AP - Barack Obama stepped triumphantly into history Wednesday night, the first black American to win a major party presidential nomination, as thousands of Democrats transformed their convention hall into a joyful, shouting celebration.

AP - Joe Biden accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination Wednesday night and declared that the challenges America faces require “more than a good soldier” in the White House, hailing Barack Obama as a wise leader who can deliver the change the nation needs.

AP - Former President Clinton gave his full-throated endorsement to Barack Obama’s bid for the White House on Wednesday, telling delegates to the Democratic convention that Obama is “ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world.”

AP - Western leaders warned the Kremlin on Wednesday to “change course,” hoping to keep the conflict from growing into a new Cold War after tensions broadened to imperil a key nuclear pact and threaten U.S. meat and poultry trade with Russia.

AP - Ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy prepared to attend, and possibly speak at, the opening of the Democratic National Convention on Monday as Barack Obama unleashed a mocking ad seeking to link rival John McCain with President Bush and what it suggested were his failed economic policies.

AP - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Monday no security agreement with the United States could be reached unless it included a “specific deadline” for the withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq.

AP - The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay spread over a wide swath of the South on Monday, bringing heavy rain and wind as forecasters warned of possible flash flooding and tornadoes from Louisiana to Georgia.

AP - Pakistan’s ruling coalition collapsed Monday, torn apart by internal bickering just a week after Pervez Musharraf’s ouster and underscoring fears that the government would be distracted from its fight against Islamic extremists.

AP - Russia’s parliament voted unanimously Monday to urge the president to recognize the independence of Georgia’s two breakaway regions, stoking further tensions between Moscow and the small Caucasus nation’s Western allies.

AP - Stocks sank in thin trading Monday as worries about the credit ratings of American International Group Inc. weighed on the financial sector. The major indexes each fell about 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which was off about 250 points.

AP - Sales of existing homes rose 3.1 percent in July, surpassing expectations, as buyers snapped up deeply discounted properties in parts of the country hit hardest by the housing bust.

AP - Scoot over, Simon Cowell. “American Idol” is adding a fourth critic to its panel of judges.

AP - The tireless tongue already controls taste and speech, helps kiss and swallow and fights germs. Now scientists hope to add one more ability to the mouthy muscle, and turn it into a computer control pad.

AP - Fidel Castro on Monday defended the Cuban taekwondo athlete who kicked a judge in the face at the Beijing Olympics, saying Angel Matos was rightfully indignant over his disqualification from the bronze-medal match.

Reuters - Iraq and the United States have agreed
that all U.S. troops will leave by the end of 2011, Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday, but Washington said no
final deal had been reached.

Reuters - Democrats on Monday worked to unite the
party for its convention to nominate presidential candidate
Barack Obama as Republicans stirred up a rift with disaffected
supporters of his former rival Hillary Clinton.

AP - Barack Obama introduced Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware on Saturday as “a leader ready to step in and be president,” and the newly named running mate quickly converted his debut on the Democratic ticket into a slashing attack on Republican John McCain.

AP - Barack Obama says Joe Biden is ready to step in as president. He’s not bad in the role of attack dog, either, wasting no time gnawing at GOP rival John McCain.

AP - APALACHICOLA, Fla. Fay just won’t quit.

AP - Sanya Richards clutched this medal, stared at it, smiled at it. A few feet away, Allyson Felix did the same. These weren’t their first prizes of the 2008 Olympics. But these were the medals the Americans wanted. Gold. Elusive gold.

AP - Thousands of Georgians demanded that Russian troops leave the outskirts of this strategic Black Sea port on Saturday and took to the streets in protest, while a top Russian general said his country’s forces would keep patrolling the area.

AP - Signs are emerging that history is repeating itself in the Big Easy, still healing from Katrina: People have forgotten a lesson from four decades ago and believe once again that the federal government is constructing a levee system they can prosper behind.

AP - Scores of Afghan civilians who had gathered in a small village for the memorial ceremony of a militia commander were killed when U.S. and Afghan soldiers launched an attack in the middle of the night, officials and villagers said Saturday.

AP - Do Washington policymakers listen too much to Wall Street? A possible bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, on the heels of similar action involving investment firm Bear Stearns, seems to send a loud signal to financial companies that the government will clean up their messes.

AP - The queen of pop began her world tour Saturday night, appearing before fans on a throne as a retinue of dancers wriggled their way across a stage at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

AP - Lisa Leslie and the U.S. women’s basketball team were once again too good for Australia at the Olympics.

Reuters - U.S. Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama and newly minted running
mate Joseph Biden made their debut on Saturday, with Biden
declaring “it’s our time” and quickly going on the attack
against Republican John McCain.

AP - A twin-engine plane crashed and burned near an airport not far from Arches National Park in southeastern Utah, killing all 10 people on board, an official said Saturday.

AP - Signs are emerging that history is repeating itself in the Big Easy, still healing from Katrina: People have forgotten a lesson from four decades ago and believe once again that the federal government is constructing a levee system they can prosper behind.

AP - APALACHICOLA, Fla. Tropical Storm Fay began wrapping up its disastrous slog across Florida on Saturday by making a record fourth landfall on the Panhandle’s coast. Emergency officials said 10 people have been killed in the state alone.

AP - The sheriff’s department in southern California’s Orange County says the 911 emergency call system for much of the county has been repaired after an outage that shut it down for 90 minutes.

AP - An analysis of recent earthquake activity around New York City has found that many small faults that were believed to be inactive could contribute to a major, disastrous earthquake.

AP - Hundreds of New York City firefighters are taking to the road on motorcycles to escort a steel beam from the World Trade Center to the site of a planned Sept. 11 memorial in Pennsylvania.

