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• "Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party presidential nomination on Thursday, declaring that the 'American promise has been threatened' by eight years under President Bush and that John McCain represented a continuation of policies that undermined the nation's economy and imperiled its standing around the world," the New York Times reports.

• "The largest live audience in history for a presidential nominee's acceptance speech listened to the first African-American standard bearer of a major party stress the enduring promise of America and -- in a remarkable break from his tendency to stand above the fray -- confidently go on the attack, branding" McCain "as out of touch and far too in sync with the Bush administration," National Journal reports.

• "Fending off Republican attacks on his judgment, experience and ability to understand middle America, Obama insisted it was" McCain "who 'doesn't get it,'" the Los Angeles Times reports. "'For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy: Give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else,' Obama said."

• NationalJournal.com has a slideshow reviewing Obama's speech and the strategies behind it.

• Earlier at Invesco, "Al Gore told Democrats Thursday night that the 2008 election is close because defenders of the status quo 'are desperately afraid of the change Barack Obama represents,'" AP reports. "And the former vice president said he knows something about close elections. He does because he lost one, in overtime, in 2000, to President Bush. Mr. Gore said Bush's leadership has spelled calamity and Republican John McCain would bring more of the same."

• Obama "will use the 68-day sprint to the election finish line to unleash a hard-hitting campaign attack that casts" McCain "as a well-heeled, aging war hero who is out of touch with most Americans," the Washington Times reports.

• McCain "will hold a noontime rally with his running mate today in Dayton, Ohio, kicking off his 'Road to the Convention' tour in front of thousands of supporters at Wright State University," the Washington Post reports. "As the secret held, furious speculation about McCain's choice for a running mate centered yesterday on two conservative Republicans: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney."

• "The Republican Party may hold off on its national convention next week if Tropical Storm Gustav turns into a hurricane and strikes the Gulf Coast," a McCain spokesman said Thursday, MarketWatch reports. "Party officials presumably don't want to be holding what is normally a celebration at a time when Gulf Coast residents may be evacuating their homes for the second time in three years."

Nation: DHS, FEMA, Corps Prepare For Gustav

• "Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, in New Orleans to meet with Mayor C. Ray Nagin (D) and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), said that as of Thursday afternoon, most estimates projected that" Tropical Storm Gustav, "which is expected to strengthen into a hurricane, would strike between Texas and Florida early next week, 'with a real possibility of getting an impact in Louisiana,'" the Washington Post reports. "Authorities cautioned that the worst effects of a major hurricane would be felt as far as 150 miles to the east of landfall, because of the rotation of wind and waves."

• "The Federal Emergency Management Agency is rushing to prepare for what may be its first major test since Hurricane Katrina," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The agency has changed markedly since then, with new management, beefed-up procedures and a heightened sense of the nation's vulnerability to catastrophic natural disasters. But lawmakers and department investigators are warning that the agency's ability to marshal its forces quickly still is lagging."

• The Army Corps of Engineers' "disaster preparedness and response procedures in 2005 made up a general disaster plan that did not address the potential for, or the potential response to, a levee or floodwall breach. But that was then, and this is now, corps chiefs say today," the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. "'Every emergency is different,' corps Maj. Tim Kurgan said. But thanks to Katrina's lessons learned and an overhauled emergency disaster plan, Kurgan promises a more organized, more efficient response to emergencies."

• "Federal regulators on Thursday night directed retailers across the country to stop selling and to recall nearly 900,000 dangerous bassinets, one of the largest child product safety actions in years," the Chicago Tribune reports. "The move followed a day of confusion for consumers, retailers and even regulators who were unclear about which bassinets contained a design problem similar to one that resulted in the deaths of two babies."

• "The government said yesterday that the salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 1,440 people appears to be over, but its ultimate source may never be known, partly because of shortcomings in the nation's food safety system," AP reports. "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said they found strong evidence to implicate jalapeño and serrano peppers, and a farm in Mexico, in the largest outbreak of foodborne illness in a decade."

• "Three lawyers are refusing to testify at next week's proceedings by Michigan's governor that could lead to the ouster of Detroit's mayor, Kwame M. Kilpatrick," AP reports. "Mr. Kilpatrick's lawyer, Sharon McPhail, said the refusals could harm the mayor's ability to defend himself. She urged Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm to delay the proceedings, press the witnesses to testify or seek subpoena power to compel them to do so."

Russia: Putin Blames U.S. For Georgia Conflict

• "As Russia struggled to rally international support for its military action in Georgia, Vladimir V. Putin, the country's paramount leader, lashed out at the United States on Thursday, contending that the White House may have orchestrated the conflict to benefit one of the candidates in the American presidential election," the New York Times reports. "Mr. Putin did not specify which candidate he had in mind, but there was no doubt that he was referring to Senator John McCain."

• "The Bush administration, escalating its response to Russia's actions in Georgia, has placed under review talks with Moscow focused on missile defense and nuclear-weapons disarmament, according to U.S. officials," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports. "A delay would cast uncertainty over the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or Start, a successor to Cold War era arms-reduction agreements that expires at the end of 2009."

