Politics

Politico - Picking the people was the easy part.

AP - The United States can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed Tuesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden. It suggests the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists.

AP - Federal health officials estimate that the struggling economy is likely to speed up by one to three years the exhaustion of the Medicare trust fund covering hospital and nursing home care.

AP - A decision by London's anti-terror police to arrest a lawmaker and raid his offices in an inquiry into the leaking of sensitive documents has triggered a passionate debate about democracy and the historic rights of Parliament in Britain.

AP - The United Nations' AIDS program says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed a new chief for the group.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama has selected retired Marine General James Jones to be his national security adviser.

AP - The Supreme Court has declined to block the retrial of celebrity pathologist Cyril Wecht, who is accused of using government workers and equipment to benefit his lucrative private practice.

AP - The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a pipeline company over denial of environmental permits for a proposed natural gas pipeline through Long Island Sound.

AP - A U.N. climate conference has opened with warnings that the global financial crisis must not divert efforts to reach a new treaty on controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

CQPolitics.com - President-elect Obama has waited until today officially announce New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's selection as Secretary of State until after Thanksgiving, but the wrangling to determine her successor in the Senate has already been underway for weeks.

AP - Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss enlisted Sarah Palin to rally conservatives while Democratic challenger Jim Martin pushed to activate black voters, as they grappled for advantage in a Tuesday runoff that will shape Democrats' hold on power in Washington.

Politico - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is leaving Sunday night for India following the deadly terrorist siege in Mumbai, the White House announced.

AP - Vice President-elect Joe Biden said Sunday he had chosen a close adviser of more than 25 years as his counselor and had picked two other longtime political advisers for key posts in his office.