US Republican presidential candidate John McCain has chosen a former Miss Alaska runner-up as his vice-presidential running mate.Sarah Heath Palin, 44, made history on December 4, 2006, when she took office as the first woman governor of the state, and its youngest.

Indian authorities are struggling to provide aid to millions of displaced villagers in the eastern Indian state of Bihar because of heavy rain and damaged roads.The Kosi river burst a dam in neighbouring Nepal earlier this month, deluging Bihar and drowning village after village in its path as authorities failed to evacuate millions in time.

Over 40 people have been wounded after a blast hit a busy commercial area in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo.Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said: "There had been an explosion. It was a bomb placed close to an apple vendor in Pettah."

Barack Obama has launched a sharp assault on presidential rival John McCain and promised to reverse the economic failures of the past eight years and restore America's global reputation.The first black presidential nominee of a major US party linked Arizona's Republican senator directly to President George W Bush and said the party's failed policies are responsible for a faltering US economy and a decline in US standing in the world.