1. In a new audiotape released Friday, Al-Qaida in Iraq claims that it has mobilized 12,000 fighters. The group says it welcomes the departure of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and wants the US to stay in Iraq, so they'll have the chance to kill more American troops.

2. Yesterday, it was the House of Representatives. Today, President Bush met with Democratic leaders from the Senate. ''The election is over. The problems haven't gone away.'' Afterwards, Bush stressed willingness to work together and Dick Durbin, the Senate's No.2 Democrat, says it's important to start out on the right foot.

3. The FBI has opened an investigation into a violent arrest that was caught on video tape in Los Angeles. The video shows two officers holding down a suspect on the sidewalk as one of the officers punches him several times in the face. The 24-year-old man repeatedly yells that he can't breathe.

4. And from Atlanta, black and white prove that some experiences are universal -- like getting a shot. During her weekly exam, a 64-year-old female panda cub at the Atlanta Zoo didn't like the vaccine any more than the rest of us.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. mobilize: verb
If you mobilize support or mobilize people to do something , you succeed in encouraging them to take action, especially political action.

2. hold down: phrase
If you hold someone down, you keep them in control and do not allow them to have much freedom or power or many rights.

3. punch: verb
If you punch someone or something, you hit them hard with your fist.

4. vaccine: n-mass
A vaccine is a substance containing a harmless form of the germs that cause a particular disease. It is given to people, usually by injection, to prevent them from getting that disease.