What happens when a company lets customers design and vote on their own products? Some Web-based outfits are finding success by doing just that. And the new business model is really catching on.

Electric hybrid cars are quiet, and all-electric cars are even quieter. While all that's nice for passengers, it can be dangerous for pedestrians. California's legislature has passed a bill to ensure that the vehicles make enough noise that they'll be heard by sight-impaired people crossing the street.

Retail sales are down in the U.S., but it isn't just Target, Home Depot and Staples that are showing lower profits. High-end retailers are having trouble, too. Saks says many of its customers are cutting back. Weak reports from retailers is one of the factors that sent stocks lower this week. Quarterly reports from other retailers are expected Wednesday.

In Cuba, one of President Raul Castro's most dramatic recent announcements was that he would allow private farmers access to up to 100 acres of idle government land. The plan is a shift toward private enterprise on the socialist island.

This year's New York State Fair has brought something new to the time-honored butter sculpture. It has turned the tradition green. When the fair ends, the state university's College of Environmental Science and Forestry will convert the sculpture's 900 pounds of butter into biodiesel for the college's vehicles — enough to power five round trips to the Adirondacks.

There's an almost forgotten sound in the air of Baghdad these days. It's not bomb blasts, police sirens or the whir of helicopters. It's a train whistle — a signal of some normalcy returning to the Iraqi capital.

Two researchers heard the legendary Bigfoot was found encased in a block of ice. They paid an undisclosed amount for the privilege of melting it. Only then did they learn that the Sasquatch was just a rubber gorilla suit. The first clue should have been the men who sold the ice. They run the Bigfoot Tip Line, where the voice mail proclaims they also search for leprechauns and the Loch Ness Monster.

The deaths last week of two local service members from Cape Cod has stunned the small town of Mashpee. Within a day of each other, Army Pfc. Paul Conlon was killed in Afghanistan and Marine Corps Pfc. Daniel McGuire was killed in Iraq.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks in Afghanistan. Earlier this week, French soldiers were attacked during a reconnaissance mission. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is in Kabul on Wednesday.

Barack Obama and John McCain used addresses to the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars to spell out their differences on foreign policy. They also addressed the topics of health care and other benefits for veterans.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama hopes to win traditionally Republican-leaning states like Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada in the upcoming presidential election. That may require softening positions on key issues in the West, like gun control and land use.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is signing a deal Wednesday in Poland to build a U.S. missile defense base there. The agreement has already angered Russia.

The presidents of more than 100 colleges and universities have signed a document urging lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age. The educators say the 21-year-old drinking age is widely flouted and has led to a culture of binge drinking on college campuses. Anti-drunken driving groups say colleges are looking for an easy out.

Russia shows little sign of ending its occupation of Georgia, but some Georgian citizens have found new ways to show their opposition. Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze says the more Moscow squeezes the current president, the more his authority will grow.

Around the country, more Americans are living where they want to, not where they have to. They're making new lives for themselves by the beach and in the mountains. Locals who have been forced out often buy houses nearby — and have their own effect on smaller towns.