AP - The New York Giants are interested in luring Michael Strahan out of retirement after losing Pro Bowl defensive end Osi Umenyiora to a season-ending knee injury Saturday night.

AP - Scooching in between Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson sounds intimidating, if not a little scary.

AP - A wildfire that started in a field of sagebrush and cheatgrass spread quickly up a ridge and burned as many as 10 homes in Boise neighborhood Monday night.

AP - Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying the top U.S. diplomat in the main city in Pakistan's volatile northwest Tuesday morning, but no one was killed or wounded, officials said.

AP - Federal authorities are looking into reports that a man arrested with rifles, ammunition and drugs in his truck may have made threats against Barack Obama, officials said Monday.

AP - Amid allegations that large numbers of civilians have died in recent raids and airstrikes by foreign forces, President Hamid Karzai's government has demanded a review of the presence of U.S. and NATO troops in the country.

AP - Gustav became a hurricane early Tuesday as it approached Haiti's southern coast.

AP - His voice firm, his wave familiar, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy told a cheering Democratic National Convention Monday night that his is "a season of hope" for an era of justice and fair prosperity with the election of Barack Obama as president.

AP - Michelle Obama declared "I love this country" Monday as she sought to reassure the nation that she and her husband Barack share Americans' bedrock values and belief in a dream of a better future.

AFP - Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday Washington and Baghdad have agreed there will be no foreign forces in Iraq after 2011, setting a timeline for a US withdrawal from the war-torn country.

AFP - The Russian parliament voted Monday to recognise two breakaway Georgian regions as independent nations and Moscow toughened its line on the West as the United States said Vice President Dick Cheney would visit Georgia.

Reuters - The debate over which nation would top the gold medal table at the Beijing Olympics was already well over by the time Chinese boxer Zou Shiming won the host nation's 50th gold medal on Sunday.

Reuters - The U.S. envoy for nuclear talks with North Korea had "substantive" discussions with his North Korean counterpart last week, the State Department said on Monday, but officials gave no hint of progress in breaking a deadlock over verifying Pyongyang's nuclear programs.

Reuters - Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif pulled his party out of the ruling coalition on Monday, deepening a political crisis that has diverted government attention from pressing security and economic problems.