AFP - With the Obama-inspired slogan 'Yes Weekend' and a pledge to make a bunny the national symbol, a mock candidate for German chancellor has injected some much-needed humour into a drab election campaign.

AP - Forty years after Woodstock, some baby boomers haven't let go of one part of the 1960s: getting high on illicit drugs.

AFP - Heavy rains flooded nearly 2,000 makeshift shelters housing Sri Lankan Tamil war refugees detained by the government, the United Nations said Tuesday, raising concerns about their health.

Reuters - Irish opponents of the European Union's Lisbon reform treaty on Tuesday launched their campaign ahead of October's referendum with a warning the charter would leave workers worse off and more exposed to spending cuts.

Time.com - Protesters opposing health-care reform are arming themselves with more than facts when President Obama comes to town. That may be legal, but it makes the job of protecting the President a lot harder

Bloomberg - Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended a military bases accord with Colombia as important cooperation in fighting drug trafficking, brushing aside criticism from Venezuela.

Politico - His former partners at a Chicago-based firm are beneficiaries of huge ad buys by W.H. allies in health reform fight.

AFP - US ambitions for manned space exploration have hit a major hurdle in the wake of severe budget constraints, according to preliminary findings of a panel appointed by President Barack Obama.

Politico - The PBS newswoman is featured on quiz show, but may have to do some legwork to live up to such high billing.

AP - Health officials have told governments they can keep Tamiflu for longer to help fight the swine flu pandemic.

AP - Swiss banking giant UBS AG agreed Wednesday to turn over to the IRS the details of 4,450 accounts suspected of holding undeclared assets by American customers, ending an intense trans-Atlantic legal fight.

Politico - Obama now realizes he probably will have to pass health reform with few to no GOP votes.

AFP - China has failed to show leadership in solving the political stalemate in Myanmar, a United States senator who made a landmark visit to the military-ruled country said in Vietnam Wednesday.

AP - A terminally ill Libyan man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie airline bombing moved closer to being allowed to die outside of his Scottish prison cell when a court agreed Tuesday he could drop an appeal against his conviction.

Time.com - The Obama political team has concluded that cost inflation is not the way to sell health-care reform. But reform won't be worth selling if it doesn't include real cost restraints

AP - A federal study of mercury contamination has found the toxic substance in every fish tested at nearly 300 streams across the country, a finding that underscores how widespread mercury pollution has become.

AP - Swiss banking giant UBS AG agreed Wednesday to turn over to the IRS the details of 4,450 accounts suspected of holding undeclared assets by American customers, piercing Switzerland's long-standing tradition of banking secrecy.

AP - President Barack Obama will appear in a back-to-school television special with singer Kelly Clarkson and basketball star LeBron James next month.

Politico - They probe 52 largest insurance companies for lavish spending, demanding reams of compensation data.

AP - Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood assured car dealers Wednesday that they will be reimbursed for the popular Cash for Clunkers program, responding to complaints over a backlog of rebate payments.

AP - How far is President Barack Obama willing to go for a deal on overhauling the health care system?

AP - The government says the number of women arrested for drunken driving has increased nearly 30 percent during the past decade, representing a dangerous trend for Americans on the nation's roads.

AP - The deputy head of the Pakistani Taliban says he has temporarily taken over leadership of the group.

Bloomberg - Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Taliban guerrillas attacked a bank in the Afghan capital and a rocket was fired into a district near Kabul’s center on the eve of a presidential election that a resurgent Taliban has threatened to disrupt.

AP - The U.S. Army on Wednesday won a court challenge to its plan to incinerate chemical weapons at storage sites around the country, over objections from a watchdog group that says the practice releases toxic pollution.

Politico - The percentage of Americans who hold a favorable view of the Dem Party has slipped below 50 percent.

Politico - A list of the 52 health-insurance firms that received letters from the House Energy and Commerce Committee

AP - A federal study of mercury contamination released Wednesday found the toxic substance in every fish tested at nearly 300 streams across the country, a finding that underscores how widespread mercury pollution has become.

AP - The White House is condemning the latest series of deadly attacks in Iraq.

AP - A senior U.S. diplomat is leaving for Asia to talk with officials about ways to implement tough United Nations sanctions meant to derail North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

AP - The Scottish government says a decision has been reached in the case of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi and will be announced Thursday.

