AP - In the end, it was a wonder the three massive chandeliers gracing the White House East Room remained intact, given the high-voltage expenditure of human energy taking place beneath them.

SPACE.com - Two asteroids will zip close by the Earth Wednesday and may be visible in telescopes as they zip between our planet and the orbit of the moon.

AP - Today, it's a sprawl of luxury vacation homes where Egypt's wealthy play on the white beaches of the Mediterranean coast. But 2,000 years ago, this was a thriving Greco-Roman port city, boasting villas of merchants grown rich on the wheat and olive trade.

The Upshot - It's increasingly looking as though the only spiritual or political figure who will not denounce Florida pastor Terry Jones' plan to commemorate Sept. 11 by burning copies of the Quran is Jones himself. Wednesday brings the news that even the church Jones founded in Germany in the 1980s is condemning the upcoming Quran-burning at his [...]

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.

AP - Calling her "a Lindsay Lohan wannabe," a judge has fined "Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi $500 and ordered her to perform community service after she pleaded guilty to disturbing others on a New Jersey beach in July.

AP - BP took some of the blame for the Gulf oil disaster in an internal report issued Wednesday, acknowledging among other things that it misinterpreted a key pressure test of the well. But in a possible preview of its legal strategy, it also pointed the finger at its partners on the doomed rig.

AP - Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba's communist economic model doesn't work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago.

AP - The weird world of dinosaurs has just gotten a tad more bizarre. Scientists found a nearly complete fossil of a new dinosaur that sports a noticeable hump, maybe as possible advertising.

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 - 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.

The Upshot - Al Gore can't seem to catch a break these days. Between a high-profile public divorce, accusations of sexual assault, and a crazed gunman citing his work as the inspiration for his "awakening," the former vice president's image has been in a bit of a PR freefall of late. Now this bit of cruel irony: The [...]

Reuters - Long-term weight loss may release into the blood industrial pollutants linked to illnesses like diabetes, hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis, researchers said on Tuesday.

AP - British tabloid veteran Piers Morgan, hired by CNN to start as Larry King's replacement as a prime-time interviewer in January, promised that he "came here to win."

AP - Detroit Mayor Dave Bing defended a stretched fire department Wednesday and its response to what he termed "a natural disaster," after wind-whipped flames destroyed dozens of occupied and abandoned homes across the city.

The Upshot - Last week, a Washington Post columnist started a Twitter hoax. This week, a Washington Post columnist fell for one. Jonathan Capehart, an editorial writer and columnist, took "@RepJackKimble (R-Calif.)"to task Monday for tweeting that "Bush fought 2 wars without costing taxpayers a dime." Capehart responded in a blog post that President Bush advocated for "two [...]

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."

Reuters - A giant bale of hay has killed a founding member of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) band after it tumbled down a hill and crashed into his van.

AP - A Romanian Gypsy leader on Wednesday compared French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Romania's pro-Nazi wartime leader, following the expulsion of hundreds of Gypsies from France.

AP - Two newborn pandas are the latest additions to the Madrid Zoo.