GOP senators block Ted Cruz move to hold up Loretta Lynch vote  —  Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's strategy of blocking a vote on President Barack Obama's attorney general nominee until the White House relents on immigration executive actions ran into a brick wall Wednesday: his own GOP colleagues.

Marco Rubio's house of horrors  —  A Tallahassee home co-owned by a scandal-plagued ex-congressman is the locus of questions about the senator's finances and judgment.  —  TALLAHASSEE — The brick-fronted tract house with a satellite dish and a yellow fire hydrant in front looks …

Op-Ed Michael Douglas finds Judaism and faces anti-Semitism  —  Last summer our family went to Southern Europe on holiday.  During our stay at a hotel, our son Dylan went to the swimming pool.  A short time later he came running back to the room, upset.  A man at the pool had started hurling insults at him.

Story Highlights  —  PRINCETON, N.J. — Thirty-seven percent of Americans now view the Republican Party favorably and 39% view the Democratic Party favorably.  This is the only time since Gallup began tracking the party's images this way in 1992 that neither party has achieved at least 40% favorability from the public.

White House calling the shots  —  In the months since Republicans took charge of Congress, GOP divisions have given the upper hand to the White House.  —  The White House is declaring victory over Washington — at least in terms of setting the agenda for Republican leaders …

Al Gore should run for president  —  Democrats need a debate about where their party goes next.  Obamacare's passage marked the rough completion of the social safety net that liberals began constructing during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency.  The end of the Iraq War drained Democrats of their foreign policy fervor.

Chinese company pledged $2 million to Clinton Foundation in 2013  —  Shares -  —  Watch Julianna Goldman's full report at 7:30 a.m. ET on “CBS This Morning.”  —  A CBS News investigation has found that at least one foreign company with close ties to its government has been giving generously …

Hillary Will be President Of Nothing  —  The only people who should be afraid of Hillary Clinton running in 2016 are her fellow Democrats, and the only thing they should fear more than her running and losing is her running and winning.  —  Hillary is a Lovecraftian monster …

Huckabee Pursues Unconventional Ways to Fund a Campaign  —  In a wood-paneled study lined with books and framed family photos, the prospective presidential candidate looks into the camera.  “I'm Mike Huckabee,” he says with all the folksy charm that propelled a career as a preacher, politician and broadcaster.

Santorum On Putting Bibles In Public Schools: ‘Yes We Can!  Yes We Can!’  —  Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) issued a passionate call for Bibles in public schools on Saturday during an appearance at a convention of social conservatives in Orlando, Florida.

Let's Ensure That Every Girl Can Learn  —  An international initiative can help the 62 million girls world-wide who are not in school.  —  This week I will travel to Tokyo to join Akie Abe, the wife of Japan's prime minister, as the United States and Japan announce a new partnership to educate girls across the globe.

Chasm Grows Within G.O.P. Over Spending  —  WASHINGTON — The congressional push this week to secure the first Republican budget plan in nearly a decade is revealing a chasm between fiscal hawks determined to maintain strict spending caps and defense hawks who are threatening to derail …

Congressman Peter King Slams Iran Letter: “It Undermines The Office Of The Presidency”  —  He said it makes requiring Congressional approval of a deal “a partisan issue.”  —  w.soundcloud.com  —  Rep. Peter King of New York said a letter sent by Republican senators to the Iranian government regarding …

Iran deal could start nuclear fuel race - Saudi Arabia  —  Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal: “It seems that Iran is expanding its occupation of Iraq”  —  A senior member of the Saudi royal family has warned that a deal on Iran's nuclear programme could prompt other regional states to develop atomic fuel.

A Post-Netanyahu Republican Foreign Policy  —  As Israelis prepare to go to the polls tomorrow, it's dawning on a lot of American observers that a defeat for Benjamin Yetanyahu's government—not exactly “likely,” but certainly a decent possibility—could represent a turning point in American as well as Israeli politics.

Putin laughs off ‘rumours’ over his 10-day absence  —  Saint Petersburg (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday dismissed days of frenzied “rumours” over his health and whereabouts as he reappeared in public after an unusually long 10-day absence.