CAPITAL CULTURE: Unlike other justices, Sotomayor becomes a celebrity outside the courtroom. Apparently, no one told Sonia Sotomayor that Supreme Court justices are supposed to be circumspect, emerging from their marble palace mainly to dispense legal wisdom to law schools, judges' conferences and lawyers' meetings.

NC special deputy attorney general Brill nominated by Obama to Federal Trade Commission. North Carolina's consumer protection chief for Attorney General Roy Cooper has been picked to join the Federal Trade Commission.

National intelligence director's deputy on track for Senate approval. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair is one step closer to getting the final member of his senior team in place after a Senate confirmation hearing for David C. Gombert (GOM'-bert).

The United States toughened its warning on China for "lack of flexibility" of its yuan currency and for rapidly building up its foreign reserves, but stopped short of branding Beijing a currency manipulator.

Senators urged to reject choice for nuclear commission. Anti-nuclear groups are fighting the Obama administrations nomination of a pro-Yucca Mountain nuclear industry insider to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

New US cyber center will coordinate response to computer attacks. The United States is well behind the curve in the fight against computer criminals, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Friday, as Homeland Security officials opened a $9 million operations center to better coordinate the government's response to cyberattacks.

The nominee for US envoy on human rights in North Korea said Wednesday he would press China for better treatment of refugees fleeing the impoverished neighboring state.

The nominee for US envoy on human rights in North Korea said Thursday he would press China for better treatment of refugees fleeing the impoverished neighboring state.

The nominee for US ambassador to Australia said Thursday he looked forward to building relations between the allies -- and also, from his family's perspective, to seeing kangaroos.

AP source: US envoy in Afghanistan, an ex-general, objects to big increase of troops. The U.S. envoy in Afghanistan, a former Army general who once commanded troops in the country, has objected strongly to emerging plans to send tens of thousands of additional forces to the country, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

President Barack Obama will Tuesday award Ben Bernanke a second term as Federal Reserve chairman, entrusting him with forging recovery from the worst economic slump since the 1930s.

US President Barack Obama was set to announce Tuesday a second term for Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman, following months of joint combat against the financial crisis.

President Barack Obama Tuesday awarded Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke a second term, saying his bold "out-of-the-box" thinking would help steer the US economy out of the worst slump since the 1930s.

Some US Senators expressed worries or outright disgust Tuesday at President Barack Obama's announcement that he was nominating Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to a second term.

Analysis: Obama takes safe route in reappointing Bernanke as Fed chief, wins wide praise. Giving Ben Bernanke a second term as Federal Reserve chairman was the politically safe course for a president beset by multiple crises and wanting no new battles.

President Obama, taking time from his Martha's Vineyard vacation, said yesterday that he would nominate Bernanke for a second four-year term as the nation's top central banker. The nomination must be confirmed by the Senate. Appointed by George W. Bush, Bernanke began his tenure in early 2006 in the unenviable position of following the legendary Alan Greenspan. Today, with Greenspan's legacy tarnished, analysts said, Bernanke has established his own place in history by staring down a global panic, preventing a collapse of the financial system, and extending the Fed's reach far deeper into the US economy. ``There was that possibility, with financial markets so interlinked today, that it might have been far worse than the Great Depression,'' said Robert Murphy, a Boston College economics professor. ``But Bernanke has been a steady hand and taken approaches that we wouldn't even have dreamed about a few years ago.'' Obama's nomination ended months of speculation about Bernanke's future. N

The dollar steadied against the euro Tuesday amid hopes of greater economic stability after US President Barack Obama named Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke for a second term.

President Barack Obama Tuesday awarded Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke a second term, saying his bold "out-of-the-box" thinking would help steer the US economy out of the worst slump since the 1930s.

President Barack Obama Tuesday nominated Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term, saying his "out-of-the-box" thinking would help lift the US economy out of the worst slump since the 1930s.

President Barack Obama Tuesday awarded Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke a second term, saying his bold "out-of-the-box" thinking would help steer the US economy out of the worst slump since the 1930s.