AFP - A truck convoy bearing a huge oil drilling machine is expected to arrive Wednesday to offer a third rescue option, or "Plan C," for the 33 men trapped for a month at the bottom of a Chilean mine.

Reuters - Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, led by shares in Japan's big exporters as a rise in the yen to a new 15-year high threatened to erode their overseas earnings.

Reuters - Foster's Group Ltd , Australia's largest brewer, knocked back an offer worth up to $2.5 billion for its wine business as too cheap, but the approach could flush out offers for the entire group.

AP - Trying to smooth over recently rocky relations before he visits Washington, Chinese President Hu Jintao told aides to U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday that he wants to see healthy and stable ties between the two countries.

AP - The leader of a small Florida church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy said he was still praying about whether go through with his plan to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, which the White House, religious leaders and others are pressuring him to call off.

AP - It's power spent, what was left of Tropical Storm Hermine was making its way north Wednesday, having drenched parts of northeastern Mexico and south Texas before weakening.

AP - BP says it plans to release results of its internal investigation into the rig explosion that killed 11 workers and led to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

AFP - The European Union's financial services chief called on Wednesday for so-called "stress tests" on banks to be carried out on a regular basis, to judge their resilience in the event of another crisis.

AP - Suddenly, the race for Chicago mayor is on. Mayor Richard M. Daley has thrown the competition for the city's top job wide open by announcing he won't run for a seventh term, ending 21 years of token opposition and prompting speculation about who's next in line to lead the nation's third largest city.

AP - Suddenly, the race for Chicago mayor is on. Mayor Richard M. Daley has thrown the competition for the city's top job wide open by announcing he won't run for a seventh term, ending 21 years of token opposition and prompting speculation about who's next in line to lead the nation's third largest city.

AP - President Barack Obama is pitching a trio of economic proposals Wednesday in an effort to show the public he's taking action to spur economic growth.

AP - President Barack Obama is pitching a trio of economic proposals Wednesday in an effort to show the public he's taking action to spur economic growth.

AP - Protesters on Tuesday night pelted a police station with eggs, rocks and bottles despite Police Chief Charlie Beck's plea for calm earlier in the day and his promise to thoroughly investigate an officer's fatal shooting of a Guatemalan immigrant wielding a knife.

Reuters - Japan's government sharpened its rhetoric on foreign exchange intervention on Wednesday as a rise in the yen to a 15-year high underlined concerns that the currency's strength could threaten the economic recovery.

Reuters - Japan's government sharpened its rhetoric on foreign exchange intervention on Wednesday as a rise in the yen to a 15-year high underlined concerns that the currency's strength could threaten the economic recovery.

Reuters - President Barack Obama will push billions of dollars in new business tax incentives and spending on big construction projects on Wednesday, as he tries to convince a balky Congress to pass measures intended to spur the economy and create jobs.

Reuters - President Barack Obama will push billions of dollars in new business tax incentives and spending on big construction projects on Wednesday, as he tries to convince a balky Congress to pass measures intended to spur the economy and create jobs.

Reuters - President Barack Obama will push billions of dollars in new business tax incentives and spending on big construction projects on Wednesday, as he tries to convince a balky Congress to pass measures intended to spur the economy and create jobs.

AP - David Myers knew it was time to leave when he looked out into the forest and spotted bright red flames towering skyward. Then came a blinding cloud of smoke and a deafening roar as the fire ripped through the wilderness.

AP - A proposed Islamic community center near ground zero will include separate prayer spaces for Muslims, Christians, Jews and people of other faiths, the imam behind plans for the facility wrote in an op-ed piece published online Tuesday.

Reuters - China and the United States said on Wednesday that their sometimes rocky relationship is sounder after talks in Beijing, with both putting an optimistic face on ties that have been jolted by economic and security tensions.

AP - Officials hoisted a 70-foot piece of World Trade Center steel at ground zero Tuesday and vowed to open the Sept. 11 memorial by next year, although they acknowledged that the ongoing construction at the site would limit where and how the public could visit.

AP - Their control of the House in peril, Democrats are scratching to survive in races all across the country. Disgruntled voters, a sluggish economy and vanishing enthusiasm for President Barack Obama have put 75 seats or more — the vast majority held by Democrats — at risk of changing hands.

AP - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday called a Florida church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks a "disrespectful, disgraceful act."

AP - Tropical Storm Hermine gave a wet and windy punch to Texas on Tuesday before weakening into a tropical depression, leaving only minor scrapes in the storm-weary Rio Grande Valley, which is proving resilient this hurricane season after taking a third tropical system on the chin.

AP - Billionaire philanthropist George Soros is putting up $100 million, one of the largest donations of its kind, to expand Human Rights Watch and help it court more international support.

AP - The flight attendant accused of onboard antics that captured the nation's attention when he told off a passenger and slid down the plane's emergency chute with a beer will undergo a mental health evaluation with the aim of avoiding jail time in a possible plea deal.

Reuters - Hewlett-Packard Co sued former Chief Executive Mark Hurd and asked a court to block him from joining Oracle Corp, saying his hiring by the rival technology firm puts HP's trade secrets "in peril."

AP - A week after conceding the tight GOP primary to Joe Miller, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she's not a quitter and is "still in this game."

AFP - The United States said Tuesday it has requested 50,000 dollars in emergency aid for flood-hit Guatemala and reprogrammed another 4.38 million dollars in economic aid for recovery efforts.

AP - Merriam-Webster's "Word of the Summer" is not even a word. That's something no one can "refudiate."

AP - Government scientists studying the BP disaster are reporting the best possible outcome: Microbes are consuming the oil in the Gulf without depleting the oxygen in the water and creating "dead zones" where fish cannot survive.

Reuters - The death toll from weekend clashes at a refugee camp in Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region has risen to nine, the United Nations said on Tuesday.