PRISTINA, Kosovo The United States will continue its troop presence in Kosovo until at least late next year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said just before he arrived here Tuesday, reaffirming U.S. support for the newly declared nation in the face of stern opposition from Russia.

WASHINGTON A small group of Chinese muslims being held by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay want a federal judge to order their release into the United States.

WASHINGTON GOP presidential nominee John McCain has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair.

SANTA FE, N.M. A glitch that would have kept votes from being counted in the presidential and other top-of-the-ticket races was discovered during a pre-election check of a voting machine in Santa Fe County, officials said.

WASHINGTON The government is weighing a bold plan to buy massive amounts of unsecured short-term debts in a dramatic effort to break through a credit clog that is imperiling the economy.

SAN FRANCISCO Supporters and opponents of a ballot initiative that would outlaw same-sex marriage in California have poured $41.2 million into the race, more than the combined total spent in the 24 states where similar measures have gone before voters since 2004.

HELENA, Mont. Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and his Republican challenger have both called for increased energy development, lower taxes and a more open state government.

Sarah Palin's promise for a new era of government openness as the reform governor of Alaska started to crack even before Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign built a wall of protectiveness around her.

BOSTON For years, Massachusetts was known derisively as "Taxachusetts." But voters could help shed that label in November by completely eliminating the state's income tax in a single stroke.

WASHINGTON A National Transportation Safety Board investigative hearing on a fatal January bus crash in Texas will focus on commercial passenger vehicles that do not comply with federal safety standards.

COLUMBUS, Ohio It's one of Republican presidential candidate John McCain's most surefire applause lines, a vow to veto pork barrel spending like the road and bridge projects that lawmakers hold dear.

WASHINGTON Tuesday night's presidential debate offers Republican John McCain one of his last best chances to stop Democrat Barack Obama's recent surge in the race and turn it in his favor.

WASHINGTON The government's rescue of American International Group Inc. last month is getting a critical eye from lawmakers examining the chain of events that forced a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry.

WASHINGTON Nearly two decades later, John McCain is still haunted by his role in the Keating Five scandal.

ASHLAND, Va. Barnstorming Virginia to fire up Democrats for Barack Obama's presidential bid is something Terry McAuliffe says comes naturally for him.

WASHINGTON Even when he thought no one was listening but his old friend Bill Allen, Sen. Ted Stevens repeatedly proclaimed his innocence in an Alaskan corruption investigation in between lectures on staying healthy and keeping out of prison on obstruction of justice charges.

IN THE HEADLINES

ASHEVILLE, N.C. The two men who supposedly exemplified a different kind of politics are engaged in an increasingly bitter campaign as character attacks are emerging to compete with issues like the troubled economy.

WASHINGTON The now-bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers arranged millions in bonuses for fired executives as it pleaded for a federal lifeline, lawmakers learned Monday, as Congress began investigating what went so wrong on Wall Street to prompt a $700 billion government bailout.

RICHMOND, Va. The wife of Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel plans to endorse Democrat Barack Obama.

COLUMBUS, Ohio A weeklong period in which Ohioans could register to vote and immediately cast a ballot ended Monday with turnout that didn't quite match the expectations of election officials - or the campaign predictions that preceded it.

WASHINGTON The government's $700 billion rescue, aimed at rebuilding economic confidence, appeared to sound a global alarm instead on Monday, triggering a fearful international sell-off as the U.S. began work on a plan that investors feared would be too little and too late to stave off a worldwide recession.

PHOENIX An anti-abortion group has won a long legal fight to force Arizona to issue "choose life" license plates, and the proposed new plates could be available to the group's members within several months.

WASHINGTON Running short on time, John McCain has the most riding on the second presidential debate, though Barack Obama will be out of his scripted comfort zone in the town hall-style confrontation. It could be ugly if Monday's tussling is any indication.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. As a state senator, Democrat Barack Obama awarded $75,000 in government grants to a Chicago social service organization led by a rabbi who is also his wife's cousin, records show.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin says she's an open book regarding an abuse-of-power investigation. Apparently her staff doesn't feel the same way.

