AP - Hurricane Dolly barreled into South Texas on Wednesday, lashing the coast with winds up to 100 mph and dumping heavy rain that flooded some low-lying areas but spared levees along the heavily populated Rio Grande Valley.

AP - From the solemnity of a Holocaust museum to a dusty village battered by Hamas rockets, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Wednesday professed "an unshakable commitment to the security" of Israel, whether the threat comes from terrorists, Iran or elsewhere.

AP - Rescue legislation sailed through the House on Wednesday aimed at helping 400,000 strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure and preventing the collapse of troubled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

AP - The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer.

AP - Republican John McCain pushed back on Wednesday against Democratic criticism that he misstated when the troop buildup ordered by President Bush began, saying elements were put in place before Bush announced the strategy in early 2007.

AP - Al-Qaida's foreign fighters who have for years bedeviled Iraq are increasingly going to Afghanistan to fight instead, the Iraqi ambassador to the United States said Wednesday.

AP - About 2 million Americans get a raise Thursday as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers.

AP - A woman mauled by a bear in a rural area of Southern California was recovering Wednesday as game wardens sought to trap and kill the animal.

AP - 50 Cent has sued Taco Bell, claiming the fast-food restaurant chain is using his name without permission in advertising that asks him to call himself 99 Cent.

AP - Mike Lowell hit a two-run single off Sean Green in the 12th inning, and the Red Sox took advantage of two outfield errors to beat the lowly Mariners 6-3 on Wednesday and complete Boston's first series sweep at Seattle in 15 years.

Reuters - The House of Representatives passed a massive housing rescue bill on Wednesday while the White House dropped a threat to veto it, paving the way for measures aimed at shoring up the worst U.S. housing market since the Great Depression.

Reuters - Presidential candidate Barack Obama travels to Berlin on Thursday to give the only public speech of a week-long foreign tour, an outdoor address on transatlantic ties that is likely to draw tens of thousands.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama has a 6-point lead over Republican John McCain in the presidential race as a growing percentage of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday.

Reuters - Hurricane Dolly moved inland after tearing into the South Texas coast on Wednesday with 95 mph (150 kph) winds, pouring torrential rain on the U.S.-Mexico border area before being downgraded to a tropical storm.

Reuters - A black-and-white interrogation video of Osama bin Laden's driver showed Salim Hamdan denying under questioning in a dark cell that he worked for al Qaeda.

Reuters - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday after talks with North Korea that she believed Pyongyang was under no "illusions" it had to agree to a strong mechanism to verify its nuclear activities.

AFP - Barack Obama was heading for Europe Thursday after vowing to forge an "unshakeable" bond with Israel if he becomes the next US president and warning a nuclear Iran would pose a "grave threat" which the world must forestall.

AFP - Rescue teams searched under dense fog and rain Thursday for victims of a powerful earthquake in northern Japan that left more than 100 people injured, some of them seriously.