AP - Broken and disgraced, lobbyist Jack Abramoff will spend four years in prison for his role in a corruption scandal that upended Washington politics and contributed to the Republicans' loss of Congress in 2006.

AP - When Condoleezza Rice spends a few hours in Libya and shakes hands with Moammar Gadhafi, she will close a nearly three-decade era of bitter animosity between the United States and the North African nation that has sometimes gotten personal.

AP - Asian stock markets plunged Friday after more bad news on the U.S. economy, a vital export market, triggered a broad sell-off on Wall Street overnight.

AP - Some Southeastern states declared emergencies and officials urged residents to head inland Thursday as Tropical Storm Hanna headed toward the Atlantic coast, where it could bring high winds and rain from South Carolina to Maine.

AP - Republican presidential nominee John McCain, buoyed by a unifying GOP convention and the spark of running mate Sarah Palin, plunged into a competitive, eight-week struggle with Democrat Barack Obama over which party can best bring change to Washington.

AFP - White House candidate John McCain will Thursday crown an unlikely political comeback when he formally accepts the Republican presidential nomination after a fabled American journey.

AFP - US Vice President Dick Cheney accused Russia Thursday of an "illegitimate" invasion to redraw the map of Georgia and cast doubt on whether Russia could be trusted as an international partner.

Reuters - Vice President Dick Cheney vowed on Thursday to stand by Georgia in its showdown with Russia, calling Moscow's war against the ex-Soviet state an illegitimate act that cast doubt on its reliability.

Reuters - Sen. Barack Obama got his first intelligence briefing as the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate this week and spy agencies are ready to do the same for Republican rival Sen. John McCain, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

Reuters - Four regional powers plan to meet in Beijing in the next few days to discuss how to halt North Korea's steps toward restarting its aging nuclear plant that makes arms-grade plutonium, officials said on Thursday.

Reuters - A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles at house in Pakistan's Waziristani tribal region on Thursday, killing four Islamist militants a day after U.S. commandoes killed 20 people in a cross-border assault.

Reuters - NATO and Afghanistan agreed on Thursday they needed to coordinate more closely to avoid civilian casualties in operations against militants, an alliance spokesman said.

Reuters - Powerful Hurricane Ike charged across the Atlantic toward the Bahamas and the U.S. east coast on Thursday while Tropical Storm Hanna's death toll from floods and mudslides in Haiti grew to 90.

Reuters - Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty on Thursday to obstruction of justice in a plea agreement that forces him from office and caps a scandal that had threatened to spill over into the U.S. presidential campaign in a key battleground state.

Reuters - Republican John McCain takes his turn at center stage of his big St. Paul party on Thursday to lay out why he should be elected U.S. president, after his No. 2, Sarah Palin, excited Republican loyalists.