A A A' The Senate plans to hold a hearing next week looking into antitrust issues surrounding the Bowl Championship Series.

After a Republican briefly entered the Senate chamber, the Democrats gaveled the body into session and passed a flurry of bills, all of them contested by the Republicans.

After four decades in control of the New York State Senate, Republicans have found themselves facing an uphill battle.

For the Supreme Court, it was the year of living on the verge.

TEHRAN, June 30 -- Iran's religious and political leadership warned domestic opponents and Western powers Tuesday that no further protests against a disputed election would be tolerated following official certification of a landslide victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Al Franken, center, walks through the US Capitol building in Washington, DC. Photograph: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images The eight-month saga over a contested US Senate seat today appeared to be coming to an end when the Minnesota supreme court ruled in favour of the Democrat and former comic Al Franken.

Politico - A hard-hitting piece on Sarah Palin in the new Vanity Fair has touched off a blistering exchange of insults among high-profile Republicans over last year’s GOP ticket – tearing open fresh wounds about leaks surrounding Palin and revealing for the first time some of the internal wars that paralyzed the campaign in its final days.

AP - U.S. officials said Tuesday that a North Korean ship has turned around and is headed back toward the north where it came from, after being tracked for more than a week by American Navy vessels on suspicion of carrying illegal weapons.

In this April 18, 2008, file photo Vietnamese workers process fillet from catfish at the Faquimex company in BenTre province, situated in the delta of the Mekong River in Vietnam.

AP - Al Franken ascended Tuesday from the ranks of former "Saturday Night Live" comedians to an even more exclusive club, outlasting Republican Norm Coleman in an eight-month recount and courtroom saga to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.