AP - U.S. authorities presented independent Cuban activists and independent journalists with the State Department's annual human rights report Wednesday, saying the situation has not changed since Fidel Castro stepped aside seven months ago.

AP - For all the policy blueprints churned out by presidential campaigns, there is this indisputable fact: People care less about issues than they do about a candidate's character.

AP - Republicans spent their way into losing control of Congress, presidential candidate John McCain says.

AP - At first, legislation to raise the minimum wage loomed as a clean, quick triumph for Democrats eager to celebrate their new majority in Congress. Two months later, it stands as an early lesson in the limits of their power.

AP - While President Bush did the talking, the first lady did the walking. Laura Bush played tourist Saturday on a foot tour of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the ruins of a 17th century Portuguese fort with a view of the broad River Plate and Argentina on the opposite bank.

AP - President Bush on Saturday pledged an end to FBI lapses that led to illegal prying into people's lives.

AP - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday said the U.S. will have to abandon it's efforts in Iraq, regardless of the costs, if serious reforms are not made by the Iraqi government.

AP - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday said the U.S. will have to withdraw its troops from Iraq, regardless of the costs, if serious reforms are not made by the Iraqi government.

AP - The chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party was quoted Saturday as saying he urged presidential adviser Karl Rove and one of his assistants to fire the state's U.S. attorney. He said later, however, the decision had already been made by the time he talked to Rove.