Michele Norris

Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig said Thursday that he intends to keep his seat until his term ends 15 months from now. A Minnesota judge on Thursday rejected Craig's bid to withdraw his guilty plea to misdemeanor disorderly conduct stemming from his arrest in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

Since 2002, a nonprofit group has received 976 reports of sexual assault from military women serving in the area that includes Iraq and Afghanistan. That number is growing. Meanwhile, little punitive action has been taken against assailants.

President Bush will address the nation Thursday night. He's expected to announce the beginning of a drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq — including 5,700 troops to be pulled out in December.

Although he was known principally as a political adviser and campaign strategist, Karl Rove has been a critical part of the White House policy operation as well. The adviser's departure could have wide repercussions.

Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen was fired by his team late Wednesday after he apparently violated team rules surrounding random drug tests he missed earlier this year. Meanwhile, another rider has failed a doping test for testosterone.

On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the Senate began a round-the-clock marathon session debating whether the United States should begin a substantial pullout of Iraq by next spring. What would a pullout mean logistically and strategically?

Embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has resigned, in a move that will take effect in June. Until then, he is on administrative leave. Pressure on Wolfowitz to step down has grown since the release of a report on his handling of a 2005 pay raise for his girlfriend — also a bank employee.

Six foreign-born Muslims have been arrested for plotting an attack on the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey. Investigators say the men planned to "kill as many soldiers as possible." An employee of a video-transfer business alerted authorities after the men wanted a suspicious tape converted to DVD.

The Bush administration announced in December that it was replacing seven federal prosecutors around the country. In the following weeks, Democrats became the majority party in Congress and began holding hearings on the subject. Developments have piled up since then.

In the Lewis Libby perjury trial, neither the defendant nor his former boss, Vice President Cheney, will take the witness stand, according to Libby's lawyer, who plans to rest his defense without testimony from either man.