AP - Barack Obama aims to weave the personal with the political Thursday night as he tells 75,000 supporters in a football stadium — and millions more at home — how as president he would make a difference in their lives.

AP - Tourists and oil workers fled Thursday as Gustav swamped eastern Jamaica on a path to hit the Cayman Islands with winds near hurricane force. Louisiana called a state of emergency and put the National Guard on standby, hoping to avoid the chaos of Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

AP - The economy pulled out of a dangerous rough patch in the spring, thanks largely to strong exports, but the rebound isn't expected to last. Economic slowdowns overseas could make exports tail off just as Americans are hunkering down after the bracing impact of rebate checks wanes, plunging the country into another rut later this year.

AP - Looking toward his turn in the spotlight, Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain sought to siphon attention from Democrat Barack Obama's show in Denver by playing coy about his pick for vice president.

AP - Mexico's Supreme Court has voted to uphold legal abortion in the capital.

AP - A four-day battle that began with an ambush on a joint U.S-Afghan patrol in southern Afghanistan has killed more than 100 militants, the coalition said Thursday.

AP - Rapper DMX has pleaded out a Miami drug case and now awaits extradition to face more charges in Arizona.

AP - An art museum in northern Italy said Thursday it will continue displaying a sculpture portraying a green frog nailed to a cross that has angered Pope Benedict XVI and local officials.

AP - Baseball's replay central is an 18-by-24 foot room on the fifth floor of a former baking factory in Manhattan's Meatpacking District that's crammed with so many computers and television screens that it looks like NASA's Mission Control.

Reuters - Democrats prepared a grand celebration on Thursday for Barack Obama, who will accept a historic presidential nomination with a speech that spells out his vision for change in America.

Reuters - Tropical Storm Gustav hit Jamaica with near hurricane-force winds and torrential rain on Thursday on a path toward western Cuba that could take it to the Gulf of Mexico oil fields as a strong hurricane next week.

Reuters - Strong exports and consumer spending supported by government stimulus checks pushed the U.S. economy ahead at a solid 3.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter, much stronger than first thought, but growth is expected to flag as those factors fade.

Reuters - An outbreak of an unusual strain of Salmonella that sickened more than 1,400 people and put 286 in the hospital appears to be over in the United States, federal health officials said on Thursday.

Reuters - Russia faced diplomatic isolation over its military action against Georgia on Thursday, with its Asian allies failing to offer support and France saying EU leaders were considering sanctions.

Reuters - U.S. forces arrested the deputy head of a committee that purged Iraq's government of members of Saddam Hussein's party, an ally said, but the U.S. military said he was a wanted militia leader behind a deadly Baghdad bombing.

Reuters - Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces have killed more than 100 Taliban in the southern Afghan province of Helmand during three days of fighting, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

AFP - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the United States of manufacturing the Georgia conflict as tensions mounted with the United States threatening to scrap a nuclear deal to protest Moscow's actions.

AFP - Barack Obama was Thursday to summon America to join his crusade for change, as the Democratic convention climaxes in a historic echo of Martin Luther King's" "I have a dream" speech.