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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Friday declared an emergency in Louisiana as Tropical Storm Gustav headed for the Gulf of Mexico on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's deadly strike on New Orleans.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Sarah Palin, Republican John McCain's surprise choice for vice president, has a distinctively Alaskan pedigree that served her well in an improbable rise from small town mayor to one of the most beloved governors in the state's history.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah turned over to the authorities on Friday one of its gunmen who shot at an army helicopter and killed its pilot, security sources said.

DENVER (Reuters) - Barack Obama launched a sharp assault on Republican presidential rival John McCain on Thursday with a promise to reverse the economic failures of the past eight years and restore America's global reputation.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanair had considered replacing a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 jet just an hour before 154 people were killed when it crashed last week, a government minister said on Friday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has 4,000 working nuclear centrifuges, an official said in remarks published on Friday, in line with a number verified by the U.N. atomic watchdog but lower than a figure cited by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia said on Friday it was cutting diplomatic ties with Russia over the Kremlin's recognition of two Georgian rebel regions as independent states.

DAYTON, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican John McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his surprise choice for running mate on Friday, adding a political unknown to the presidential ticket who could help him appeal to women voters.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A top Islamic Jihad leader said on Friday a rift between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas could trigger more violence if it is not resolved by January, the target date for a presidential poll.

VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States has told six nations its bid to lift a global ban on nuclear trade with India has stumbled over their objections and pressed them at a New Delhi meeting to give way, diplomats said on Friday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Rania is only 15-years old, but in the past week the softly spoken Iraqi girl has been drugged, strapped with explosives, arrested by men she nearly blew up and then shoved into a detention centre.

DENVER (Reuters) - As Barack Obama spoke on Thursday night to a packed football stadium in Denver, the audience of some 75,000 people alternated between reverent silence and a roaring approval that shook the stands.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - The sale, abduction and trafficking of children is rife in Nepal and the government should do more to encourage adoption by domestic families, a U.N. study released on Friday said.

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A United Nations court trying the architects of Rwanda's 1994 genocide on Friday reversed the genocide conviction and 25-year jail sentence of a former army lieutenant colonel, the court said.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The widower of assassinated former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto should withdraw as a candidate for president because of questions about his mental health, a rival candidate said on Friday.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for war crimes and genocide charges on Friday after he refused to plead.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, among the contenders to be Republican John McCain's vice presidential candidate, said he would not be with McCain in Ohio on Friday when he announces his running mate.

PATRAGHAT, India (Reuters) - A boat carrying dozens of flood victims overturned in eastern India, killing at least 20 people and raising to 85 the death toll while hunger and disease stalked the worst-ever floods in 50 years.

MUMBAI, India (Reuters) - Doctors treating the Dalai Lama say there is no cause for concern despite him being admitted to hospital in India, and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader will take part in a fast on Saturday, aides said.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet again with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.