AP - STEINHATCHEE, Fla. Tropical Storm Fay continued to bear down on Florida’s Panhandle on a path that would vault the stubborn weather system into the record books.

AP - A train derailment in central Oklahoma on Friday sent fireballs into the sky but caused no injuries.

AP - The parents of the Chinese gymnasts are indignant, the International Olympic Committee sounds satisfied and the Beijing Games are almost over. Yet questions persist about the ages of China’s gold-medal women’s gymnastics team.

AP - Usain Bolt loves the cameras, the cameras love Usain Bolt, and when they connected during his third victory lap of these Olympics, he smiled that infectious smile and raised three fingers.

AP - Tropical Storm Fay hobbled across Florida for a fifth day Friday as the state’s death toll rose to five, while residents began plodding through muddy water to assess the flood damage to their homes.

AP - Mud is flying, smoke and steam are rising, and the deafening roar of V-8 engines all but drowns out 5-year-old Shelby Scott’s screams.

AP - Ah, life in the university district. Cheap ethnic food. Vibrant street life. Fresh-faced students whizzing by on bicycles.

AP - Tropical Storm Fay moved inland Tuesday after making landfall in southwest Florida, never growing into the hurricane that forecasters had cautioned it could become.

AP - The Rio Grande Valley’s main highway was open to traffic again Tuesday as flooding receded following a deluge of up to 13 inches of rain across southern Texas.

AP - The funeral for slain Arkansas Democratic Party chairman Bill Gwatney was marked by humor as former President Clinton and others remembered the man who had touched their lives.

AP - A handful of hikers remained unaccounted for after flooding struck a tiny village near the Grand Canyon rim, a community so remote it is the only one in America where the mail is delivered by mule.

AP - A sailor rescued after he fell into Lake Michigan says one of the worst moments of the 12-hour ordeal came near the end, when a Coast Guard helicopter seemed to have its spotlight on him, only to turn away.

AP - Russia’s president promised to start withdrawing forces from positions in Georgia on Monday, but suggested they could stay in the breakaway region at the heart of the fighting that has reignited Cold War tensions.

AP - Pakistan’s ruling coalition finalized impeachment charges against President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday and a government minister said they could be filed as early as this week if he does not resign first.

AP - A suicide bomber dressed in a woman’s robe detonated explosives Sunday in a heavily guarded Sunni area of Baghdad, killing the deputy leader of the neighborhood’s U.S.-backed security volunteers who had turned against al-Qaida, Iraqi officials said.

AP - Tropical Storm Fay lashed southeastern Cuba with downpours and heavy winds Sunday and was expected to churn over the center of the island before heading toward Florida.

AP - Zimbabwean negotiators have the basis for a power-sharing agreement and should quickly resolve their political differences and turn their attention to their nation’s economic crisis, southern African leaders said Sunday.

AP - Russia’s foreign minister declared Thursday that the world “can forget about” Georgia’s territorial integrity, and officials said Russia targeted military infrastructure and equipment including radars and patrol boats at a Black Sea naval base and oil hub.

AP - An explosion targeting international troops on a foot patrol in southern Afghanistan killed three members of the U.S.-led coalition Thursday, the coalition said.

AP - Syria agreed Thursday to a longtime Lebanese demand to negotiate the demarcation of their border a day after the countries said they would establish full diplomatic relations for the first time.

AP - Libya and the United States settled all outstanding lawsuits by American victims of terrorism on Thursday, clearing the way for the full restoration of diplomatic relations.

AP - China’s government estimates it will cost $147 billion to rebuild from the massive earthquake that struck the central part of the country in May, according to state media.

AP - A court in the Russian capital Thursday barred the chief executive officer of troubled Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, from office for two years.

AP - The U.S. Navy says six sailors have been charged with abusing detainees at U.S. detention center in Iraq and they will face court-martials.

AP - A Paraguayan farmers group says landless protesters have invaded a northern hacienda, setting up tents and destroying crops to press their demands for terrain.

AFP - Libya and the United States Thursday signed a compensation deal for American victims of Libyan attacks and US reprisals, paving the way for full normalisation of ties between the two countries.

AP - Russia and small, U.S.-allied Georgia headed toward a wider war Saturday as Russian tanks rumbled into the contested province of South Ossetia and Russian aircraft bombed a Georgian town, escalating a conflict that already has left hundreds dead.

AP - The fatal stabbing of the father of a former Olympian at a Beijing landmark cast a sad shadow over the first full day of Olympic competition Saturday, just hours after China’s jubilant opening of the Summer Games.

AP - Bernie Mac blended style, authority and a touch of self-aware bluster to make audiences laugh as well as connect with him. For Mac, who died Saturday at age 50, it was a winning mix, delivering him from a poor childhood to stardom as a standup comedian, in films including the casino heist caper “Ocean’s Eleven” and his acclaimed sitcom “The Bernie Mac Show.”

AP - Democrats shaped a set of principles Saturday that commits the party to guaranteed health care for all, heading off a potentially divisive debate and edging the party closer to the position of Barack Obama’s defeated rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

AP - The Army scientist suspected in the anthrax attacks was remembered for his humor, intelligence and compassion at a memorial service Saturday.

AP - Witnesses who called 911 after the crash of a charter bus that killed at least 16 people described a chaotic scene, telling emergency workers of bloody passengers crushed beneath the smoking wreckage, according to calls released Saturday by police.

AP - A woman who made news around the world when she had five pups cloned from her beloved pit bull Booger looked very familiar to some who saw her picture: She may be the same woman who 31 years earlier was accused of abducting a Mormon missionary in England, handcuffing him to a bed and making him her sex slave.

AP - Jorge Saavedra’s moment of truth came in the middle of an impassioned speech to 5,000 people about the paltry amount of money being spent to stop the spread of AIDS among gay men.