Russia

(Sarah Palin & Family)

” ‘Kay, girls. Now–Smile!”

NEW YORK (AP)—Eight American activists who were jailed by Chinese authorities during the Olympic games for participating in protests said Monday they were interrogated for hours, deprived of sleep and accused of having ties to the U.S. government.

The group was sent home late Sunday during the closing ceremony. Some were activists and artists who demonstrated against China’s occupation of Tibet; others were bloggers photographing those events. (more…)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Holy politicking, Batman.

U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have unmasked their favorite pop culture icons, including superheroes, with McCain favoring Batman and Obama choosing Spider-Man and Batman.

In interviews with Entertainment Weekly magazine posted on its Web site on Thursday, McCain, 71, and Obama, 47, also gave their picks for best on-screen president, top singers and most-liked television shows. (more…)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It’s a year of superheroes in Hollywood, with the big-budget epics of Batman, Iron Man and the Hulk, but a big-budget production out of Washington, D.C., is carving a niche in the animation trend.

Presumptive nominees John McCain and Barack Obama will star this fall in their own comic books put out by IDW Publishing, a San Diego-based publisher better known for telling the stories of robots (”The Transformers”) and vampires (”30 Days of Night”). (more…)

BOSTON - This could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt’s girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.

Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found some remarkable family connections for the three presidential candidates — Democratic rivals Obama and Clinton, and Republican John McCain. (more…)

Tensions are running high in Democratic circles between the supporters of senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — and nowhere is that more evident than on the internet.

Some of the more explosive blog posts making the rounds today concern a charge from a couple of diarists on the Daily Kos that the Clinton campaign deliberately darkened Obama’s skin color in a recent television ad. (more…)

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama musically argue it out over who is the better candidate in this song satirizing “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better.”

I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m starting to be concerned about Barack Obama with people who are fainting at his speeches. I don’t know what kind of cult this is turning into, (more…)

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said Thursday the question of whether he can run for president, despite being born in the Panama Canal Zone,

(more…)