American News world

ST. PAUL - Senator John McCain, returning to the themes that saved his once flailing presidential quest, last night accepted the Republican nomination with a promise to shake up Washington with a bipartisan strategy and patriotic flair, warning political stalwarts that "change is coming."

ST. PAUL - After thanking the Republican Party for a "privilege given few Americans - the privilege of accepting our party’s nomination," John McCain proceeded to distance himself from it, serving notice that he plans to run for president as the same independent-minded maverick who often dogged President Bush and the old GOP-led Congress.

A record-setting $400 million gift announced yesterday will provide financial permanence for the Broad Institute, a Cambridge genomics research center that in just four years has become a worldwide leader in the effort to unravel the genetic basis of diseases.

Amherst College’s freshman orientation is an eight-day extravaganza, an array of activities from mountain hikes and whitewater rafting to cooking and ballroom dancing. Tufts University’s six-day calendar of events runs 35 pages, a smorgasbord of coffee klatches, carnivals, and scavenger hunts. Northeastern University’s "Welcome Week," which spans 11 days, features tours of Fenway Park, rock concerts, and shopping trips to …

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 - Tropical storm watches or warnings were posted Friday from Georgia to New Jersey, and forecasters said Hanna could still become a hurricane before its expected arrival on U.S. shores.

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 - 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 - Pakistan’s law minister says three Supreme Court judges ousted by ex-president Pervez Musharraf have returned to the bench, but not the deposed chief justice.

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.

ST. PAUL - After suspending political activities for a day in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav, Republicans led by President Bush last night inaugurated their truncated national convention by celebrating nominee John McCain’s record of military service and political independence.

WASILLA, Alaska - Sharing coffee and doughnuts at a plastic table in the back of Carr’s Quality Center supermarket, Lou Hoffman and Dave Chatterton savored the image of their former mayor, Sarah Palin, mixing it up at a Beltway soiree.