AP - A 'weak to moderate' El Nino weather system has developed in the tropical Pacific Ocean and could create unusual weather patterns around the world through March, a U.N. agency said Wednesday.

CQPolitics.com - One of the biggest fundraising forces of the 2008 election has launched a massive support effort for 65 lawmakers who have pledged not to vote for a health care overhaul bill without a public option.

AP - The U.S. pulled back the veil on Switzerland's famed tradition of banking secrecy Wednesday, winning an agreement for banking giant UBS AG to disclose the names of 4,450 American clients suspected of hiding assets in Swiss accounts.

AP - As public pitchman, President Barack Obama accuses special interests of fighting to block his health care overhaul. 'They run their ads. And let's face it, they scare people,' he told one weekend audience.

Politico - From launching '60 Minutes' to pioneering 30-minute newscasts, he virtually designed how Americans get news.

AP - Thursday's election in Afghanistan won't end the eight-year fight against the Taliban, bring U.S. troops home sooner or ensure a competent democratic government.

AP - Now it's the Palestinians' turn.

AP - The number of women arrested for drunken driving has jumped nearly 30 percent in the past decade, a dangerous trend that was all too evident when a wrong-way crash involving a woman in New York killed eight people.

AP - The youngest member of an alleged radical Islamic terrorist cell whose plot to attack U.S. targets in Germany was foiled by authorities testified Wednesday he would not repeat his actions.

AP - Militants remain a strong challenge to Russian authorities in the North Caucasus, the president said Wednesday — reversing months of Kremlin assurances that stability was returning to the restive southern region.

CQPolitics.com - He ran for president last year as a 'maverick' Republican and had a high-profile meeting with Barack Obama after the election, but Arizona Sen. John McCain has been a staunch Republican vote since failing to win the White House.

AP - The judgment is harsh in a new poll that finds Americans worried about the government taking over health insurance, cutting off treatment to the elderly and giving coverage to illegal immigrants. Harsh, but not based on facts.

AP - French citizens and tourists are diving into fountains and taking cold showers to try to cope with a heat wave hitting France during its traditional vacation season.

AP - Police in Italy say they have arrested two people for dumping raw cesspool sewage into the waters of Capri's Blue Grotto.

Reuters - A Florida man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to threatening to kill President Barack Obama in an e-mail that said 'the blood of Obama will run down the streets' of the U.S. capital, a federal prosecutor said.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Immigration officials released a Voice of America journalist Wednesday after deciding he could apply to remain in the U.S. because of a 'credible fear' of being tortured or persecuted in his native Pakistan, his attorney said.

CQPolitics.com - The number of Americans with a favorable view of the Democratic Party has dipped below 50 percent for the first time since President Obama's inauguration, according to a new poll released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

AP - An air traffic controller was joking on the phone about barbecuing a dead cat minutes before a small plane collided with a tour helicopter over the Hudson River, transcripts obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press show.

Politico - With the party split over the public option, Democrats keenly lack his leadership on health care.

AP - The White House plans to announce the federal deficit is about $262 billion less than officials predicted earlier this year, in part because the administration has provided less aid than expected to bail out banks.

AP - Now it's the Palestinians' turn. With Israel having issued no new housing settlement contracts for months, President Barack Obama is beginning to make headway in his Mideast peace strategy.

Politico - Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Wednesday that he loves watching the White House and Democrats in Congress struggle to control the health care debate.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who can turn left about as well as anyone, was honored by President Barack Obama on Wednesday in a ceremony that praised NASCAR as a 'uniquely American sport' filled with patriotic, dedicated drivers.

Bloomberg - Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration is considering elevating Ron Bloom, head of the government’s auto task force, to a job that would set U.S. manufacturing policy more broadly, people familiar with the matter said.

Politico - Simon Says political television programming began in 1948 -- not coincidentally, an election year.

AP - Now it's the Palestinians' turn. With Israel having issued no new housing settlement contracts for months, President Barack Obama is beginning to make headway in his Mideast peace strategy.

AP - The White House is hopeful about improved relations with North Korea after a delegation from the communist country met in the U.S. with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

AFP - President Barack Obama said, as the world's richest nation, had a moral duty to offer health care to everyone, in a fresh bid to bolster support for his top domestic priority.

Bloomberg - Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- House Democrats asked the nation’s biggest health insurers to provide details on executive pay, spending on entertainment, and other financial records, a move that an industry spokesman denounced as an intimidation tactic.