AFP - Russia accused the West on Wednesday of ratcheting up tensions in the Black Sea with an increased NATO naval presence and warned against isolating Moscow over the conflict in Georgia.

Reuters - North Korea's threat to restart its plant that makes arms-grade plutonium is feasible, although the task would be a daunting one, analysts said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Three years after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana coast, New Orleans residents on Wednesday again confronted the prospect of an evacuation as Tropical Storm Gustav loomed.

Reuters - Three U.S. soldiers killed four handcuffed and blindfolded Iraqi prisoners with pistol shots on the bank of a Baghdad canal last year, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Reuters - The top U.S. Marine officer on Wednesday said he could reduce his 25,000-strong force in the former al Qaeda stronghold of Iraq's Anbar province to reinforce military operations against a growing Taliban threat in Afghanistan.

Reuters - The hijackers of a Sudanese airliner surrendered to authorities in Libya on Wednesday after releasing all the passengers, Libya's aviation authority said.

Reuters - Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) might have to borrow money from the Treasury Department to see it through an expected wave of bank failures, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Reuters - U.S. military planners have begun pondering the thorny question of how Georgia's shattered armed forces might be rebuilt without provoking a Russian backlash that could risk direct confrontation with Moscow.

Reuters - Former President Bill Clinton gets the chance on Wednesday to pick up where his wife, Hillary, left off -- provide a ringing endorsement of Democrat Barack Obama's presidential aspirations.

AP - Svetlana Kuznetsova shook off an early break and rallied to a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday in the second round of the U.S. Open.

AP - Spanish revelers have pelted each with 113 tons of ripe tomatoes in an annual food fight. Town hall says an estimated 40,000 people took part in the hour of messy fun in the village of Bunol near Valencia. The ritual dates back to the 1940s.

AP - Disappointed Neil Diamond fans will get a refund after attending a concert at Ohio State University in which the 67-year-old singer's voice sounded raspy.

AP - Orders for big-ticket manufactured goods turned in a second consecutive strong monthly performance in July, a far bigger-than-expected gain led by a huge jump in demand for commercial aircraft.