AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama seized on a record oil company profit to argue that rival John McCain offers only tax breaks for Big Oil and "short-term gimmicks" to consumers struggling with soaring gasoline prices.

AP - John McCain accused Barack Obama of playing politics with race on Thursday, raising the explosive issue after the first black candidate with a serious chance of winning the White House claimed Republicans will try to scare voters by saying he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

AP - Ludacris' new song, "Politics as Usual," may have cost him one of his biggest fans, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

AP - Barack Obama is once again betting that his eloquence can persuade price-weary consumers — read that as voters — to take the long view and not jump at a short-term fix when it comes to soaring energy prices.

AFP - Eight European Union nations have made an unprecedented move to boost cooperation on divorce laws with the aim of easing proceedings for couples of different nationality, a diplomat said Wednesday.

AP - Americans love their cars, and so apparently does Uncle Sam. He's got 642,233 of them.

Politico - Barack Obama’s critics laid down the foundations of the strategy months ago: The Republican National Committee started the “Audacity Watch” back in April, and Karl Rove later fueled the attack by describing the first-term Illinois senator as “coolly arrogant.”

AP - How many governors endorse one candidate for president and then even before the election leave the door open to working in his opponent's administration? One so far: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

AP - Three months before Election Day, John McCain's stepped up aggression begs the question: Will voters vote for the scold?

AP - John McCain's campaign accused Barack Obama on Thursday of playing racial politics a day after the Democratic candidate predicted Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

AP - Flooding and poor harvests have caused North Korea's worst food crisis since the late 1990s and have put millions at risk, the United Nations' food agency said Wednesday.

AP - The salmonella strain linked to a nationwide outbreak has been found in irrigation water and in a sample from a batch of serrano peppers at a Mexican farm, federal health officials said Wednesday.

AP - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is due in federal court to answer charges that he lied about hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from an oil services contractor.