AP - The United States and China, hoping to defuse simmering trade tensions, were cobbling together a set of modest achievements to cap two days of high-level economic talks.

AP - Israel confirmed Wednesday that a cease-fire with the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip will begin Thursday.

AP - The rising Mississippi River broke through a levee Tuesday, forcing authorities to rescue about a half-dozen people by helicopter, boat and four-wheeler as floodwaters moved south into Illinois and Missouri.

AP - Barack Obama is answering a question he faced often on the campaign trail. Who would he turn to for advice when making foreign policy decisions?

AP - Former detainees from American military jails in Iraq and Guantanamo are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and lingering physical injuries and scars that can be traced to their imprisonment, according to a human rights group.

AP - Wearing everything from T-shirts to tuxedos and lavish gowns, hundreds of same-sex couples rushed to county clerks' offices throughout California to obtain marriage licenses and exchange vows as last-minute legal challenges to gay marriage failed.

AP - Afghan and Canadian forces moved into a series of villages outside of southern Afghanistan's largest city on Wednesday to root out any Taliban who have infiltrated the area, officials said.

AP - For a quarter-century, drilling for oil and gas off nearly all the American coastline has been banned in part to protect tourism and to lessen the chances of beach-blackening spills.

AP - With Russell and Havlicek sitting courtside, and Red surely lighting up a victory cigar somewhere, these Boston Celtics returned to glory like the great teams before them.

AFP - Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement have agreed to begin a Gaza truce in two days, Egyptian mediators said on Tuesday after months of negotiations to try to halt bloodshed in and around the impoverished territory.

AFP - A car bomb at a bus stop in north Baghdad killed at least 51 people and wounded 75 others on Tuesday, security officials told AFP.

Reuters - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday set aside a former Bush administration official's conviction for lying and obstructing justice over his links to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and ordered a new trial.

Reuters - A military judge on Tuesday dismissed the charges against a U.S. Marine officer accused of failing to investigate the death of two dozen civilians at Haditha, lawyers in the case said.