His enemies had mocked him as a celebrity, a self-styled messiah, a would-be emperor, puffed up on his own rhetoric and grandiosity. But by the time Barack Obama had completed his speech to an ecstatic crowd of 84,000 in Denver's huge Invesco Field football stadium, he looked like something else entirely: a plausible President of the United States.
Cricket, a game most Italians find baffling, is becoming one of the country's fastest-growing sports thanks to a wave of immigration from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
BENGHAZI, Libya - Libya and Italy signed an accord on Saturday under which Italy will pay billions of dollars in compensation and investments for colonial misdeeds during its decades-long rule of the North African country.
NEW ORLEANS - Hundreds of people lined up outside a bus and train terminal early on Saturday to get out of New Orleans as Hurricane Gustav took aim at the Louisiana coast, reviving traumatic memories of Hurricane Katrina.
MILAN - Layoffs at Alitalia should be less than 5,000, Italy's labour minister Maurizio Sacconi told la Repubblica newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
STOCKHOLM - Alcoholism among women in Sweden rose by 50 percent between 2003 and 2007 as beer, wine and spirits have become more accessible in the country long known for its restrictive alcohol policy, a report on Saturday said.
WASHINGTON - Two commercial aircraft, one Russian and the other American, were one minute away from a mid-air, head-on collision near Puerto Rico, but maneuvered in time to avert catastrophe, a US official said Friday.
LONDON - French first lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy will jam live with Paul McCartney and Metallica on British television next month in support of her new album.
BANGKOK - Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej vowed on Saturday not to quit in the face of intensifying protests aimed at toppling his seven-month-old government.
GORI, Georgia - Russian troops deep inside Georgian territory are stopping thousands of refugees from returning to their homes, a Georgian official said on Saturday.
