watergate break-in in 1972, a charge Dean strongly rejected.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said on Monday that Republican critics should stop picking on his wife Michelle.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has promised more vigorous enforcement of antitrust law if elected, but antitrust experts said on Monday that the courts could trip him up.

COVINGTON, Ky (Reuters) - The state of Kentucky, best known for thoroughbred horses and bourbon, is surprised and a little excited to find itself at the center of Democratic presidential politics.