WASHINGTON – A longtime Republican foe of this year’s planned closing of military bases is trying to derail the process by blocking Senate confirmation of the head of the commission that helps pick which facilities will be shuttered, congressional aides said Thursday. Most GOP leaders support closing bases. But Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., a staunch defender of military facilities in his state, has pledged to do whatever it takes to block the closures. Lott has placed a “hold” on the nomination of Anthony Principi to be chairman of the base-closure commission, aides said. The procedural move makes it hard for the Senate to vote on it.

World Bank OKs Wolfowitz

The board of the World Bank unanimously approved Paul Wolfowitz Thursday as the bank’s next president, heralding a new era of conservative influence over the giant antipoverty institution. The approval came two weeks after President Bush nominated Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary who played a central role in designing the invasion of Iraq. The move initially aroused shock abroad, especially in European countries opposed to the Iraq war, and speculation arose that some member nations would try to block the nomination on the grounds that Wolfowitz would make the institution an instrument of U.S. foreign policy.

Clinton adviser to plead guilty

Former national security adviser Sandy Berger will plead guilty to taking classified documents from the National Archives, the Justice Department said Thursday. Berger, who served in the Clinton administration, will enter the plea today in U.S. District Court in Washington, a Justice spokesman said. Berger previously acknowledged he removed from the National Archives copies of documents about the government’s anti-terror efforts and notes that he took on those documents. He called the episode “an honest mistake,” and denied criminal wrongdoing.

Medicare rate increase announced

Medicare payments to physicians jumped 15 percent last year, an unexpectedly large increase that prompted Bush administration officials to announce Thursday that monthly premiums for America’s seniors will rise to $89.20 in 2006, $1.50 more than initially projected. The unusually sharp spike was caused primarily by lengthier office visits, more complex imaging such as MRI scans and doctors administering more lab tests and treatments in their offices instead of at a hospital.

Massachusetts: Stem cell vote

The state House passed a bill Thursday that would give scientists more freedom to conduct embryonic stem cell research in the state. The House voted 117-37 for the bill, a day after the Senate approved it 35-2, giving the measure easily enough votes to override an expected veto by Gov. Mitt Romney. The bill would allow scientists to create cloned embryos and extract their stem cells for research into the potential treatment and cure of diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries and other conditions.

Tennessee: New law targets meth

Gov. Phil Bredesen signed a law Wednesday aimed at fighting the state’s soaring methamphetamine problem by regulating sale of over-the-counter cold medicines. Small stores that don’t have pharmacies are now barred from selling medicines that contain the decongestant pseudoephedrine, a major component of meth. In pharmacies, the medicines can be sold – but only in limited numbers, from behind the counter, with a record kept of each purchase.