AP - The remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine caused massive flooding in northern Texas on Wednesday, killing at least one person and much of the city of Arlington under water.

AP - Firefighters encountered a tangle of rattlesnakes, downed power lines and combustible propane tanks Wednesday as authorities looked for eight people missing in a wildfire that has destroyed dozens of homes.

Reuters - President Barack Obama, fighting to keep Democrats in charge of Congress, said on Wednesday the United States could not afford to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the rich and accused Republicans of being fiscally irresponsible.

AP - President Barack Obama is getting a little personal about the sluggish economy, telling a Cleveland audience about his own family's struggles and hardships.

AP - Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has defended the fire department for its response to what he described as "a natural disaster" after wind-whipped flames destroyed dozens of homes across the city.

AP - President Barack Obama strongly defended his opposition to extending Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans on Wednesday and delivered a searing attack on Republicans and their House leader for advocating "the same philosophy that led to this mess in the first place."

AP - Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says he isn't going to recommend a candidate to succeed him and that it's up to voters to decide who they want to lead them.

Reuters - Fidel Castro said Cuba's economic model no longer works, a U.S.-based journalist reported on Wednesday following interviews with the former president last week.

AP - Demonstrators pelted police for a second night in a poor immigrant neighborhood following the fatal shooting of a Guatemalan day laborer who allegedly threatened people with a knife and then turned the weapon on a responding officer.

AP - The leader of a small Florida church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy said Wednesday he was determined to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, despite pressure from the White House, religious leaders and others to call it off.

AFP - The US economy is showing "widespread" signs of deceleration, the US Federal Reserve warned in its latest Beige Book report published Wednesday.

AP - In an internal report released Wednesday, BP blames itself, other companies' workers and a complex series of failures for the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the drilling rig explosion that preceded it.

AFP - US President Barack Obama Wednesday sought to box in his Republican foes on the economy, as the lagging recovery and crippling unemployment threaten Democrats with a mid-term election meltdown.

AP - Most of the country will see a colder-than-usual winter while summer and spring will be relatively cool and dry, according to the time-honored, complex calculations of the "Old Farmer's Almanac."

AP - The FBI on Wednesday was trying to determine whether a passenger staged a bomb hoax that prompted a search of a Thai Airways jetliner at Los Angeles International Airport.

Reuters - Stubbornly high unemployment and signs of persistent weakness in the housing market have prompted economists to further cut their outlook for U.S. growth in the second half of the year, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.

AFP - US stocks were slightly up on Wednesday after news of a successful Portuguese debt auction eased the previous day's concerns about the European economy.

AP - German exports dipped by 1.5 percent in July compared with the previous month but were still up a strong 18.7 percent over the same month last year, official data showed Wednesday.