Reuters - Two men often mentioned as possible running mates to U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama joined him on the campaign trail in Indiana on Wednesday, further stoking speculation about the Democrat's closely guarded search for a No. 2.

AP - In one of those charming English villages near Royal Birkdale Golf Club, the lamp posts are adorned with alternating pictures of Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington. One is home. The other is hurting.

AP - Police in the District of Columbia are set to begin registering residents for handguns Thursday now that the district's 32-year-old ban has been lifted.

AP - President Bush invoked executive privilege to keep Congress from seeing the FBI report of an interview with Vice President Dick Cheney and other records related to the administration's leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity in 2003.

AP - The Rev. Jesse Jackson used the N-word during a break in a TV interview where he criticized presidential candidate Barack Obama, Fox News confirmed Wednesday.

AP - "Mad Men" and "Damages" have a shot at Emmy nomination history. AMC's 1960s Madison Avenue drama and FX's legal thriller, both semifinalists for the Emmy nods that were to be announced early Thursday, could be the first basic cable series to get best-series bids.

AP - Debbie Halcomb unpacked boxes as she moved back into her flood-damaged home, but worried that her damp carpet harbors mold. She enjoys the normally tranquil setting of Winfield, a community about three miles from the Mississippi River. But she's had enough. She's hoping for a government buyout so she can move to higher ground.

AP - For years, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac tenaciously worked to nurture, and then protect, their financial empires by invoking the political sacred cow of homeownership and fielding an army of lobbyists, power brokers and political contributors.

AP - The world's natural resources are being squandered in the pursuit of "insatiable consumption," Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday in a speech urging followers to care more for the environment and reconnect with the principle of peace.

AP - The White House said President Bush will visit Northern California on Thursday to get a first-hand look at the wildfires that have ravaged hundreds of square miles and strained the state's firefighting resources.

AFP - The United States announced Wednesday a senior US diplomat would attend international nuclear talks with Iran in the highest-ranking meeting between the two foes in three decades.

AFP - Five Lebanese prisoners freed by Israel arrived to a hero's welcome in Lebanon Wednesday, hours after Hezbollah handed over the bodies of two Israeli soldiers seized by its guerrillas two years ago.

Reuters - Canada said on Wednesday it would not press for the return of a young Canadian inmate held at Guantanamo Bay despite the release of video footage that showed him weeping and calling for his mother.