(CNN) — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Bush should consider boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympics Games in Beijing this summer to protest China’s human rights record.

“I think boycotting the opening ceremony, which really gives respect to the Chinese government, is something that should be kept on the table,” Pelosi told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts in an interview to air Tuesday morning, according to the ABC News Web site. “I think the president might want to rethink this later, depending on what other heads of state do.”

Pelosi said she does not think U.S. athletes should boycott the games themselves.

(CNN) — Nearly 79,000 Pennsylvanians registered as Democrats last Monday, the state’s deadline for those looking to participate in the April 22 primary.

A near-majority of the Pennsylvania electorate is now registered Democratic — just over 4 million of the greater than 8 million voters in the state. Fewer than 2 in 5 are Republican.

The one-day registration total includes more than 33,000 new voters and nearly 46,000 Republicans and independents who switched their registration, according to reports released Monday by the Pennsylvania Secretary of State.

By comparison, around 7,800 Pennsylvanians became Republicans last week, including 6,000 new registrants and roughly 1,800 party-switchers.

PARIS (CNN) — Six French aid workers convicted of plotting to kidnap African children for adoption in Europe have been released from prison following their pardon by Chad’s president, according to the French Justice Ministry.

The workers from the international charity Zoe’s Ark and a Chadian middleman were arrested in October and sentenced to eight years in prison. Under an agreement between Chad and France, the French aid workers were allowed to serve their time in a French jail.

Chadian President Idriss Deby pardoned the seven convicts Monday, state radio announced.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Lawmakers have returned to Washington after a two-week break vowing to confront the deepening mortgage crisis. But despite the increasing pressure to find solutions to the problem, Senate leaders find themselves locked in a procedural stalemate over how to take up a stalled homeowner relief bill.

Negotiations are expected to continue right up to a key vote planned Tuesday afternoon on the Democratic-authored bill, aides on both sides said.

The bill would, for the first time, allow bankruptcy judges to reset mortgages on primary residences. It would also provide $4 billion for local communities to buy and refurbish foreclosed properties; provide $200 million for counseling to help homeowners avoid foreclosure; give tax breaks for the home building industry; and improve loan disclosure and transparency.

Republicans are threatening to block the bill, as they did before the recess, unless Democrats give in to their demands to allow votes on certain GOP amendments.

–From CNN Congressional Producer Ted Barrett

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak proposed a plan Monday that would apportion his state’s delegates to the Democrats’ national convention by taking into account both the results of the state’s January primary and the total popular vote of all primary contests nationwide.

In a proposal sent to Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and to candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, Stupak proposed allotting 83 of Michigan’s pledged delegates based on the January vote, and splitting the state’s remaining pledged delegates and superdelegates — 73 total — based on the nationwide vote.

The DNC punished Michigan because it went against party rules. Under Stupak’s proposal, Clinton would receive 47 delegates while Obama would be awarded 36. The rest would be divided according to the nationwide popular vote total after all the primaries are completed.

–By CNN’s Alexander Mooney

(CNN) — A U.S. soldier died Saturday from wounds suffered in a roadside bomb attack south of Baghdad on March 23, the U.S. military said Monday.

The soldier, who was not identified, died at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the military said.

The soldier was the 38th to die Iraq this month and the 107th to die in 2008. Since the war began in 2003, 4,012 U.S. service members have been killed in the Iraq war.

PARIS (CNN) — Five of six French aid workers convicted of plotting to kidnap African children for adoption in Europe have been released from prison following their pardon by Chad’s president, CNN affiliate BFM reported.

The workers from the international charity Zoe’s Ark and a Chadian middleman were arrested in October and sentenced to eight years in prison. Under an agreement between Chad and France, the French aid workers were allowed to serve their time in a French jail.

Chadian President Idriss Deby pardoned the seven convicts Monday, state radio announced.  BFM reported that Dominique Aubry, Alain Peligat, Philippe van Winkelberg, Eric Breteau and Emilie Lelouch were released by Monday evening. The network said that nurse Nadia Merimi had been hospitalized in Villejuif, outside Paris but was expected to be released soon.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A weapons policy expert at the U.S. Defense Department pleaded guilty on Monday to an espionage charge involving disclosing national defense information to China, federal officials said.

