AP - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has found himself in a position he hasn't been in during many long months of campaigning — on defense against Republican rival John McCain.

AP - Democrat Barack Obama reached for middle ground on education this week, opening a debate with John McCain over who would do more to put good teachers in classrooms and help parents find alternatives to bad schools.

AFP - Seven years after the attacks on the World Trade Centre, Afghanistan is again the frontline of the US-led "war on terror" with extremist unrest intensifying and a new focus on Pakistan's tribal areas.

AP - The government is urging owners of 5 million recalled Ford vehicles to bring them to dealerships to repair a cruise control switch system that has been tied to engine fires.

AP - Reliably Republican, Nebraska has been giving the GOP all its electoral votes in every presidential election since 1964. Democratic candidate Barack Obama is trying to take just one of its five votes this year by focusing on Omaha, the state's biggest, most diverse city.

AP - Barack Obama said President Bush isn't acting quickly or forcefully enough to get more U.S. forces into Afghanistan and out of Iraq.

AP - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Tuesday that only Republican John McCain would think that Missouri is enjoying good economic times.

AP - Listening to Barack Obama, it can seem like Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is the main person standing between him and the White House instead of John McCain.

AFP - The European Commission said Sunday it is looking into allegations by a British newspaper that a senior EU official gave market-sensitive information to reporters posing as business lobbyists.

AP - The United States remains "dangerously vulnerable" to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks seven years after 9/11, a forthcoming independent study concludes. And a House Democrats' report says the Bush administration has missed one opportunity after another to improve the nation's security.