AP - The Senate passed a $162 billion war spending plan Thursday, sending to President Bush legislation that will pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until the next president takes office.

Politico - After Sen. Barack Obama emerged as the winner of the Democratic nomination, he announced that he’d be glad to meet Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at the time and place of her choosing.

AP - Former rivals Obama, Clinton take first public step toward reconciliation ... Democratic delegate who said she'd vote for McCain tries to keep convention credentials ... Rendell expresses interest in federal energy, transportation, posts but not before 2011

AP - Rivals turned allies, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton made a display of unity Friday in a hamlet named for it, their first joint public appearance since the divisive Democratic primary race ended.

Reuters - Zimbabweans vote in a one-sided presidential run-off on Friday after President Robert Mugabe defied mounting world condemnation and calls to postpone an election which the opposition says is a farce.

AP - Silent on central questions of gun control for two centuries, the Supreme Court found its voice Thursday in a decision affirming the right to have guns for self-defense in the home and addressing a constitutional riddle almost as old as the republic over what it means to say the people may keep and bear arms.

AFP - The US Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a much-disputed bill alloting 162 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

AP - Both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain reacted cautiously Thursday after President Bush announced easing economic sanctions against North Korea, a world troublespot one of them will inherit after the next presidential inauguration in January.

AP - Barack Obama will fight for equal rights for gays just as he fought to help working-class families overcome poverty, the Democratic presidential hopeful's wife told a gay Democratic group Thursday.

AP - A Democratic National Convention delegate pledged to Hillary Rodham Clinton says she hopes to fight off an attempt by Wisconsin Democrats to take away her credentials because of her past statement that she would vote for John McCain if Clinton wasn't the nominee.