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President Barack Obama's budget proposal is placing conservative Democrats in a tight spot. Republicans are asking them to be fiscally cautious. Liberals are targeting them with a barrage of ads, urging them to support the president's budget.

President Bush has called once again for the House to adopt a Senate bill on foreign intelligence — and by noon, Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was saying the House would take up a bill next week. Whether the bill includes the retroactive legal immunity for phone companies that the president demands was not immediately clear.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has named Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Palin, 44, is the first woman named to a spot on the GOP ticket. She has been Alaska's governor since 2006.

President-elect Barack Obama has named Mary Schapiro to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a news conference in Chicago, Obama said government regulators "had dropped the ball," leading to the financial meltdown.

In Fort Hood, Texas, investigators are collecting information about Thursday's deadly attack at a soldier processing center. Thirteen people were killed, 12 of them soldiers, and 30 were wounded when a gunman, identified as Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, opened fire in the facility.

The U.S. Transportation Department said Thursday it has received more than 100 complaints from owners of the 2010 Toyota Prius and has opened an investigation into possible brake problems with the model. That's more bad news for Toyota, which has recalled more than 5 million vehicles of various models to repair problems with sudden acceleration.

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee rejected a provision to include a government-run public insurance option as part of the effort to overhaul the health care system. The vote was 15-to-8 against the measure.

President Obama challenged leaders gathered at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday to join the U.S. in solving the world's problems rather than waiting for America to do it on its own. Obama used his first address to the U.N. General Assembly to calls for a "new era of engagement."

Iranian envoys meet Thursday in Geneva with representatives from Europe, Russia, China and the U.S. for talks that will focus on Tehran's suspect nuclear program. The meeting comes as Iran's foreign minister visited Washington on Wednesday on a rare visit.

Representatives from the U.S. and five other world powers outlined their concerns about Iran's nuclear program at a meeting in Switzerland with an Iranian delegation. U.S. officials held the highest-level direct talks with the Iranians in years.