• "Russia claimed Thursday it won support from China and Central Asian states in its standoff with the West over the Georgia conflict," the Washington Times reports. "Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the 'united position' of a summit of Central Asian nations would 'serve as a serious signal to those who try to turn black into white.'"

• Russia also declared on Thursday that "19 unnamed U.S. poultry producers will be barred from exporting their products there, a move that would deprive them access to a key market," the Washington Post reports. Putin "told CNN that the unidentified American producers had ignored warnings from Russian inspectors who examined poultry companies last year. He said the move had nothing to do with tension over the recent war in Georgia and was purely economic."

Iraq: U.S. Arrests Top Iraqi Official

• "A senior official in Nouri al-Maliki's government was in custody Thursday suspected of ties to Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias and plotting a June bombing that killed 10 people, including four Americans, Iraqi authorities said," AP reports. "The arrest of Ali al-Lami -- which occurred Wednesday as he left a plane arriving from Lebanon -- reinforced suspicions about Tehran's influence within the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government and could open wider probes into Shi'ite networks, including suspected links to Lebanon's Hezbollah."

• "A former Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi detainees was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in a first-of-its-kind federal trial," AP reports. "The jury took six hours to find Jose Luis Nazario Jr. not guilty of charges that he killed or caused others to kill four unarmed detainees Nov. 9, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the fiercest fighting of the war."

• "Iraq's government is engaged in a bloody struggle against al-Qaeda, and its computers make a prime target for global terror networks that have added hacking to their arsenal," USA Today reports.

Afghanistan: U.S. Disputes Airstrike Death Toll

• "A car bomb apparently planted by Taliban insurgents blew up a police bus in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least eight people, security officials said," the New York Times reports. "The bombing followed a pattern of Taliban attacks against government security installations in retaliation for a fierce Pakistani military campaign, including airstrikes, in the tribal area of Bajaur."

• "A U.S. military review of an airstrike last week in western Afghanistan maintains that only five civilians were killed, Pentagon officials said yesterday," the Washington Post reports -- "a finding that starkly contradicts reports by the United Nations and Afghan officials that the civilian death toll from the bombing was at least 90."

World: Mexico Court Upholds Legalized Abortions

• "Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will either refuse to enter pleas or plead not guilty Friday at the U.N.'s Yugoslav war crimes tribunal to 11 charges including genocide and crimes against humanity, his legal advisers said," AP reports. "Karadzic wants to wait until prosecutors file a new indictment before entering a plea, lawyer Goran Petronijevic told media in Belgrade."

• "Mexico's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a year-old law in Mexico City legalizing abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy," the Los Angeles Times reports. "The ruling is likely to encourage similar legislative drives outside Mexico City, where abortion remains illegal except in certain cases, such as pregnancies resulting from rape or incest."

• In Thailand, "thousands of demonstrators -- some armed with golf clubs, batons and bamboo sticks -- defied a court order to end their occupation of the prime minister's office compound today, vowing to remain until the country's leaders resign," AP reports. "Dozens of members of the People's Alliance for Democracy clad in military fatigues wielded makeshift weapons as they stood guard around the perimeter of the compound, which the demonstrators have occupied since Tuesday."

• "Ten central government departments, including the powerful Ministry of Finance, 'misused or embezzled' more than $660 million last year, according to the latest report from China's top auditor," the New York Times reports.

• "The International Atomic Energy Agency says a plutonium leak at its laboratory" in Vienna "earlier this month did not contaminate the environment," AP reports. "The agency says independent analysis of soil, plant and water samples show that no radioactivity was released into the surrounding area during the Aug. 3 incident."

Economy: GDP Growth Estimate Revised Upward

• "The U.S. economy grew much faster than originally thought from April to June, but the pace is expected to slow over the rest of the year," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports. "Gross domestic product grew at a seasonally adjusted 3.3% annual rate during the second quarter, according to the Commerce Department, which originally put growth at a 1.9% pace."

• "Bank of China has cut its portfolio of securities issued or guaranteed by troubled US mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by a quarter since the end of June," the Financial Times reports. "The sale by China's fourth largest commercial bank, which reduced its holdings of so-called agency debt by $4.6bn, is a sign of nervousness among foreign buyers of Fannie and Freddie's bonds and guaranteed securities."

• "More Labor Day travelers will hop on trains and buses this holiday weekend to avoid high gas prices and hefty airfares, travel experts say," USA Today reports. "'We're anticipating holiday ridership to be about 10% higher this year' than last, says Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero."

• "Giant auto-parts maker Delphi Corp. is sliding deeper into trouble, raising doubts about its ability to survive as a stand-alone company," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Odds are increasing that the nation's largest auto-parts maker instead will be liquidated, with some U.S. plants being taken over by its former parent company, General Motors Corp., according to people involved in the bankruptcy process."

Commentary: About A Speech

• Editorial boards across the country weigh in on Obama's acceptance speech in Denver. Earlybird's Pundits & Editorials section has details.