AFP - Ministers saw a 'new order' take hold of global trade Wednesday, with emerging economies calling the shots after WTO plans collapsed in a potentially devastating blow to millions of the world's poor.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama opposes offering reparations to the descendants of slaves, putting him at odds with some black groups and leaders.

AFP - John McCain is finally making noise in the White House race, after weeks of anemic photo ops, scattershot attacks and looking on as Democrat Barack Obama soaked up adulation and opinion poll leads.

Politico - John McCain's extended circle is divided on whether he should announce his running mate in the immediate days ahead—but the Republican is more likely to wait for Barack Obama to announce his choice first, according to advisers.

Politico - A new book by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein.

AP - The mother of Detroit's mayor seized a narrow lead early Wednesday in a congressional primary election that has focused in large part on a headline-grabbing sex scandal involving the mayor and a former top aide.

AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain is taking up the issue of possible job losses due to the closure of a DHL shipping site in Ohio, the result of a corporate merger aided by his campaign manager during his work as a lobbyist.

AP - A freshman U.S. representative on Thursday became the first Tennessee congressman to lose a primary since 1966 after a bruising campaign in which he was accused of selling out to 'Big Oil.'

AP - Democrats have put together a platform that embraces Barack Obama's ambitious agenda while leaving him wiggle room on Iraq, health care and trade in case the realities of governing make promises hard to keep.

AFP - As US media devote wall-to-wall coverage to the bitter race between Barack Obama and John McCain for the White House, it's easy to forget there are 11 other candidates running for president.

AP - He's written million-selling books about his early years and the meaning of public life. Now, Sen. Barack Obama, with the help of his campaign staff, has another side to share with readers: policy wonk.

AP - In violation of federal law, states routinely fail to notify federal authorities when they've kicked health care providers out of their Medicaid programs for incompetence, fraud and other reasons, government investigators have found.

AP - Senate candidate and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner is scheduled to deliver the Tuesday night keynote address at this year's Democratic National Convention — the same role that launched Barack Obama to national prominence four years ago.

AP - The National Rifle Association said Wednesday that Barack Obama's campaign is trying to mislead voters about his past support of gun control, calling the Democratic candidate 'a poster child of the extremist, elitist gun control movement.'

AP - John Edwards' political action committee paid his mistress $14,000 after she stopped working for it to obtain 100 hours of unused videotape she had shot for his unsuccessful presidential campaign, an associate told The Associated Press on Thursday.

AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain's divorce was amicable enough that he and his ex-wife jointly brought a lawsuit 10 years later to recover damages for lost mementos, but it wasn't amicable enough to prevent McCain's mother from suing his ex-wife to get back some personal property.

Politico - LAKE FOREST, Calif.—Given the sharp words exchanged between their campaigns in recent weeks, John McCain and Barack Obama put on a good show of civility Saturday at their first joint appearance of the all-but officially begun general election race.

AP - Serbia's foreign minister predicted Friday that fugitive Gen. Radko Mladic will be apprehended soon and put on trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal, putting to rest an ugly legacy of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

AP - The United Auto Workers union has given its expected endorsement to Democrat Barack Obama, while criticizing Republican John McCain as an heir to President Bush's policies.

AP - A hospital spokeswoman says U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones has been admitted to a Cleveland-area hospital.

AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain chided his Democratic rival on Wednesday for getting 'a little testy' as Barack Obama sharpened his tone amid a tightening White House race that gets nastier by the day.

AP - A threatening letter containing an unidentified white powder was sent to a John McCain campaign office in this south Denver suburb Thursday, authorities said. No injuries were immediately reported. Authorities later said the substance was not hazardous.

AP - Barack Obama told everyone he wanted a running mate who will challenge his thinking, and now he's got one. Joe Biden's tendency to speak his own mind — and speak and speak — is entwined in his DNA.

AP - An appeals court has declined to throw out money-laundering indictments against two of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political operatives, who had claimed that state elections law used to charge them was too confusing to proceed.

Politico - DENVER — As Democrats arrived here Sunday for a convention intended to promote party unity, mistrust and resentments continued to boil among top associates of presumptive nominee Barack Obama and his defeated rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

AP - It was Michelle Obama's speech, but her husband said it highlighted one of his attributes — one he says voters should want in a president.

AP - Hillary Rodham Clinton had a simple message Tuesday for her still loyal supporters: This election isn't about her.

Politico - DENVER — Joe Biden used his speech accepting the Democratic vice presidential nomination Wednesday night to signal the roles he’ll likely play until Election Day: loyal messenger for running mate Barack Obama, liaison to the working class and aggressive attacker of the Republican rival.

Politico - DENVER — Barack Obama has a dream, a dream embodied in a speech, a speech he gave at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night to introduce himself to America.

Politico - BEAVER, Pa. — Just 12 hours after delivering a historic acceptance speech, Barack Obama was no longer the story.

Politico - On Saturday evening, CNN broadcast Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s campaign appearance on an Ohio football field, with the live feed taking up roughly three-quarters of viewers’ television screens.