William Bergersen, 51, of Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested in February and charged with conspiracy to illegally disclose national defense information to unauthorized individuals.

Bergersen was a weapons systems policy analyst at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, a DOD agency located in Arlington, Virginia.

(CNN) — Coalition forces found the remains of a U.S. soldier missing in Iraq for nearly four years after a local Iraqi tipped them off, military officials said Monday.

The location, which was not disclosed, was searched March 20, according to a statement from Multi-National Corps. Officials positively identified Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin through DNA testing on Monday — the same day they notified the soldier’s family.

A U.S. Army official told CNN that fragments of a U.S. military uniform found with the remains raised immediate suspicions that the remains were those of Maupin, who was a 20-year-old private first class in the Army Reserves at the time of his capture. He was captured wearing an Army field uniform that has not been used by the military in more recent years.

 WASHINGTON (CNN) — Federal safety officials negligently approved work plans for a Utah coal mine that collapsed in August 2007, leaving nine dead, a Labor Department report concluded Monday.

The report does not reach conclusions about the cause of the disaster at the Crandall Canyon mine, which killed six miners and three would-be rescuers. But it found that officials of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration could not demonstrate that it did “everything appropriate” to protect workers in approving a plan for the risky mining technique used at the site.

In a written response, MSHA chief Richard Stickler objected to the use of the term “negligent” and any suggestion that mine operator Murray Energy had pressured the agency into approving the use of what is known as “retreat mining” at Crandall Canyon. Stickler wrote that auditors were unable to back up those implications in their report.

(CNN) — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe faced the most formidable challenge in his 28-year rule Monday, with official government results showing his ZANU-PF party leading by one seat in parliamentary elections.

The government has released results slowly from Saturday’s vote. By late Monday, it had announced results in only 67 of 210 parliamentary races. Of the 67 seats, ZANU-PF won 31; MDC won 30; and a party that split from the MDC won six seats.

(CNN) — Zimbabwe’s government Monday began releasing the results of the weekend parliamentary vote, but offered no data on the hotly contested presidential race in which President Robert Mugabe is facing the most formidable challenge to his 28-year rule.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party — Movement for Democratic Change, led by presidential contender Morgan Tsvangirai – announced Sunday that it had won enough votes in Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary election to end the 84-year-old incumbent’s rule over Zimbabwe.

But a group of non-governmental organizations monitoring the election released exit polling data that showed the race much closer — and possibly headed for a runoff vote. Noel Kututwa, chairman of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, said that his group’s polling data gave Tsvangirai 49.4 percent of the vote — short of the 51 percent needed to win. Mugabe was second with 41.8 percent, and Simba Makoni third with 8.2 percent.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson resigned Monday amid multiple ethics investigations and criticism from top lawmakers, saying he needs to focus on “personal and family matters.”

Jackson said his resignation will take effect April 18. It follows criticism from members of Congress that he has refused to respond adequately to allegations of impropriety — allegations he did not address in his announcement.

In a written statement, President Bush said Jackson “made significant progress in transforming public housing, revitalizing and modernizing the Federal Housing Administration, increasing affordable housing, rebuilding the Gulf Coast, decreasing homelessness, and increasing minority homeownership.”

But Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, who called for Jackson’s resignation earlier this month, welcomed his decision to step down. “I think it was the right move. We need to have people whose focus and attention is going to be 100 percent on this issue,” he told reporters.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Kidnappers have released the Iraqi civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security plan four days after his abduction, his family told Iraqi authorities Monday.

Tahseen Sheikhly was seized Thursday at his home by a force of dozens of gunmen, who killed three of the spokesman’s bodyguards and burned down the house, Iraqi authorities said.

A relative told the Interior Ministry that he had been released Monday, an Interior Ministry official told CNN. A high-ranking official with Iraq’s Defense Ministry confirmed the report, but provided no further details.

(CNN) — One of six men accused of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey received a sentence of 20 months in prison and three years of supervised release in U.S. District Court in Camden on Monday, the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office told CNN.

