AP - A dust storm chased away some participants from the counterculture Burning Man festival before its traditional climax Saturday night on the northern Nevada desert, authorities said.

AP - Russian troops remaining in Georgian territory are effectively preventing Georgians from returning to their homes, a U.N. representative said Saturday.

AP - Royal Dutch Shell, BP and other oil companies wrapped up evacuations and shut down production Saturday as an intensifying Hurricane Gustav churned toward the petroleum-rich waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

AP - Hundreds of thousands of frustrated Mexicans, many carrying pictures of kidnapped loved ones, marched across the country Saturday to demand government action against a relentless tide of killings, abductions and shootouts.

AP - Rescue teams headed to China's southwestern Sichuan province after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed 22 people and injured hundreds, local authorities said Sunday.

AP - Falling gas prices might not be enough to entice people to travel this Labor Day weekend, with some keeping a wary eye on dangerous Hurricane Gustav, which is threatening the Gulf Coast.

AP - John McCain voiced concern for Gulf Coast residents fleeing the path of Hurricane Gustav on Saturday and made plans to visit Mississippi even as he reintroduced running mate Sarah Palin to a raucous crowd in a key battleground state.

AP - Gustav roared into the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico as a ferocious Category 4 hurricane Sunday after destroying homes and roads in Cuba. The mayor of New Orleans ordered residents to flee the "storm of the century" by morning.

AP - Residents were ordered to flee an only partially rebuilt New Orleans Sunday as another monster storm bore down on Louisiana nearly three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina wiped out entire swaths of the city.

AFP - Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej consulted the king over escalating protests Saturday, after demonstrators forced Phuket's airport to close indefinitely in their drive to force the premier from office.

AFP - Russia called Saturday for more international observers to be sent to Georgia, two days before a European Union summit that Tbilisi hopes will punish Moscow with sanctions.

Reuters - Iraq's parliament must pass a contentious elections law by mid-September in order to allow anticipated provincial polls to be held this year, the Electoral Commission said on Saturday.

Reuters - Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej vowed on Saturday not to quit in the face of intensifying protests aimed at toppling his seven-month-old government.

Reuters - Egypt opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, allowing hundreds of people to leave the Hamas-controlled territory, Palestinian officials said.

Reuters - Russian troops deep inside Georgian territory are stopping thousands of refugees from returning to their homes, a Georgian official said on Saturday.