Former President Bill Clinton knows just how high the political stakes are in the fight to overhaul America's health care system.

His failed attempt to revamp the delivery of medical care contributed to the Republican takeover of the House and Senate in 1994.

Fast forward to 2009, where health care's white-hot spotlight now shines on the Senate. Clinton is still in the picture, and he's expected to speak to Senate Democrats about health care legislation during their weekly caucus Tuesday, officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his schedule.

WASHINGTON -Former President Bill Clinton plans to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to discuss health care legislation with Senate Democrats.

Officials says the former president is scheduled to speak during the Democrats' weekly caucus. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity late Monday because they were not authorized to discuss the former president's schedule.

As president, Clinton tried but failed to revamp the nation's health care system. The defeat contributed to the Republican takeover of the House and Senate in the 1994 midterm elections.

The White House emphasized Monday that the president hasn't made a decision yet about troop levels or other aspects of the revised U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Administration officials told The Associated Press on Monday the deployment would most likely begin in January with a mission to stiffen the defense of 10 key cities and towns. An Army brigade that had been training for deployment to Iraq that month may be the vanguard. The brigade, based at Fort Drum in upstate New York, has been told it will not go to Iraq as planned but has been given no new mission yet.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama this week makes his first trip to Asia as president, leaving behind a host of domestic problems with a visit that recognizes the region's economic and diplomatic importance to the United States.

The trip, which starts on Thursday, will take Obama to an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore.

But the critical leg will come in China, where Obama will have to navigate an increasingly complex relationship with the country that is the largest holder of U.S. foreign debt and its second-largest trading partner.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan said on Tuesday it would give Afghanistan up to $5 billion in new aid, a package Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama hopes will improve strained security ties with Washington ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit this week.

Tokyo and Washington have feuded over plans to relocate a U.S. military base on Japan's southern island of Okinawa as part of a broad reorganization of U.S. troops, raising concerns about the security alliance between the world's two biggest economies.

SEATTLE — A former Sierra Club leader who rode his bicycle to campaign events and relied heavily on volunteer support claimed a narrow and surprising victory on Monday in the race for mayor of this environmentally friendly city.

"You cared, you believed, and we've got a lot more work to do," Mike McGinn told supporters after the city's mail-in election showed him winning 51 percent of the vote, by a margin of 4,939 votes out of about 190,000 cast in the mayor's race.

WASHINGTON — The Army psychiatrist accused of killing 12 soldiers and a civilian at the Fort Hood Army post exchanged between 10 and 20 e-mails with a radical cleric in Yemen who calls for jihadism against the United States, senior government officials said Monday.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, came to the attention of the FBI in December as part of an investigation with other agencies into a terrorism suspect overseas, the FBI stated on its website.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — More than five months after holding parliamentary elections, Lebanon formed a new cabinet on Monday. The agreement ended a long period of gridlock that illustrated once again the myriad dysfunctions of the country's bitterly divided political class.

The June elections yielded a clear victory for the Western-aligned bloc led by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, and a loss for the alliance led by Hezbollah, the militant Shiite movement backed by Syria and Iran. But shifting regional realities, local power struggles, and the imperative of a coalition government prevented the parties from agreeing on a cabinet until now.

LONDON (AFP) – Foreign Secretary David Miliband has fuelled speculation about his interest in becoming EU foreign minister by unexpectedly attending celebrations in Berlin, media reports said Tuesday.

Miliband cancelled appointments in Britain at the last minute to take part in the 20th anniversary events marking the fall of the Berlin Wall, according to The Times newspaper.

European leaders were expected to discuss in Berlin the jobs of full-time EU president and foreign policy supremo, both created by the newly-ratified Lisbon Treaty, amid mounting speculation over the preferred candidates.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that while she is against anti-abortion language in the House version of the health care bill, the amendment was necessary for the bill to pass.

