AFP - Afghan forces backed up by Canadian NATO troops pushed into villages near the strategic city of Kandahar in a major "clean-up" operation to drive out entrenched Taliban rebels.

Reuters - Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples rushed to wed on Tuesday on the first full day that same-sex marriages were allowed across California, filling city halls with cheers -- and politics.

Reuters - The Boston Celtics captured a record 17th NBA championship by trouncing the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 on Tuesday to seal the best-of-seven title series 4-2.

Reuters - South African President Thabo Mbeki will meet Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe on Wednesday for talks ahead of next week's presidential election run-off, Mbeki's spokesman said.

Reuters - Israel said on Wednesday it accepted an Egyptian-brokered truce with Hamas Islamists ruling the Gaza Strip but voiced skepticism the ceasefire involving all Palestinian militant groups in the territory would hold.

Reuters - The Olympic torch was paraded on Wednesday through China's sensitive former Silk Road city of Kashgar, home to ethnic-minority Muslim Uighurs, under the scrutiny of soldiers and choreographed cheering crowds.

Reuters - A meeting between the Indian government and its communist allies to break a deadlock over a controversial nuclear deal with the United States has been postponed, a senior communist leader said on Wednesday.

Reuters - The Mississippi River surged up through storm drains and flooded part of an eastern Iowa river town on Tuesday as the worst Midwest floods in 15 years ruined cropland and drove up world food prices.

Reuters - The Afghan army launched an operation on Wednesday to drive Taliban insurgents from villages on the outskirts of Kandahar city in the south , the defense ministry said, but gave no details.

AP - Snow White, Dorothy Gale, the HAL 9000 computer, Charles Chaplin's Little Tramp and Marlon Brando's Godfather share top billing among the American Film Institute's best genre movies.

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.