AP - A judge on Wednesday dealt a serious but possibly temporary blow to a lawsuit filed by a celebrity magazine reporter who has accused a paparazzi agency of secretly filming Heath Ledger doing drugs in her hotel room.

AP - Prosecutors accusing Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of lying on the witness stand to cover up an extramarital affair with a top aide said Wednesday that a plea deal is expected soon in the case, though the mayor's attorneys insisted one had not been struck yet.

Reuters - North Korea has taken out of storage some mothballed equipment at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in what appeared a sign of displeasure over talks on ending its atomic programs, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

AP - A radioactive tracer that "lights up" cancer hiding inside dense breasts showed promise in its first big test against mammograms, revealing more tumors and giving fewer false alarms, doctors reported Wednesday.

AP - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, pouncing on a top Republican aide's claim that the campaign is not about issues, said Wednesday that John McCain is trying to run away from his party's bad economic record.

AFP - The United States on Wednesday announced a one billion dollar aid package for Georgia as Vice President Dick Cheney started a tour of ex-Soviet states by promising that Washington had a "deep" interest in the region's security.

AP - Sarah Palin prepared for the speech of her life Wednesday as John McCain's campaign called for an end to questions about its review of her background and derided a "faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee" for vice president.

Reuters - Tropical Storm Ike strengthened into a hurricane in the open Atlantic on Wednesday and Tropical Storm Hanna threatened to do the same as it swirled over the Bahamas toward the southeast U.S. Coast.

AP - Pushing back against an increasingly aggressive Moscow, President Bush said Wednesday the U.S. will send an extra $1 billion to Georgia to help the pro-Western former Soviet republic in the wake of Russia's invasion.

AP - Thousands of people who fled Hurricane Gustav forced the city to reluctantly open its doors Wednesday, but nearly 1.2 million homes and businesses across Louisiana were still without electricity, and officials said it could take as long as a month to fully restore power.

AFP - Vice presidential pick Sarah Palin was Wednesday aiming to quell a raging personal and political storm with her high-stakes primetime speech to the Republican National Convention.

Reuters - Sarah Palin has dominated the Republican convention for days without saying a word, but on Wednesday she takes the spotlight with a prime-time speech that will introduce her to American voters and try to answer questions about her experience and life story.

AP - A chunk of ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada's northern Arctic, another dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier, scientists said Wednesday.

AP - Hanley Ramirez homered and doubled to lead the Florida Marlins past the Atlanta Braves 5-3 Wednesday in front of an incredibly sparse crowd of just 600 fans.

Reuters - President George W. Bush made a quick visit to Louisiana on Wednesday to survey damage from Hurricane Gustav as New Orleans officials lifted roadblocks to allow tens of thousands who fled the city to return despite widespread power outages.

Reuters - Reuters is seeking additional information on the detention of a freelance photographer working for the international news agency in Iraq.

Reuters - Vice-President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday the United States had a "deep interest" in the security of its allies in the Caucasus, while Russia said U.S. support for Georgia was stirring up instability.

AP - Millions fled the Gulf Coast in fear of Hurricane Gustav, billed as the apocalyptic "mother of all storms." It didn't deliver. Now, with three other storms lining up in the Atlantic, some fear people might not listen next time.

AP - The Justice Department refused to prosecute former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for improperly — and possibly illegally — storing in his office and home classified information about two of the Bush administration's most sensitive counterterrorism efforts.

AP - Republican John McCain said Tuesday he's satisfied that Sarah Palin's background was properly checked out before the Alaska governor joined the Republican ticket. He predicted that public excitement about her candidacy will increase after her address to the GOP convention on Wednesday.

AP - President Bush, relegated to a minor role at the Republican National Convention, praised John McCain Tuesday night as "ready to lead this nation," a courageous candidate who supported the war in Iraq despite risks to his campaign for the White House.

AP - A U.S. investigation released Tuesday disputed a U.N. report that found "credible evidence" that up to 90 civilians died in a raid on a western Afghan village, saying an after-battle assessment found most of the victims were Taliban fighters.

AP - Nervous residents rushed to buy plywood and generators while emergency officials in Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas weighed possible evacuations Tuesday as Tropical Storm Hanna was expected to shift toward a tough-to-predict landfall along the southern Atlantic coast by the end of the week.

Reuters - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was on his way to ex-Soviet Azerbaijan on Wednesday for the first leg of a trip to show that Washington stood by its allies in the region despite Russia's military intervention in Georgia.

AP - Jerry Reed, a singer who became a good ol' boy actor in car chase movies like "Smokey and the Bandit," has died of complications from emphysema at 71.