AP - John McCain and Sarah Palin on Friday cast the new Republican presidential ticket as a team of determined reformers eager to challenge Washington's political establishment. "John McCain doesn't run with the Washington herd," said Palin, the 44-year-old Alaska governor and surprise pick as McCain's running mate.

AP - Beach vacationers in the Carolinas packed up and headed inland Friday as Tropical Storm Hanna cruised steadily toward the coast, teetering on the verge of becoming a hurricane before an expected overnight landfall.

AP - The nation's unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of 6.1 percent in August as employers slashed 84,000 jobs, dramatic proof of the mounting damage a deeply troubled economy is inflicting on workers and businesses alike.

AP - Democrat Barack Obama called Republican rival John McCain's acceptance speech the final piece of an out-of-touch convention that focused on its nominee's biography instead of the struggles of the middle class.

AP - Concern over upcoming elections and widening tensions among Iraq's religious and ethnic groups appear behind the U.S. military's recommendation to put the brakes on withdrawing more American troops from Iraq despite improvements in security.

AP - The bearded, turbaned men gather beneath a large, leafy tree in rural eastern Nangarhar province. When Malik Mohammed speaks on their behalf, his voice is soft but his words are harsh. Mohammed makes it clear that the tribal chiefs have lost all faith in both their own government and the foreign soldiers in their country.

AP - Hulk Hogan and his estranged wife are wrangling over how much money the celebrity wrestler is worth. According to financial affidavits filed in divorce court near Tampa, Florida, Hogan claims his net worth is $32 million; his wife claims it's $26.7 million.

AP - Disgraced sprinter Marion Jones was released Friday from federal prison after completing most of her six-month sentence for lying about her steroid use.

Reuters - Presidential rivals John McCain and Barack Obama, back on the campaign trail after their party conventions, clashed over the ailing U.S. economy on Friday as unemployment hit its highest monthly rate in nearly five years.

Reuters - Fierce Hurricane Ike weakened as it charged across the Atlantic on Friday and took aim at south Florida and the oil fields of the Gulf of Mexico while Tropical Storm Hanna was set to crash ashore in the Carolinas after killing at least 136 people in Haiti.

Reuters - An unexpectedly steep 84,000 U.S. jobs were lost in August and the unemployment rate hit a five-year high of 6.1 percent, fanning worry ahead of November's presidential vote that the economy was near recession.

Reuters - House Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, failed to report $75,000 of income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic, his attorney said on Friday.

Reuters - Top U.S. diplomat Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tripoli on Friday on the first trip by a U.S. secretary of state to Libya since 1953, and said it was proof that Washington had no "permanent enemies."

Reuters - Vice President Dick Cheney appealed to Ukraine's divided leaders on Friday to unite and forge closer links with the West, pledging Washington's support for Kiev to join the NATO military alliance.

Reuters - Al Qaeda remains a dangerous force in Iraq despite a general decline in violence and U.S. troops must continue to confront the militant group, the outgoing top U.S. general in the country said.

Reuters - Pakistan's new president, almost certain to be the widower of Benazir Bhutto, will have to contend with a host of critical problems including militant violence and an economy in crisis.

AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Libya on Friday on the first such visit in more than half a century, marking a new chapter in Washington's reconciliation with the former enemy state.

AFP - Tropical Storm Hanna closed in on the US east coast Friday after leaving 136 dead in Haiti, as powerful Hurricane Ike threatened Caribbean islands and the United States.