AP - John McCain and Sarah Palin are riding their post-convention wave into competitive Western states, where Democrats have made gains in traditional Republican strongholds.

AP - Barack Obama made his first direct criticism of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Saturday, saying she pretends to oppose spending earmarks when she actually has embraced them.

AP - Five days a week, Linda Graham trolls tattered neighborhoods of this once thriving steel city outside Pittsburgh for unregistered voters she can sign up as Democrats — one of thousands of unknown volunteers whose work outside the limelight has already altered the basic arithmetic of the November election.

AP - They embody four uniquely American stories. They offer messages of transformation with two distinct world views. They pursue one goal.

AP - The mother kneels in the snow, cheerfully posing beside her bundled up daughter, behind the bloody, dead caribou the mom just shot.

AFP - US scientists have unveiled the most complete genetic profile ever attempted of glioblastoma, a common and deadly form of the brain cancer that US Senator Edward Kennedy is battling.

AFP - Mexico's Supreme Court compared the practices of US retail giant Walmart in Mexico to employer-worker relations during the dictatorship of former president Porfirio Diaz.

AFP - Taiwan on Friday denied a media report it routinely offers extra aid to allies in exchange for their support in its campaign to join the United Nations.