LUANDA, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - Angola's main opposition on Wednesday received backing from a party seen as popular among young voters ahead of the country's first elections since the end of a 27-year civil war.

SAN FRANCISCO, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - MySpace announced Wednesday it is launching a website devoted to the US presidential debates.

MyDebates.org was created in partnership with the Commission on Presidential Debates and will go live in the days leading up to the first US presidential debate on September 26.

WASHINGTON, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - The Republicans are in the mire over the economy but by staging an election-year clamor for offshore oil drilling, John McCain's party is taking the fight to a suddenly defensive Barack Obama.

DHAKA, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - Bangladesh's army-backed government said Tuesday it had taken a key step towards restoring democracy later this year by holding local elections that observers hailed as a success.

Voter turnout in Monday's polls was high with no reports of the violence that marred previous elections in the South Asian nation, the Election Commission said.

WASHINGTON, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama Tuesday charged that oil giants were betting that only his Republican rival John McCain would let them keep on raking in record profits.

ARBIL, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - The president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region Massud Barzani has sharply criticised a provincial election law as a 'conspiracy', deepening a political rift over the oil-rich Kirkuk province.

LUANDA, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos promised polls every four years as the first election campaign since the end of a 27-year civil war officially began Tuesday.

But opposition parties raised concerns they could not access the financing that the government has promised them for campaigning.

DHAKA, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - Bangladesh's army-backed government said Tuesday it had taken a key step towards restoring democracy in the country by the end of this year by holding local elections that observers hailed as a success.

WASHINGTON, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - Barack Obama branded John McCain a stooge of profit-soaked US oil giants, as the White House rivals dueled on high gasoline prices and energy policy exactly three months from election day.

LUANDA, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos on Monday called on Angolans to show 'respect and tolerance' in the lead up to September elections, the country's first since the end of a 27-year civil war.