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Top Illinois lawmakers say they'd like to call the legislature into session for a special election to pick President-elect Barack Obama's Senate replacement. They don't want to leave that job to Gov. Rod Blagojevich who's accused by federal prosecutors of trying to sell the seat. The governor and the president-elect are not personally close, but they have worked closely together over the years.

President Obama has tapped a rural family physician to be the nation's top doctor. At a Rose Garden ceremony Monday, Obama nominated Alabama doctor Regina Benjamin to be the U.S. surgeon general. Benjamin runs a nonprofit health clinic on the Gulf Coast.

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, briefs both the Senate Armed Services and the Senate Foreign Relations committees Tuesday on the military situation in Iraq. Lawmakers will also be updated on political developments by the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a coup in 1999. Now, Musharraf faces increasing pressure to step down after sacking the country's top judge. Sharif is among those who wants Musharraf to resign, and says he is willing to return to join forces against Musharraf, even if it means going to jail.

The White House made sure Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey would fly with potential opponents: conservative Republicans as well as various Democrats. President Bush stayed away from more volatile choices.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told Congress Tuesday that he's confident he now has both the strategy and resources he needs in Afghanistan. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, initially wary of a troop increase coming before a crackdown on corruption, said he's satisfied that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has expressed the right intentions.

Hundreds of nominees for military positions have been stalled as Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., protests Pentagon abortion policy, and that total could swell to 650, the Pentagon says.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher met with Pakistan's new leaders Wednesday in Islamabad. Officials in the new government have indicated to the top senior U.S. envoys that the U.S. relationship with Pakistan will have to change.

NPR's Don Gonyea talks to Alec MacGillis of ProPublica about top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell's leadership in the context of the Senate GOP's failure to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act.

Americans are not alone waiting for President Obama to announce his new strategy in Afghanistan. Afghans also are waiting to hear how the U.S. plans to tackle the crisis in their country, where violence and instability have worsened.