Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama said on Thursday he would forego public financing of his general election campaign against Republican John McCain, reversing an earlier stance and positioning himself to outspend McCain in the White House race.

Reuters - As President George W. Bush prepared to tour flood-ravaged Iowa on Thursday, Midwesterners awaited promised federal aid to help recover from an economic body blow to the nation's midsection from the worst flooding in 15 years.

AP - The NHL is threatening to kick the owners of the New York Rangers out of the league or force them to sell the team as punishment for accusing league officials of violating antitrust laws.

AP - Jamie Lynn Spears gave birth to a baby girl Thursday morning at a south Mississippi hospital.

AP - Yahoo Inc. is offering free e-mail accounts under two new designations in an effort to attract Web surfers unhappy with their current addresses.

AP - In a cramped, humid laboratory in London, mosquitoes swarming in stacked, net-covered cages are being scrutinized for keys to controlling malaria.

AP - Guns went quiet as a six-month truce between Israel and Gaza Strip militants took effect early Thursday, but there was widespread skepticism about its ability to hold.

AP - Iraqi troops on Thursday arrested the top official in Amarah, a Muqtada al-Sadr loyalist, officials said, drawing swift condemnations from followers of the anti-U.S. cleric and raising tensions as a military operation against Shiite militias got under way.

AP - A private business group says its index of leading economic indicators inched higher for the second month in another sign that higher fuel and food prices, tighter credit and a depressed housing market are stifling the economy.

AP - The Democratic-led Congress finally appears ready to give President Bush his request for $162 billion in long-overdue funds for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

AP - Two former Bear Stearns managers were arrested Thursday on securities fraud and other charges linked to the collapse of a hedge fund that bet heavily on subprime mortgages before the market collapsed, federal authorities said.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday he'll bypass the federal public financing system in the general election, abandoning an earlier commitment to take the money if his Republican rival did as well.

AFP - Afghan and NATO forces cleared Taliban militants from villages near Kandahar on Thursday, killing or wounding hundreds of rebels in a major operation, a provincial governor said.

AFP - A fragile truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas came into force in the Gaza Strip on Thursday amid scepticism over how long the Egyptian-brokered deal would hold.

Reuters - Four U.S. helicopter engines worth more than $13 million have been stolen while they were being trucked from Afghanistan to a port in Pakistan to be shipped home, the U.S. military said.