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Congress continues to wrestle with the fallout from the bribery scandals involving convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Two Senate committees looked at the issue of ethics standards Wednesday, but found no easy answers.

President Bush's budget includes proposed cuts to a variety of health programs. The biggest cut and the most controversial falls on Medicare. But in an election year, it's not clear that Congress will want to take on the politically sensitive program.

Haitians jam polling stations as U.N. peacekeepers guard the country's first presidential election in nearly six years. Voting day got off to a rough start, creating havoc in many voting centers around the capital city. But election officials assured voters they would be able to cast their ballots.

In the depths of the Great Depression, the small Washington state town of Gig Harbor started a rooster-racing competition -- complete with "rooster girl" cheerleaders and a Roosterville town center for the "athletes" -- to attract attention and money to their coastal hamlet.

Muslims in the Middle East and Asia participate in more violent protests over a Danish cartoon of Muhammad. Commentator Joel Pett says the riots -- and deaths -- are evidence of the power of cartoons. He is a Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist for the Lexington Herald Leader and USA Today.

Polling stations in Haiti stayed open into the night for the country's first presidential election since Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted two years ago. There were some violent incidents and a few deaths were reported, but the balloting was largely free from the widespread violence so many had feared.

The Danish government tries to mollify Muslims angry over cartoons depicting Muhammad that were first published in a Danish newspaper. But it has not condemned their publication. As protest continues around the world, Copenhagen is demanding protection for its diplomats and citizens.

A court in London finds prominent British Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri guilty of 11 counts, including inciting murder. He is sentenced to seven years in jail. Al-Masri, who maintained his innocence, is still wanted by the United States on terrorism charges.

Now that the deadly bird flu virus has spread to poultry in northern Nigeria, experts say it is almost certain to spread further in Africa. Nigeria's poultry population is estimated at 140 million birds, and the nation appears ill-equipped to stamp out the virus.

In the 2004 election, citizens in 11 states amended their constitutions to define marriage as between a man and a woman. This year promises to be a rematch of that question: As many as 10 states will consider an amendment to ban gay marriage.

Fantasy Records releases a new collection of classic recordings from the 1950s and 1960s, called Jazz for Lovers. Musician and critic David Was reviews the collection, and finds some nice surprises.

Some players of online role-playing games are so determined that they will pay real money to get ahead. Steve Inskeep talks with Julian Dibbell, who wrote about the tax implications of this practice in a recent issue of Legal Affairs.