AP - The Senate has confirmed Gen. David Petraeus as the top commander in the Middle East. The vote was 95-2.

AP - An initial examination of the plane that had maintenance problems while carrying Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama found no evidence of missing parts or tampering, federal investigators said Thursday.

AP - The AFL-CIO is mobilizing union members who are military veterans to work against Republican presidential candidate John McCain and other office seekers it opposes, officials said Thursday.

Politico - Former Sen. Phil Gramm, a top economic adviser to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, referred to the economic slowdown as "a mental recession" and called the United States “a nation of whiners.”

AP - Going after the women's vote, Democrat Barack Obama chastised Republican John McCain on Thursday over his opposition to an equal-pay Senate bill, his support for conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices and his abortion-rights objections.

AP - Campaign officials say Republican John McCain raised more than $22 million in June for his presidential bid.

AP - Republican John McCain distanced himself from an economic adviser who dubbed the United States "a nation of whiners" in a "mental recession" as Democrat Barack Obama turned the remarks against his rival.

Reuters - Jews live longer and enjoy lower infant mortality and poverty rates in Israel than the country's Arab citizens, said a report published Wednesday by a watchdog partly funded by the European Union.

AP - Even with India's last-minute revival of a languishing civil nuclear accord with the United States, it may be too late for time-pressed U.S. lawmakers to ratify what has been one of President Bush's top foreign policy initiatives.

AP - Hundreds of thousands of homeowners could get safe, cheaper loans rather than losing their homes under a massive election-year mortgage rescue that's drawing bipartisan support.

AP - Sen. Barack Obama's vote in favor of anti-terrorist surveillance legislation on Wednesday marked an about-face on the issue that left him comfortably in the bipartisan middle, no matter the criticism from John McCain nor the discomfort among liberal Democrats.

AP - The system for funding Social Security is "a disgrace" because it forces young workers to pay into a program that is unlikely to benefit them in its current form, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said this week, wading into politically touchy territory.