Reuters - American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp , knowingly flew planes that needed safety repairs, the U.S. government charged on Thursday in a letter that proposed a $7.1 million fine against the carrier.

Reuters - Thousands of protesters are expected to jam the streets of Denver and St. Paul at the Republican and Democratic conventions in a noisy counterpoint to the parties' carefully scripted speeches.

Reuters - Barack Obama's presidential campaign said on Thursday a potential hike in payroll taxes for wealthy Americans under an Obama administration would not occur for 10 years while taxes on dividends and capital gains would be capped at 20 percent.

Reuters - A Thai court sentenced Canadian "swirly face" pedophile Christopher Neil to 39 months in prison on Friday for abducting and molesting a 14-year-old boy and posting pornographic pictures on the Internet.

Reuters - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is ready to resign rather than face impeachment but is seeking immunity from prosecution for imposing emergency rule, a coalition government official said on Friday.

Reuters - Russian troops remain deep inside Georgian territory on Friday, hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives to secure Tbilisi's signature to a peace deal with Moscow.

Reuters - Michael Phelps scorched to his sixth gold and his sixth world record of the Beijing Olympics on Friday in a great morning for the United States in the pool and the gymnastics arena.

AP - Donald Trump will soon be Ed McMahon's landlord.

AP - Times are tough for the Nebraska man who once weighed more than 1,000 pounds, but Patrick Deuel says he's trying to keep a positive outlook.

AP - Talks are under way that could lead to the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf or else reduce his role to that of a figurehead, an ally of the embattled leader said Friday.

AP - No runner-up finish to her friend and rival this time. Nastia Liukin won the biggest prize of all.

AP - Michael Phelps collected the sixth gold medal and stuffed it in his warmup jacket. No time to even savor that one as he rushed off to swim again.

AP - Iraqi Shiite assassination teams are being trained in at least four locations in Iran by Tehran's elite Quds force and Lebanese Hezbollah and are planning to return to Iraq in the next few months to kill specific Iraqi officials as well as U.S. and Iraqi troops, according to intelligence gleaned from captured militia fighters and other sources in Iraq.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama hit back Thursday with a 40-page rebuttal to the best-selling book "The Obama Nation," arguing the author is a fringe bigot peddling rehashed lies.