Headlines

Obama says he's made his veep choice

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama,D-Ill., is welcomed by the crowd as he arrives for a town hall meeting at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, Va., Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Obama raps McCain for ignorance of his own houses
John McCain may have created his own housing crisis. Hours after a report that the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting didn't know how many homes he and his multimillionaire wife own, Democratic rival Barack Obama launched a national TV ad and a series of campaign stops aimed at portraying McCain as wealthy and out of touch.

US, Iraq close in on deal for pullout of US troops
Iraq and the U.S. pushed close to a deal Thursday setting a course for American combat troops to pull out of major Iraqi cities by next June, with a broader withdrawal from the long and costly war by 2011.

Russians dig in but still promise Georgia pullout
Russian forces lingered deep in Georgia on Thursday, digging trenches and setting up mortars a day before Kremlin officials promised to complete a troop withdrawal from this former Soviet republic.

US softball team loses 3-1 to Japan, denied gold
Losing for the first time since 2000, the U.S. softball team was denied a chance for a fourth straight gold medal Thursday, beaten 3-1 by Japan in the sport's last appearance in the Olympics for at least eight years — and maybe for good.

Face transplant patient can smile, blink again
Transplanting faces may seem like science fiction, but doctors say the experimental surgeries could one day become routine. Two of the world's three teams that have done partial face transplants reported Friday that their techniques were surprisingly effective, though complications exist and more work is still needed.

At top of Greenland, new worrisome cracks in ice
In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glacier, scientists said Thursday.

Gwen Stefani gives birth to second child
It's Love, Angel, Music, and Baby No. 2 for Gwen Stefani, who on Thursday gave birth to a boy. Zuma Nesta Rock weighed 8 pounds and 5 ounces when he was born Thursday afternoon, according to publicist Dave Tomberlin.

Man uses Barbie fishing rod to make record catch
David Hayes' granddaughter just ask him to hold her Barbie rod and reel while she went to the bathroom. He did. And seconds later he landed the state record channel catfish at 21 pounds, 1 ounce.

Giants beat Marlins on wild pitch in 9th inning
Emmanuel Burriss scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the San Francisco Giants a 4-3 victory over the Florida Marlins 4-3 on Thursday.