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.

Authorities say flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine has killed a second person who was swept away from his pickup truck.

A sharply divided federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit Boeing Co.'s role flying terrorism suspects to secret prisons around the world as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program.

The unprecedented turtle rescue effort at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is winding down.

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.

Mayor Richard M. Daley said Wednesday that he will not endorse anyone to replace him as leader of the nation's third-largest city as speculation grew about who would emerge as a front-runner from a long list of potential contenders, including one-time aide and current White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

The Twitterverse is full of far more mysterious forces than indecipherable trending topics and Lady Gaga.

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.

Tropical Storm Igor has formed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa near the Cape Verde Islands and has top sustained winds of near 40 mph (65 kph).

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.

Microsoft Corp. and the chief rules enforcer for Xbox Live are apologizing to a small West Virginia town and a 26-year-old gamer accused of violating the online gaming service's code of conduct by publicly declaring he's from Fort Gay -- a name the company considered offensive.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley is asking Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to address accusations that federal workers ignored complaints about conditions at two Iowa farms involved in the recall of salmonella-tainted eggs.

An accused Somali pirate has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy from a November 2008 attack in the Gulf of Aden on a Danish ship carrying cargo from a U.S. company.

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."

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.

Several members of a Montana tea party group have resigned after the association's president was dismissed over an exchange on Facebook that appeared to condone violence against gays.

Despite two terms as governor of New Mexico and recent visits to 26 states, most Americans have never heard of Gary Johnson.

A proposed Islamic community center near ground zero will include separate prayer spaces for Muslims, Christians, Jews and people of other faiths, the imam behind plans for the facility wrote in an op-ed piece published online Tuesday.

Officials hoisted a 70-foot piece of World Trade Center steel at ground zero Tuesday and vowed to open the Sept. 11 memorial by next year, although they acknowledged that the ongoing construction at the site would limit where and how the public could visit.