Reuters - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Thursday accused Republican John McCain of mischaracterizing his tax plan and said most Americans would not see taxes go up.

Reuters - The U.S. dollar took centre stage as Group of Eight finance ministers gathered in Japan on Friday to wrestle with surging inflation and its impact on a slowing global economy.

Reuters - Guantanamo Bay prisoners can go before U.S. federal judges to challenge their years-long detention, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in a landmark decision that delivered another setback for President George W. Bush's war on terrorism.

Reuters - Microsoft's plan to establish a strong footing in online advertising suffered a big blow on Thursday as merger talks with Yahoo finally, formally failed and Yahoo said it would let Google sell search ads on its site.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush will meet Pope Benedict at the Vatican on Friday before resuming his campaign to rally European support for more sanctions against Iran.

AP - The players in the glamour group were ranked 1, 2 and 3. The guys at the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard were ranked 608 and 722. The biggest winner of all after Thursday's opening round might have been Torrey Pines, a course that muddled the field and blurred the distinction between great, good and mediocre — the way U.S. Open venues so often do.

AP - People around the globe widely expect the next American president to improve the country's policies toward the rest of the world, especially if Barack Obama is elected, yet they retain a persistently poor image of the U.S., according to a poll released Thursday.

AP - The toll from salmonella-tainted tomatoes jumped to 228 illnesses Thursday as the government learned of five dozen previously unknown cases and said it is possible the food poisoning contributed to a cancer patient's death.

AP - Baggage fees are fast becoming an unavoidable part of U.S. flying — three of the largest carriers now charge $15 for a first checked bag. No. 2 United Airlines and No. 7 US Airways announced their new fees on Thursday, three weeks after No. 1 American Airlines set the precedent for the charge.

AP - As individuals and aid agencies around the world dig into their pockets for funds to help Myanmar's cyclone victims, the country's ruling junta said Friday that such assistance from the United States could not be trusted.

AP - When the final horn sounded, after his team had pulled together and staged perhaps the greatest comeback in its famed history, Paul Pierce doubled over in exhaustion.

AP - The Cedar River poured over its banks Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets.

AP - President Bush's vision of a new era of trans-Atlantic relations will last at least seven more months.

AP - First came the shock, then the grief. As dozens of people injured in a tornado at an Iowa Boy Scout camp recovered, families and friends tried to make sense of the deaths of four teenage Scouts who had gone to the elite camp to learn how to be leaders.

AP - In a stinging rebuke to President Bush's anti-terror policies, a deeply divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign detainees held for years at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have the right to appeal to U.S. civilian courts to challenge their indefinite imprisonment without charges.