AFP - John McCain is finally making noise in the White House race, after weeks of anemic photo ops, scattershot attacks and looking on as Democrat Barack Obama soaked up adulation and opinion poll leads.

AP - Republican candidate John McCain's presidential campaign is cynical, not racist, in its efforts to distract voters from real issues, Democratic rival Barack Obama said Saturday.

AP - John McCain's campaign has asked Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor for personal documents as the Republican presidential candidate steps up his search for a running mate, The Associated Press has learned.

AP - Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday backed away from rival John McCain's challenge for a series of joint appearances, agreeing only to the standard three debates in the fall.

AP - Five lives and millions of dollars later, the anthrax-by-mail mystery may be solved, but the way the post office and many government agencies handle the mail has undergone major changes.

AP - The Democratic-controlled Congress is working to overcome years of neglect by the Bush administration of agencies intended to safeguard the health of the public, especially children, a leading Democrat said Saturday.

AP - At key moments in his adolescence, Barack Obama could not turn to a father he hardly knew. Instead, he looked to a left-leaning black journalist and poet for advice on living in a world of black and white.

AP - It is a tradition at many kitchen tables to yell at the newspaper. At John McCain's kitchen table, it is becoming a tradition to yell at one paper in particular: The New York Times.

AP - Democratic candidate Barack Obama said Saturday that Republican rival John McCain's campaign is not racist but is cynical in trying to divert voter attention from the real issues of the presidential campaign.

AP - Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday backed further away from rival John McCain's challenge for a series of Lincoln-Douglas debates, agreeing only to the standard three face-offs in the fall proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Reuters - The European Union's trade chief Peter Mandelson said on Wednesday the United States helped to bring down global trade talks this week when its negotiators shunned a compromise proposal at a key juncture in the talks.