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Obama says he's decided on a running mate (AP)

Democratic presidential candidate US Senator Barack Obama speaks during a discussion on economy at John Tyler Community College in Chester, Virginia. Nigeria's anti-graft agency said Thursday it has opened an inquiry into the organisation by the head of the stock exchange of a fundraising dinner linked to Obama.(AFP/Emmanuel Dunand)AP - Barack Obama says he's decided on a running mate, but he won't say who. "I've made the selection, that's all you're gonna get," Obama said told reporters while campaigning in Virginia Thursday. Obama didn't say whether he's informed his pick yet.


US, Iraq reach deal to pull US troops out by June (AP)

A U.S. Army soldier from Hammer Company, 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment stands guard near two suspected terrorists in Nahr al-Imam, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad  in Iraq's volatile Diyala province on Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Twenty men were detained in the pre-dawn sweep. Nearly 50,000 Iraqi police and soldiers were involved in a U.S.-backed operation against al-Qaida in Iraq in one of its last major strongholds near the capital, a senior provincial official said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)AP - Iraq and the U.S. have reached preliminary agreement to withdraw American forces from Iraqi cities by next June, six years into the increasingly unpopular war, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Thursday after meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.


Obama raps McCain for ignorance of his own houses (AP)

In this Feb. 5, 2008 file photo, Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., watches Super Tuesday election returns from the kitchen area of his home in Phoenix, Ariz.  Days after he cracked that being rich in the U.S. meant earning at least $5 million a year, McCain acknowledged that he wasn't sure how many houses he and his wealthy wife actually own.  (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)AP - 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.


Gators among those fleeing Fay's Florida deluge (AP)

National Guard troops search for residents in the Lamplighter Village neighborhood that need help from the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Fay in Melbourne, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008.(AP Photo/John Raoux)AP - As if a fourth straight day of rain from Tropical Storm Fay wasn't enough, weary residents are now dealing with quintessentially Floridian fallout: alligators, snakes and other critters driven from their swampy lairs into flooded streets, backyards and doorsteps.


US softball team loses 3-1 to Japan, denied gold (AP)

Japan's Yukiyo Mine, right, and  pitcher Yukiko Ueno celebrate after winning the gold medal against the USA in the gold medal softball game in the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)AP - 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.


Student killed in shooting at Tenn. school (AP)

Police car stands near entrance to Central High School in Knoxville, Tenn., on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008 after a student was fatally shot in the school cafeteria. Another student was arrested minutes after the incident, which police say was not random. Their identities were not immediately released. ( AP Photo/Lisa Norman-Hudson)AP - A student fatally shot a 15-year-old classmate during a dispute Thursday at a Knoxville high school, police said, as other teenagers watched in horror as the victim clutched his chest and fell to the floor.


Jump in US measles cases linked to vaccine fears (AP)
AP - Measles cases in the U.S. are at the highest level in more than a decade, with nearly half of those involving children whose parents rejected vaccination, health officials reported Thursday.
Titanic treasures to go on display at Ga. aquarium (AP)

The front and back of replica boarding passes, belonging to actual Titanic passengers, are placed among other artifacts at a warehouse in Atlanta, Friday, Aug 15, 2008. The 5,500-piece collection contains almost everything recovered from the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which has sat 2.5 miles below the surface of the Atlantic ocean since the boat sank on April 15, 1912. The replica boarding passes are distributed to guests touring the facility who find out the fate of the passenger at the end of the tour.  (AP Photo/Stanley Leary)AP - The brightly lit room looks like any nondescript warehouse packed with boxes and dusty shelves, but inside this plain brick building is nearly $200 million worth of treasures from the world's most famous shipwreck. The 5,500-piece collection contains almost everything recovered from the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which has sat 2.5 miles below the surface of the Atlantic ocean since the boat sank on April 15, 1912.


Fla. deputies Taser Plop-Plop the unruly emu (AP)

Animal control officer Rochelle Ferrera rubs Plop-Plop, a female emu under the chin, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008,at the Bay County Animal Control Center in Panama City, Fla.  Bay County Sheriff's deputies were forced to use a Taser to subdue  Plop-Plop on Monday after she escaped from a farm last weekend.  (AP Photo/The News Herald Panama City, Fla., Jonas Hogg)AP - Bay County Sheriff's deputies were forced to use a Taser to subdue an escaped emu named Plop-Plop. The large female bird escaped from a farm last weekend and on Monday, she holed up with some horses and goats in a pen.


NFLPA head Gene Upshaw dies of cancer at age 63 (AP)

In this Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008 file photo, Gene Upshaw, executive director of the National Football League Players Association, is seen during a news conference, in Phoenix. The Hall of Fame football player and longtime NFL Players Association executive director died according to The NFL players' union. He was 63. The former offensive lineman had been fighting pancreatic cancer. He was 63. Upshaw played with the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders from 1967 until 1981. He was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and an 11-time All-Pro.  (AP Photo/Morry Gash, FILE)AP - Gene Upshaw, a towering lineman on the football field who went on to win untold millions of dollars for NFL players as their union leader, has died at age 63. Upshaw had a Hall of Fame career as a guard for the Oakland Raiders — a team that won two of the three Super Bowls it reached during his 15 years in a black and silver jersey.


It's show time for Obama and McCain (Reuters)

Presumptive U.S. presidential nominees Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) are shown in this combination of file photographs from campaign stops from July 18, 2008 in Warren Michigan (McCain) and August 4, 2008 (Obama) in Lansing, Michigan. (Rebecca Cook/Files/Reuters)Reuters - It's show time for Barack Obama andJohn McCain, with back-to-back presidential nominatingconventions offering them tightly-scripted spectacles designedto polish their images and highlight their messages.


U.S. demands Russia leave Georgia "now" (Reuters)

Russian soldiers travel on an armoured personnel carrier towards the Roki tunnel that leads into Russia near the village of Vekhny Ruk August 21, 2008. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)Reuters - Russia said on Thursday it wouldpull back some of its troops in Georgia within 24 hours afterWashington demanded they leave "now," but Moscow said it wouldstill keep a force stationed in Georgia's heartland.


Appeals court sends wiretap case back to lower court (Reuters)

A phone is seen in a file photo. (Catherine Benson/Reuters)Reuters - A federal appeals court onThursday declined to rule on whether lawsuits seeking to targetPresident George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping are coveredby secrecy laws or can be challenged in court.


Fannie and Freddie debt gains, deep share dive abates (Reuters)

A home that has been foreclosed and repossessed by the bank up for sale in Burbank, California, July 20, 2008. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)Reuters - Investors' growing belief in thelikelihood of a federal bailout of home-funding giants FannieMae and Freddie Mac triggered a rally in thedebt prices of the two companies on Thursday while a steep fallin their shares prices abated.