Reuters - The Kremlin said its forces would pull back from Georgia's heartland by Friday to positions set out under a French-brokered peace plan, amid mounting Western criticism about the slowness of the troop withdrawal.

AP - A Puerto Rican man has been granted his wish to remain standing — even in death. A funeral home used a special embalming treatment to keep the corpse of 24-year-old Angel Pantoja Medina standing upright for his three-day wake.

AP - A space-age version of the rusty springs under old pickup trucks will help NASA fix the most pressing technical problem with its high-tech new rocket to send astronauts back to the moon.

Politico - Count Ralph Nader as unimpressed by the crop of supposed finalists to be Barack Obama’s running mate.

AP - When Barack Obama shows up Saturday in Springfield, Ill., on his way to the Democratic Convention, he'll have his new running mate grinning beside him. But that man or woman is still unknown, even as speculation rises to a fever pitch.

AP - Apple Inc. has released an iPhone software update it says improves communication between the smart phone and wireless networks.

AP - Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice — handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it — was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit.