AP - Barack Obama pushed close to victory in the marathon Democratic presidential race Monday on the eve of a final pair of primaries amid signs that Hillary Rodham Clinton was preparing to acknowledge defeat.

AP - Eleven of the nation's governors will have to perform some political sleight of hand if Barack Obama clinches the Democratic nomination for president. After months of supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton, they will have to convince voters they're just as happy with her rival.

AP - Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton heaved toward the finish line in their exhaustive Democratic presidential odyssey with Obama poised to claim victory and Clinton facing the prospects of having to abandon a quest that once seemed a sure shot but became one of long odds.

AFP - The presence of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at a United Nations summit on food security in Rome is "obscene", Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Monday.

AFP - US Senator Edward Kennedy underwent "successful" brain cancer surgery here Monday, his doctor said, and will follow up with chemotherapy as the political icon vowed a return to work and to campaigning for presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

Politico - May 19 was a fairly typical day in the recent life of the Drudge Report.

AP - McCain uses speech to pro-Israel group to criticize Obama on Iran ... Clinton wins most Puerto Rico delegates, but Obama moves closer to nomination ... Obama, Clinton try to wrap up nomination with American Indian votes

AP - Hillary Rodham Clinton will give her post-primary speech in New York Tuesday night, a rare departure from the campaign trail.

AP - Barack Obama said Monday he and rival Hillary Rodham Clinton will be "working together in November" despite fears by some that the Democratic Party will be divided after the long and bitter primary campaign.

AP - Looking to bring finality to the Democratic presidential campaign, Barack Obama worked furiously Monday to win over enough superdelegates to clinch the nomination with the final primaries Tuesday.

AFP - Actor George Clooney called Saturday for China and other major countries to raise the pressure on Sudan to end the bloodshed in Darfur.

AP - Most senators acknowledge that climate change poses a major environmental threat, but getting agreement on how to deal with it is another matter.