Pelosi spoke during a visit Monday to Seattle's Swedish Medical Center. She says the anti-abortion language "would have been in the bill one way or another," so bill backers thought it would be better to include it as amendment than as a provision that could jeopardize the entire measure.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Former pastor Ted Haggard says his decision to hold prayer meetings in his Colorado Springs living room has attracted great interest from the media.

Haggard said Monday he will be holding a press conference before his first prayer meeting Thursday to accommodate requests from media outlets including The New York Times and CBS' "The Early Show." No press will be allowed inside the home, Haggard said, adding, "We don't want to be surrounded by paparazzi."

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama said Monday that he'd be willing to attend an international climate summit in Copenhagen next month if it appears a deal is in the offing and his presence there would help clinch it.

Nations are preparing to meet in Denmark to hammer out a new international treaty to slow climate change, but the talks have been hampered by disputes between rich countries and developing ones.

LONDON (AP) - British foreign minister David Miliband has turned down the chance to become the European Union's envoy to the rest of the world, the BBC reported Monday.

The broadcaster said that Miliband ruled himself out of the race to become the EU's foreign representative in a conversation with former Danish Premier Poul Nyrup Rasmussen Sunday.

Miliband had been mentioned as a possible contender for the new post of European foreign minister, a job created by the recently ratified Lisbon Treaty.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin says she's back on Twitter.

Palin took to the social networking site earlier this year, tweeting about state government, national politics and everything in between.

When she quit as Alaska's governor in July, she promised to keep her fans updated through tweets. But that didn't happen, and Palin instead posted regular updates on her Facebook page, which has nearly 1 million followers.

SEATTLE—U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that while she is against anti-abortion language in the House version of the health care bill, the amendment was necessary for the bill to pass.

Pelosi spoke during a visit Monday to Seattle's Swedish Medical Center. She says the anti-abortion language "would have been in the bill one way or another," so bill backers thought it would be better to include it as amendment than as a provision that could jeopardize the entire measure.

WASHINGTON—Measures that would significantly boost funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as give shareholders a say on executive pay are included in draft financial overhaul legislation in the Senate, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is expected to unveil Tuesday his long-awaited proposal for bolstering the country's system of financial regulation. It differs from the Obama administration's proposal by limiting the power of the Federal Reserve and consolidating supervision of U.S. banks into a single regulator.

HARTFORD, Conn.—Gov. M. Jodi Rell will not run for re-election next year, saying Monday that she plans to dedicate her last 14 months in office to solving Connecticut's ever-darkening economic picture.

"It's time," Rell said, her voice breaking. "I want to thank the people of Connecticut for the honor of serving as their governor."

Rell has been Connecticut's governor since 2004, when former Gov. John Rowland resigned in a corruption probe that would eventually lead to a conviction and prison time. She was elected to her own term in 2006, becoming the first Republican woman elected the state's chief executive.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Former New Life Church pastor Ted Haggard isn't sure how many worshipers will show up at his home for his first prayer meeting Thursday, but he can count on one loyal group to be there: the media.

He said Monday that several local and national media representatives, including some from CBS' "The Early Show," plan to converge at his Colorado Springs area home. Because of the barrage of media interest, Haggard's gathering will kick off with a press conference. No press members will be allowed to attend the prayer meeting.

UNITED NATIONS—Confident that governments will reach a climate change deal next month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is heading to Washington Tuesday to ensure that the United States is on board.

Ban plans to meet with key senators and White House officials to discuss how governments are approaching the climate negotiations "and what those governments expect, in terms of the role of the United States," the secretary-general's top adviser on climate change said Monday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon will visit Washington Tuesday to lobby U.S.congressional leaders and government officials over nextmonth's climate change summit in Copenhagen, U.N. officialssaid.

The world body wants to clinch a deal at Copenhagen to setnew greenhouse gas emissions goals but hopes are fading that alegally binding treaty among all U.N. members can be finalizedat the Dec. 7-18 U.N. summit in the Danish capital.