AP - President Bush's top defense advisers have recommended he maintain 15 combat brigades in Iraq until the end of the year, contrary to expectations that the improved security in Iraq would allow for quicker cuts, The Associated Press has learned.

Reuters - Condoleezza Rice travels to Libya on Friday, the first trip there by a U.S. secretary of state in 55 years, signaling improved ties between the two countries.

AFP - John McCain has a tough act to follow Thursday when he accepts the Republican White House nomination, a day after his running mate Sarah Palin swept the party convention off its feet.

AP - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Thursday blamed supporters of the Democratic presidential ticket for spreading "misinformation and flat-out lies" about her and her family.

AP - John McCain, a Vietnam POW turned political rebel, launched his fall campaign for the White House on Thursday in the final act of a Republican National Convention marked by extraordinary attention on running mate Sarah Palin.

Reuters - Vice President Dick Cheney will reassure Ukrainian leaders of U.S. backing on Friday as they grapple with a domestic political crisis and face up to the fallout from Russia's conflict with Georgia.

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 all the way to Maine.

AP - Jack Abramoff, the once powerful lobbyist at the heart of a far-reaching political corruption scandal, was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday by a judge who said the case had shattered the public's confidence in government.

Reuters - Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced on Thursday to serve four more years in prison in a corruption scandal that rocked Washington's power elite and helped Republicans lose control of Congress.

Reuters - Powerful Hurricane Ike weakened slightly as it charged across the Atlantic toward the Bahamas and the United States on Thursday while Tropical Storm Hanna's death toll from floods in Haiti grew to 90.

AP - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was bounced from office Thursday in a deal with prosecutors that will send him to jail and put an end to the sex scandal that embarrassed this chronically struggling city and preoccupied its government for months.