Obama on GOP: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun’  —  Barack Obama is warning supporters that the general election fight between him and John McCain may get ugly, but the Illinois senator is vowing not to back down.  —  “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun …

Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol  —  Silicon Valley is experimenting with bacteria that have been genetically altered to provide ‘renewable petroleum’  —  “Ten years ago I could never have imagined I'd be doing this,” says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive …

Lost city of ... Iowa  —  The streets in Cedar Rapids, Iowa - all 400 blocks of them - were filled with floodwaters and other strange sights: floating Dumpsters and utility poles and sandbags piled in vain.  —  The cresting Cedar River wreaked widespread havoc Friday on Iowa's second-largest city …

Get Osama Bin Laden before I leave office, orders George W Bush  —  President George W Bush has enlisted British special forces in a final attempt to capture Osama Bin Laden before he leaves the White House.  —  Defence and intelligence sources in Washington and London confirmed that a renewed hunt …

McCain doesn't pick up on Michelle Obama joke  —  So a man finally got a question into McCain and he had a very different sort of question.  —  The questioner noted that he had been educated at Princeton and Harvard and made more than $300,000 a year.  —  “How can I be proud of my country?” he asked.

Angry Clinton Women ♥ McCain?  —  TEN years ago John McCain had to apologize for regaling a Republican audience with a crude sexual joke about Hillary and Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno.  Last year he had to explain why he didn't so much as flinch when a supporter asked him on camera, “How do we beat the bitch?”

Many historians see little chance for McCain  —  One week into the general election, the polls show a dead heat.  But many presidential scholars doubt that John McCain stands much of a chance, if any.  —  Historians belonging to both parties offered a litany of historical comparisons that give little hope to the Republican.

Powerful Iraqi Cleric Recalibrates Strategy  —  The movement of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said Saturday that it would not take part in provincial elections this year, one day after it formed a new paramilitary group to fight U.S. troops.  —  The back-to-back moves suggested …

Bush warns Brown over plan to cut Iraq force  —  President tells UK to avoid rushing into troop withdrawals  —  George Bush flies into London today with a warning for Gordon Brown not to announce a timetable for a British pull-out from Iraq, and expressing deep scepticism …

In '74 Thesis, the Seeds of McCain's War Views  —  About a year after his release from a North Vietnamese prison camp, Cmdr.  John S. McCain III sat down to address one of the most vexing questions confronting his fellow prisoners: Why did some choose to collaborate with the North Vietnamese?

In Illinois, Clues to Obama's Electability  —  CHESTER, Ill. — The rookie state senator from Chicago had driven 340 miles to explore southern Illinois, but Barb Brown could muster only 20 Democrats in this small town on the Mississippi River to have breakfast with him.

Labour MP backs Davis's challenge  —  Opponents of 42-day detention risk losing whip  —  Gordon Brown faced a fresh challenge to his authority last night after a leading Labour rebel promised to campaign for David Davis in the renegade Tory's forthcoming by-election.

Getting Paid  —  Saudi Arabia has a plan to boost their oil production in the near future.  According to the NYT's Jad Mouawad that “was seen as a sign that the Saudis are becoming increasingly nervous about both the political and economic effect of high oil prices.”