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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a July 15 hearing in connection with a federal auditor's recommendation the Air Force hold a new bidding competition for a $35 billion tanker refueling contract.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain in four battleground states, according to a survey released on Thursday that pollsters said could point to a broad Obama victory in November.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The largest U.S. labor federation endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Thursday and promised to launch a huge effort to get union voters to the polls on his behalf in November.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Narcotics supplies have increased sharply in parts of Afghanistan and Colombia where insurgents are in control, helping them fund their activities, the United Nations said on Thursday.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Conservative Anglican leaders meeting at a rebel summit expressed frustration with the church's leadership on Thursday but indicated that an outright schism might be avoided.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives was scheduled to vote on Thursday on legislation that directs the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use all its authority, including the agency's emergency powers, to "curb immediately" the role of excessive speculation in energy futures markets.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday urged the U.S. Senate to reject any bid to deny liability protection to telecommunication companies that participated in President George W. Bush's warrantless spying program.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Thursday that the Federal Reserve was in a "tough situation" as it tries to tamp down inflation without suffocating a sluggish economy.

RIYADH (Reuters) - A prominent Sunni Muslim Saudi cleric met with minority Shi'ite Muslim leaders this month in an attempt to soothe anger over an edict by radical sheikhs calling Shi'ism a heresy, Shi'ite sources said on Thursday.

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Thursday that critical questions remained unanswered in North Korea's nuclear declaration and it was crucial for Congress to review it.

ROME (Reuters) - After years of speculation that Pope Benedict wears shoes by Prada, the Vatican's official newspaper denied such talk as "frivolous".

KYOTO, Japan (Reuters) - The Group of Eight wealthy nations put pressure on Myanmar to let in more foreign relief workers after a devastating cyclone last month, after accusations it had obstructed aid, a Japanese official said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court struck down on Thursday part of a U.S. campaign finance law that relaxes contribution limits for candidates facing wealthy, self-funded opponents, a ruling that could affect congressional elections in November.

MITROVICA (Reuters) - Serbs in Kosovo's divided city of Mitrovica will establish their own assembly on Saturday in the latest challenge to the authority of the new state's ethnic Albanian leadership, officials said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton brushed off suggestions on Wednesday that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, does not seem to share her enthusiasm for campaigning for Democratic White House candidate Barack Obama.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Afghan government sacked the police chief of Kandahar on Thursday for negligence after some 400 Taliban prisoners and 700 criminals escaped this month in one of the biggest jail breaks in history.

LONDON (Reuters) - Nelson Mandela uttered just four words criticizing Zimbabwe's leadership, but they were enough to resonate around the world.

VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday welcomed a U.N. check of a Syrian site said to have harbored an almost-built secret nuclear reactor before Israel destroyed it, but called on Damascus not to restrict the investigation.

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday sought to reassure supporters in the face of some polls showing a widening lead for Democrat Barack Obama ahead of the November election.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea handed over a long-delayed account of its nuclear activities on Thursday, prompting a still-wary U.S. President George W. Bush to ease some sanctions on a country he once branded part of an "axis of evil."