AP - Tropical Storm Fay continued its erratic path Wednesday reaching the coast and headed for the Atlantic Ocean, where it could strengthen and curve back toward Florida — possibly as a hurricane.

AP - President Bush is defending his line-in-the-sand approach to the fight against Islamic terrorism, following presidential rivals John McCain and Barack Obama in a speech to a major veterans group.

AP - Presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain plan to pull ads on Sept. 11 that criticize each other, a respite from the political fray to honor the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

AP - Russia took the first steps toward a troop pullback from Georgia on Tuesday but at the same time paraded blindfolded and bound Georgian prisoners on armored vehicles and seized four U.S. Humvees.

AP - Lolo Jones was supposed to take the Olympic 100-meter hurdles title. Other entrants knew it. Jones knew it. Even told herself so right before the start, mouthing, "I can win this race," when she was introduced to the crowd.

AP - Barack Obama and his newly named running mate will campaign together Saturday at the place where the Democratic presidential hopeful formally launched his White House bid.

AP - Paddlings, swats, licks. A quarter of a million schoolchildren got them last year — and blacks, American Indians and kids with disabilities got a disproportionate share of the punishment, according to a study by a human rights group.

AP - LeRoi Moore, the versatile saxophonist whose signature staccato fused jazz and funk overtones onto the eclectic sound of the Dave Matthews Band, died Tuesday of complications from injuries he suffered in an all-terrain vehicle accident, the band said. He was 46.

AP - Umpires want baseball to take another look at instant replay. Umps said their governing board voted Tuesday to boycott a conference call with management intended to discuss implementing replay and are angry that their concerns aren't being addressed.

Reuters - Sly hints and outright guesses fostered speculation in the U.S. vice presidential sweepstakes on Tuesday as Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain neared their choices of a No. 2.

Reuters - An earthquake hit southwest China on Wednesday, knocking down houses and forcing around 1,200 people to evacuate from near the site of a devastating quake which killed at least 70,000 people in May, state media said.

Reuters - Russia's Larisa Ilchenko took gold on Wednesday by just over a second in the grueling 10km women's openwater swim, a new Olympic event that lived up to its reputation for toughness.

Reuters - The U.S. government has been using its border checkpoints to collect information on citizens that will be stored for 15 years, raising concern among privacy advocates, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Reuters - A joint venture created by LandCap Partners is buying $40 million of troubled land and construction loans from Wachovia Corp The Wall Street Journal said.

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.

Reuters - Republican John McCain took his campaign high above the waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, visiting an offshore oil and gas rig and predicting many more like it along the U.S. coasts if he is elected president.

Reuters - New York City has agreed to pay a $2 million settlement to protesters arrested during a 2003 rally against the Iraq war who said their civil rights had been violated, lawyers for both sides said on Tuesday.

AFP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew into Kabul Wednesday and met survivors of an ambush that killed 10 French troops in the deadliest attack on international forces in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

AFP - President Dmitry Medvedev has issued a fresh commitment to withdraw almost all Russian troops from Georgia before the weekend as NATO-Russia relations plunged to their lowest ebb in years.