WASHINGTON The Republican National Committee filed a complaint Monday alleging that Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign has received illegal contributions from foreigners and donations that exceed federal limits.

WASHINGTON In October 2006, a longtime loyalist of Sen. Ted Stevens called him up with a big problem: The FBI, he said, was breathing down his neck about a makeover of the senator's mountain cabin.

WASHINGTON Republican John McCain on Monday raised the specter of illegal foreign contributions to rival Democrat Barack Obama by suggesting that a bulk purchase of T-shirts was sinister.

CLEARWATER, Fla. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin expanded her attack on Democrat Barack Obama's character Monday to include his relationship with an incendiary former pastor as well as his ties to 1960s-era radical Bill Ayers.

WASHINGTON An estimated 17,000 deceased U.S. prisoners of war could be awarded Purple Hearts under a new Pentagon policy announced Monday.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Behind in the polls, Republican John McCain on Monday called Democratic rival Barack Obama a liar as he leveled his harshest criticism yet, and said the campaign boils down to one basic question: Who is Obama really?

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday endorsed efforts to reach out to members of the Taliban or other militants in Afghanistan who may be considered reconcilable, much like what has happened in Iraq.

WASHINGTON Environmental groups and the Bush administration reached a partial court settlement on Monday that requires the Department of Interior to designate critical habitat for polar bears by June 30, 2010.

Throw the flag against: The McCain-Palin campaign.

WASHINGTON The U.S. financial crisis spread around the world like a wildfire on Monday as stock prices plunged here and abroad amid eroding confidence in the world's banking system.

WASHINGTON In secretly recorded telephone conversations played in court Monday, an occasionally profane Sen. Ted Stevens denied wrongdoing and cursed at the federal agents who were raiding homes and offices in Alaska as part of a sweeping corruption probe.

CINCINNATI As Wall Street reeled and global markets plunged, President Bush on Monday said the U.S. economy is going to be "just fine" in the long run. But he cautioned that the massive rescue plan will take time to work.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. Democrat Barack Obama sought to keep the focus on the economy Monday as he took a break from preparing for Tuesday's debate with Republican John McCain.

WASHINGTON China has abruptly canceled a series of military and diplomatic contacts with the United States to protest a planned $6.5 billion package of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, American officials told The Associated Press on Monday.

THE POLL: CNN-Opinion Research Corp., national presidential race among likely voters

WASHINGTON A North Korean defector gave a piano recital Monday at the State Department, telling assembled diplomats and officials that the ability to freely listen to music from other countries can influence repressed North Koreans' view of the world.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Who does America want at the helm in a time of crisis, an erratic gambler or a dangerous radical?

WASHINGTON A North Korean defector gave a piano recital Monday at the State Department, telling assembled diplomats and officials that the ability to freely listen to music from other countries can influence repressed North Koreans' view of the world.

WASHINGTON Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama launched a new round of negative attacks on each other Monday, with McCain trying to shift focus away from the economic crisis and Obama testing how hard to hit McCain on the issue.

WASHINGTON The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal for a new trial for death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted in the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia police officer.

WASHINGTON A top former CIA official said the intelligence agency had more than 100 Afghans acting as spies before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but told a magazine in a rare interview that nothing could have averted the attacks.

SAO PAULO, Brazil Maybe they should have tried "John McCain."

WASHINGTON Both presidential candidates are promising federal dollars to help local governments fight crime and a review panel to examine the nation's crime-fighting priorities. Democrat Barack Obama would increase federal spending on programs popular with local law enforcement to put more cops on the beat and hire additional officers.

WASHINGTON A federal appeals court on Monday rejected House Democrats' demands to force two of President Bush's top aides to cooperate with an investigation about the firings of nine federal prosecutors in 2006.