EBOLA-US

WASHINGTON - The federal government is closing a gap in Ebola screening at airports Wednesday while states from New York to Texas to California work to get hospitals and nurses ready for another patient to turn up somewhere in the U.S. with the deadly disease. 

CUBA-EBOLA

HAVANA - Every few years Dr. Leonardo Fernandez flies off to a nation shaken by natural disaster, political turmoil or disease, as part of a strategy that puts doctors on the front lines of Cuba's foreign policy. Now the intensive care specialist is headed to the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic along with 90 other Cuban medical workers. 

UNITED STATES-NORTH KOREA

WASHINGTON - North Korea's reclusive government abruptly frees an American man, nearly six months after he was arrested on charges of leaving a Bible in a nightclub, but Pyongyang refuses to hand over two other U.S. citizens who are still being held. 

UNITED NATIONS-NORTH KOREA-TRYING CHARM

UNITED NATIONS - For an envoy of the North Korean government, which virtually bans the average citizen's contact with the outside world, Kim Ju Song looks breezily connected. A tablet computer is propped on his table in the United Nations' bustling delegates lounge. He hands out his card and suggests a "coffee meeting to exchange views." The young adviser to North Korea's foreign ministry is on an unusual mission that's almost certainly doomed to fail: Persuading the world that his country's dreadful human rights situation isn't so bad after all. Faced with the threat of a referral to the International Criminal Court, Pyongyang is trying on the charm. 

UNITED STATES-VIETNAM

WASHINGTON - The State Department welcomes the release of one of Vietnam's most prominent dissidents, as the U.S. urges the authoritarian government in Hanoi to improve its human rights record and smooth the way for stronger relations. By Matthew Pennington. AP Photo.

OBIT-BRADLEE

WASHINGTON - Ben Bradlee, the hard-charging editor who guided The Washington Post through its Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Watergate scandal and invigorated its newsroom for more than two decades, has died. He was 93. 

MIDTERM ELECTIONS-THE CLINTONS

AURORA, Colorado - Bill and Hillary Clinton are the validators-in-chief for Democrats struggling through a bleak campaign season in states where President Barack Obama is deeply unpopular. With speculation rampant about whether Hillary Rodham Clinton makes a second presidential run, the power couple has blanketed the political map this fall, attending fundraisers and get-out-the-vote rallies for a long roster of Democratic candidates. In states like Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina and Colorado, the Clintons are an asset at a time when many Democrats need a big name to help inspire supporters. The Clintons usually campaign for candidates on their own. 

OBAMA-BLACK VOTERS

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is turning to black radio listeners to plead for votes in the Nov. 4 election, a targeted approach to drum up Democratic support at a time when many candidates don't want him around in person. 

US-IMMIGRATION

WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department appears to be preparing for an increase in the number of immigrants living illegally in the country to apply for work permits after President Barack Obama announces his long-promised plans for executive actions on immigration reform later this year.