Rogers Cadenhead: Start looking into Sarah Palin's life, as thousands of reporters and activists are now doing, and there's a strong undercurrent of weird. Some of it is charming, Northern Exposure stuff -- her parents were out caribou hunting when news broke of her selection as running mate -- but a lot of it makes you wonder how well anybody in the GOP vetted her.

The Cincinnati Bengals receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson has legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco in Broward County, Fla.

China's authorities have blocked access to all eight million or so songs in the iTunes music store, apparently because one album -- Songs for Tibet -- doesn't sit well with them.

Both US presidential hopeful Barack Obama and running mate Joseph Biden are descended from shoemakers who emigrated from Ireland within five weeks of each other, a researcher said Friday.

A jury ruled Ohio mother China Arnold guilty of aggravated murder for killing her daughter in a microwave over, apparently after a fight with her boyfriend. She could be sentenced to the death penalty.

Police with bullhorns plan to go through New Orleans telling people there will be no shelter of last resort and the doors to the Superdome will be locked. Those who stay will be on their own.

In an interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace that will air Sunday morning, Sen. John McCain indicated that the GOP convention could be suspended because of Hurricane Gustav. "It wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster," McCain told Wallace.

Hurricane Gustav neared Cuba's western tip Saturday, packing winds close to 120 mph. The storm could reach the U.S. Gulf coast late Monday or Tuesday, as a Category 3 or strengthen to a Category 4, the National Hurricane Center said. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city beginning 8 a.m. Sunday but urged residents to consider escaping "the mother of all storms" before then. "You need to be scared. You need to be concerned, and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century."

A ferociously powerful Hurricane Gustav slammed into western Cuba with 150-mile-per-hour winds on Saturday, smashing buildings and flattening fields. One station measured a gust of 204 mph.

A federal appeals court has sided with the Bush administration and ruled that the federal government can order a small meat supplier, Creekstone Farms, cannot test its beef for mad cow disease. The company sought the testing at the request of Japan, where it exports its beef.

Two airliners north of Puerto Rico were one minute from colliding at 33,000 feet one of the planes turned away this week, the National Transportation Safety Board announced.

Thousands of Indian Christians are hiding in forests after a wave of religious attacks by Hindu fundamentalists forced them from their homes. Up to 20 people were reported dead.

Cuban punk rocker Gorki Aguila, an outspoken critic of Fidel Castro and the Communist government, is going to stand trial for "social dangerousness" and faces up to four years in prison.

The Chicago Tribune and NBC reports that John McCain has chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.

Republican officials said yesterday that they may delay the start of the GOP convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which is on track to hit the Gulf Coast and potentially New Orleans as a full-force hurricane early next week.

John McCain's 72nd birthday is today, an event that Democrats are celebrating with "More of the Same" birthday parties in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Actor David Duchovny, who plays a sex-obsessed character on the series Californication, has entered a rehabilitation facility for sex addiction, his publicist confirms.

Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention was seen by more than 38 million people, an audience larger than that for the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, final American Idol or this year's Academy Awards.

Former Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney ripped into the Bush administration upon his release from prison, claiming his prosecution was political. "I think they've taken bloodsport to a new level in this administration," he told radio host Thom Hartmann.

A maid tortured and beheaded after being accused of causing a girl to spit pins and convulse has been exonerated, 226 years after she became the last person executed as a witch in Europe.