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.

Reuters - The Polish prosecutor's office is investigating allegations that there was a CIA prison in Poland where al Qaeda suspects were questioned and guards might have used methods close to torture, the prime minister's top adviser said on Friday.

Reuters - Hurricane Ike with winds near 125 miles per hour will likely reach the Bahamas early next week and South Florida by mid-week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its 5 a.m. EDT report Friday.

AFP - John McCain vowed to fight for America as long as he draws breath, in a patriotic pledge to bring political change as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination.

Reuters - Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin kicked off a two-month battle for the White House on Friday with a promise that "change is coming," a theme co-opted from their Democratic rivals.

Reuters - Al Qaeda issued new threats against Denmark in an Internet video released on Friday, saying an attack on the Danish Embassy in Pakistan is just the start of its retaliation for perceived insults to the Prophet Mohammad.

AP - The flagship of the U.S. Navy's Mediterranean fleet anchored outside the key Georgian port of Poti on Friday, bringing in tons of humanitarian aid to a port still partially occupied by hundreds of Russian troops.

Reuters - U.S. 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 - The U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly shot up to 6.1 percent in August, the highest in nearly five years, as employers cut payrolls for an eighth straight month and a decline in labor markets accelerated.

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.

Reuters - The Iraqi government has asked for information about possibly buying 36 F-16 fighter aircraft built by Lockheed Martin Corp , the U.S. Defense Department said Friday.

AP - Beach vacationers in the Carolinas prepared to pack up and head inland Friday as Tropical Storm Hanna cruised steadily toward the coast, while others decided to ride out the fast-moving storm that threatens to become a small hurricane before crashing ashore overnight.

AFP - Angola is staging its first peacetime election but European Union observers said Friday that the organisation of the poll in Africa's new oil boom nation is a "disaster".

AP - Only hours after agreeing to resign and serve time in jail as part of plea deal, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick expressed regret for the scandal that has engulfed the city — and left the door open for a return to public life.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she's excited about a landmark trip she will make to Libya on Friday, becoming the highest-ranking American official to visit the North African country in more than a half-century.

AP - Broken and disgraced, lobbyist Jack Abramoff will spend four years in prison for his role in a corruption scandal that upended Washington politics and contributed to the Republicans' loss of Congress in 2006.

AP - Invigorated by back-to-back political conventions, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama grappled for the mantle of change Friday as the fall race for the presidency took off in states teeming with the independent voters they needed to win.

AP - After seeing what "An Inconvenient Truth" did for environmental awareness, Hollywood producer Laura Ziskin wanted to make a documentary about cancer, a disease she has fought since 2004.

AP - Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday reinstated three judges ousted by Pervez Musharraf, cementing political divisions in the country a day before it elects a new president.