AP - Unable to strike a deal on its own, Microsoft Corp. reportedly is hoping to snap up Yahoo's online search operations with the help of News Corp. and Time Warner Inc.

AP - Those seeking the oohs and aahs of traditional Fourth of July fireworks could be sadly disappointed this year: Public displays and sales of boxed firecrackers are being canceled or scaled back across the nation, victims of a sluggish economy, wildfire fears and product shortages caused by a warehouse fire in China.

AP - Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez and his wife have split less than three months after the birth of the couple's second daughter, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

AP - Authorities ordered the remaining residents of this scenic coastal community to leave Wednesday because an out-of-control wildfire, one of hundreds in California, had jumped a fire line and was threatening more homes.

AP - John McCain put a top adviser in control of day-to-day campaign operations Wednesday after weeks of private concerns among Republicans that the GOP presidential campaign had not made the transition for the general election.

AP - The issues are as difficult as ever, but the conditions are likely to be more conducive to agreement as President Bush attends his eighth and final economic summit of industrial democracies.

AP - Colombian spies tricked leftist rebels into handing over kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. military contractors Wednesday in a daring helicopter rescue so successful that not a single shot was fired.

AP - Three American hostages rescued from leftist guerillas in Colombia arrived safely in Texas late Wednesday and were taken to a hospital, where they were expected to reunite with their families and undergo tests.

AFP - Zimbabwe's opposition leader on Wednesday rejected calls to form a national unity government, saying it would not solve the country's crisis after Robert Mugabe's widely condemned one-man election.

AFP - A Palestinian killed three people and wounded 45 more as he rammed a bulldozer into buses and cars in Jerusalem on Wednesday before being shot dead by Israeli police who branded it a terror attack.

Reuters - Iraq is expecting visits soon from Jordan's King Abdullah and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, easing its regional diplomatic isolation, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Pakistani politicians should stop squabbling over the fate of President Pervez Musharraf and focus on pressing problems of rising Islamist militancy, soaring prices and energy shortages, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

Reuters - U.S. allies in NATO must provide better equipment and drop many restrictions on how their forces are used to help defeat Afghanistan's resilient Taliban insurgency, the alliance's supreme commander said on Wednesday.

Reuters - In impoverished Haiti, the government and aid groups hand out lunches at schools in slums. In Brazil, mothers who regularly take their children to medical check-ups qualify for small cash payments.

Reuters - A federal judge will decide whether Osama bin Laden's former driver, held at the Guantanamo Bay prison, can stop his military tribunal from going forward, the U.S. District Court in Washington said on Wednesday.