AP - A powerful new 5.1-magnitude aftershock rattled terrified residents of New Zealand's earthquake-stricken city of Christchurch on Wednesday, as officials doubled their estimate for repairing the damage from nearly 300 aftershocks in five days.

Reuters - Foster's Group Ltd , Australia's largest brewer, knocked back a private equity offer worth up to $2.5 billion for its wine business as too cheap, but the approach could spark offers for the entire group.

Reuters - Japan's government sharpened its rhetoric on foreign exchange intervention on Wednesday as a rise in the yen to a 15-year high underlined concerns that the currency's strength could threaten the economic recovery.

Reuters - BP Plc's internal probe of the deadly April 20 blowout that unleashed the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill will assign blame to BP as well as other companies involved in the well's operations, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Reuters - BP Plc's internal probe of the deadly April 20 blowout that unleashed the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill will assign blame to BP as well as other companies involved in the well's operations, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Reuters - President Barack Obama will push billions of dollars in new business tax incentives and spending on big construction projects on Wednesday, as he tries to convince a balky Congress to pass measures intended to spur the economy and create jobs.

Reuters - Tropical Storm Hermine barely maintained its tropical storm status on Tuesday as 40 mile per hour winds kept lashing south Texas and the storm moved further inland about 15 miles south-southeast of San Antonio, Texas, the National Hurricane Center said.

Reuters - Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, with Japan's big exporters among the heaviest losers as a rise in the yen to a new 15-year high threatens to erode their overseas earnings.

AFP - The government Tuesday announced the appointment of a new chief negotiator and ambassador for climate change whose mandate will be to try implement agreements made at the talks in Copenhagen.

AP - Iraq displayed hundreds of recovered artifacts Tuesday that were among the country's looted heritage and span the ages from a 4,400-year-old statue of a Sumerian king to a chrome-plated AK-47 bearing Saddam Hussein's image.

AP - President Barack Obama's proposed tax breaks for business sound like ideas that have enjoyed broad Republican backing in the past. But in today's toxic political atmosphere, he's unlikely to get much — if any — GOP help.

Reuters - Hewlett-Packard Co sued former Chief Executive Mark Hurd and asked a court to block him from joining Oracle Corp, saying his hiring by the rival technology firm puts HP's trade secrets "in peril."

AFP - A US federal judge denied Tuesday the White House's request to drop his decision to temporarily block federal funding for embryonic stem cell research pending an appeal of the decision.

AP - Government scientists studying the BP disaster are reporting the best possible outcome: Microbes are consuming the oil in the Gulf without depleting the oxygen in the water and creating "dead zones" where fish cannot survive.

AP - The Obama administration is trying to jump-start its sputtering attempts to tackle the foreclosure crisis with an effort to assist homeowners who owe more on their properties than their homes are worth.

AP - Motorists should see pump prices slide again after spending a little more to fill their tanks over the Labor Day weekend.

AFP - BP has announced it will publish an eagerly awaited report on the causes of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Wednesday.

AP - European Union nations agreed to create new financial oversight institutions Tuesday, hoping to prevent a repeat of the government debt crisis that nearly left Greece bankrupt and brought the European banking system to its knees.