Abdullahu, 25, of Buena Vista Township, last October pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of providing firearms to illegal aliens. He could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison on that charge.

Abdullahu told the court in October that from January 2006 to May 2007 he and Serdar Tatar had provided firearms to Dritan Duka, Shain Duka and Eljvir “Elvis” Duka. He also admitted knowing that the Duka brothers — born in the former Yugoslavia — were in the United States illegally.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) - Farmers seething at export taxes on their
crops resumed blockades of rural highways Monday after talks failed to end a
19-day-old strike that has halted grain exports and emptied supermarket shelves
of meat.

The farmers launched their strike to protest a 44 percent export tax on
commodities like soy and sunflower seeds implemented by the government March
11.

More negotiations were expected Monday, and President Cristina Fernandez
de Kirchner was planning to address the nation about the standoff.

 ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) — Turkey’s constitutional court agreed Monday to hear a case that could shut down the ruling AK Party and ban 71 of its members from politics, including the president and prime minister.

Turkey’s chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, asked the country’s constitutional court to consider the case over two weeks ago, setting up a political struggle with the government.

Yalcinkaya accuses the government of violating Turkey’s secular constitution with what he called anti-secular practices, including a recent lift on a headscarf ban in public universities.

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) — Cuba’s communist government on Monday lifted a ban
on Cubans staying at hotels previously reserved for foreigners, ending a
restriction that had been especially irksome to ordinary citizens.

Cubans will be allowed to stay in the hotels beginning at midnight
Monday, said employees at several Havana hotels. Word of the change came from
officials of the Ministry of Tourism, the employees said.

For most Cubans, the measure is largely symbolic, as hotel rates are
simply unaffordable. Tourist hotels in Cuba can cost anywhere from $60 to more
than $200 a night — well out of reach for most Cubans, who earn just under $20
a month on average.

The hotel announcement is the second loosening of rules announced by Cuba
in recent days. Last week, the government lifted a ban on Cubans owning cell
phones.

– CNN’s Morgan Neill and Shasta Darlington contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, welcomed
Monday a proposal to overhaul the nation’s regulatory system as “a step in the
right direction” but warned that it would only affect problems in the future,
not existing problems.

“The White House should direct their attention to what needs to be done
now,” he said.

(CNN) — Chad’s president has pardoned six French aid workers and a Chadian middleman convicted of plotting to kidnap African children for adoption in Europe, state radio announced Monday.

The workers from the international charity Zoe’s Ark were arrested in October and sentenced to eight years in prison. Under an agreement between Chad and France, they were allowed to serve their time in a French jail.

Chadian President Idriss Deby pardoned the seven convicts Monday, state radio announced, but there was no immediate word on when they would be released.

(CNN) — Zimbabwe’s government Monday began releasing the results of the weekend parliamentary vote, but offered no data on the hotly contested presidential race.

President Robert Mugabe is facing the most formidable challenge to his 28-year rule from two opponents, including his former finance minister, Simba Makoni, who is running as an independent.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party — Movement for Democratic Change, led by presidential contender Morgan Tsvangirai — announced Sunday that it had won enough votes in Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary election to end the 84-year-old incumbent’s rule over Zimbabwe.

By Monday afternoon, the government’s electoral commission had announced the results of only 38 of the 210 parliamentary races, saying they were split evenly between Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party and the MDC.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso
Jackson resigned Monday, amid multiple ethics investigations and criticism from
top lawmakers.

Jackson, who said his resignation would take effect April 18, did not
mention the allegations in his brief statement Monday, saying only he needed to
focus on “personal and family matters.”

The resignation comes after criticism from members of Congress that he
has refused to respond adequately to allegations of impropriety.

(CNN) — United Airlines has found faulty wiring in the landing gear of three of its Airbus A320 planes, the company said Monday.

United Airlines and government officials believe the faulty wiring caused a pair of nonfatal runway accidents.

In a statement released Monday, United Airlines said: “We informed our mechanics, pilots and flight attendants of the incidents and the corrective steps we are taking. We further conducted a stringent review process with our maintenance partners to ensure they had the same information.”

–CNN’s Jennifer Rizzo contributed to this report

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Pentagon on Monday a