Andanh.com

AP - John McCain's campaign began on Thursday to review donations brought in by the prominent head of a Florida oil trading company following disclosures that his business partner, a foreign citizen, also may have engaged in fundraising.

AP - A man who authorities said was keeping weapons and military-style gear in his hotel room and car appeared in court Thursday on charges he threatened to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has contended that Barack Obama is willing to lose in Iraq to win the election, on Thursday said his rival would forfeit the war as part of an agenda that also promotes big government and high taxes.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Thursday dismissed suggestions that the nominating convention could be marred by tensions between his supporters and the die-hard backers of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Politico - John McCain's campaign is considering a series of tactics intended to focus attention on the Republican's effort to address the economy, including a jobs-oriented tour of targeted states, an economic summit and family roundtable events "heavily tilted towards women," according to an internal memo.

AP - The diverse culture of the nation's 50th state — and the island nature of Hawaii itself — shaped Barack Obama's view of the world and the politics he would practice.

AP - Pancakes to go?

AP - To understand why Barack Obama and John McCain are emphasizing solutions to the country's energy woes and have scrambled to change their positions, look no further than the voters' distress over $4-a-gallon gasoline and its wide ripple effect.

AP - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking a way for her delegates to be heard at the Democratic National Convention, telling supporters such a step will help unify a party that split between her and Sen. Barack Obama during their hard-fought nominating contest.

AP - Republican candidate John McCain on Wednesday called on Congress to return from its summer recess to address immediately the U.S. energy crisis, though he missed numerous energy-related votes in the Senate last year.

AFP - Hillary Clinton said Thursday she remained a wholehearted backer of Barack Obama's presidential run as her disappointed supporters refused to cede the party nomination to her fellow Democrat.

AP - Trying to dispel tension ahead of convention, Obama and Clinton promote cooperation, unity ... McCain's campaign reviewing donations brought in by prominent Florida fundraiser ... McCain says Obama agenda includes forfeiting the war in Iraq, making big government bigger ... Hawaii and its multiracial society influenced Obama's view of the world and politics

Reuters - Holy politicking, Batman. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have unmasked their favorite pop culture icons, including superheroes, with McCain favoring Batman and Obama choosing Spider-Man and Batman.

AFP - Hillary Clinton's virulent attacks on Barack Obama during their primary epic returned to haunt the Democrats Thursday as Republican White House hopeful John McCain stepped up an advertising blitz.

Reuters - Millionaire socialite Paris Hilton has jumped into the U.S. election campaign, calling Republican candidate John McCain a "wrinkly white-haired guy" and offering her own energy policy.

Reuters - Republican presidential candidate John McCain poured scorn on his Democratic rival Barack Obama on Thursday for failing to match his commitment to drilling off U.S. coasts for oil and natural gas.

Politico - One of the Democratic Party's leading electoral street fighters, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, said that Barack Obama should respond to John McCain's personal attacks with an equally personal slap.

AFP - Americans are deeply dissatisfied with their health care choices and want the 2008 presidential candidates to put health care reform high on their campaign agenda, according to a poll released Thursday.

AP - A man who authorities said was keeping weapons and military-style gear in his hotel room and car appeared in court Thursday on charges he threatened to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

AFP - Iran promised in a letter Tuesday to respond to an offer from six world powers related to Tehran's nuclear programme after receiving some clarifications about the proposals, an EU source said Tuesday.

AP - President Bush's Olympic odyssey started with a game of political one-upmanship Thursday, as his blunt critique of the host country prompted China to warn the U.S. president to stop meddling in its business.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Beijing on Thursday to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Reuters - Just hours before flying to Beijing for the Olympics on Thursday, U.S. President George W. Bush used some of his bluntest language yet in publicly pressing China to improve its human rights record.

AP - China has responded to President Bush's speech criticizing Beijing for repression, saying no one should interfere in other countries' internal affairs.

AP - An anti-President Bush museum rolled into his adopted hometown but found few willing to enter the biodiesel bus devoted to casting his legacy as a failure.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush plans to voice deep concerns about human rights in China in a speech on Thursday, hours before he arrives in Beijing for the opening of the Olympic Games.

AP - Text of the remarks President Bush plans to deliver in Bangkok on Thursday, as released in advance by the White House:

AP - U.S. Secret Service agents have knocked on the door of a hole-in-the-wall shop run by two turbaned Sikhs to take delivery of a special package for President Bush — five Egyptian cotton shirts in blue and white.

Reuters - President George W. Bush said on Wednesday that North Korea remained -- for now -- part of what he once branded an "axis of evil," but hoped the list would some day be empty.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday said strong verification of North Korea's nuclear weapons program was necessary to address concerns about it.

AFP - The Pentagon is mounting a 2.2 billion dollar effort to dramatically expand surveillance of Iraq and Afghanistan by manned and unmanned spy planes, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

AP - As of Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008, at least 496 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Saturday at 10 a.m. EDT.

AFP - The Pentagon is stepping up the use of offensive spy versus spy operations to thwart espionage by foreign intelligence agencies or terrorist groups, senior defense officials said Tuesday.

AP - A loophole in a sweeping tobacco regulation bill would give the industry a 21-month window to introduce some new products without first getting federal approval.