AP - Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, fresh from an Iraq trip with Democrat Barack Obama, said the presidential candidates should focus on the war's future and stop arguing over the success of last year's troop surge.

AP - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has found a refuge in the nation's preoccupation with record energy prices.

AFP - Republican White House hopeful John McCain said Friday that his Democratic rival Barack Obama is further to the left than the only Socialist US senator.

AFP - A US Senate investigative panel accused two prominent banks in Liechtenstein and Switzerland on Wednesday of helping wealthy Americans hide billions of dollars and evade taxes.

AP - Dean Barkley — lawyer, political kingmaker, and bus driver — has spent 62 days in the U.S. Senate, which he calls "the most prestigious club on earth."

AFP - The US Senate has given a major boost to a program to combat AIDS and malaria around the world, voting to triple funding for a cause championed by President George W. Bush.

AP - Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura halted his political comeback before it began, using a national TV platform to announce that he won't launch a third-party bid for the U.S. Senate "at this moment."

AFP - A US senator said Monday the weak dollar was to blame for the takeover by Belgian-Brazilian brewer InBev of rival Anheuser-Busch for 52 billion dollars (33 billion euros).