Nation/world
NEW & DEVELOPING
— BRITAIN-LIBYA — Britain officially recognizes Libyan opposition, expels Gadhafi diplomats
— DURABLE GOODS — The Commerce Department reports on business orders for durable goods in June at 8:30 a.m.
— TERROR HEARINGS — Hearing begins at 10 a.m.
— POLYGAMIST LEADER — Hearing begins at noon
TOP STORIES
DEBT SHOWDOWN
WASHINGTON — Neither the House nor Senate has a clear path forward for must-pass legislation to allow the government to continue to borrow to pay its bills, putting lawmakers and financial markets alike on edge less than a week before the deadline for heading off the nation’s first-ever default. By Andrew Taylor.
— DEBT SHOWDOWN-SHORT TERM — A central question is how long new borrowing authority should last. But the nation often has increased the debt ceiling by shorter periods than either side proposes. A Spin Meter story.
— DEBT SHOWDOWN-GIMMICKS — Few concrete savings in rival debt-reduction and budget plans by Boehner, Reid.
GLOBAL ECONOMY TRACKER
Wealthy countries all over the world are dealing with debt and strained budgets as they mop up after the Great Recession. But the United States is in a bigger fix than almost everyone else. The U.S. federal debt, as a percentage of the overall economy, was 95 percent in the first three months of 2011, the fifth-highest in the world, according to the Associated Press Global Economy Tracker. By Economics Writer Paul Wiseman.
AP Photos. AP Interactive GLOBAL ECONOMY TRACKER.
DEBT SHOWDOWN-JORDAN’S REVOLT
WASHINGTON — When President Barack Obama complains about House Republicans unwilling to compromise on a deficit reduction package, he’s talking about Rep. Jim Jordan, a former wrestling champion from Ohio who is becoming a driving force in the debt debate on Capitol Hill. By Stephen Ohlemacher.
AP Photo.
NORWAY-MASSACRE
OSLO — The leader of Norway’s Delta Force said Wednesday the breakdown of the police special-operations team’s boat didn’t cause any significant delay in its efforts to reach the island where Anders Behring Breivik’s shooting rampage killed 68 people. By Ian Macdougall
AP Photos.
PHILANDERING POLITICIANS-ANALYSIS
WASHINGTON — There’s been risque tickling. Raunchy twittering. Emailed photos. Stolen sex tapes. And in the latest episode of Washington’s own unseemly take on “Sex and the City,” Rep. David Wu is resigning in response to allegations by an 18-year-old woman that she had an “unwanted sexual encounter” with the congressman. Seems like sex scandals snagging Washington politicians are piling up faster than the federal debt. An AP News Analysis by Nancy Benac.
EAST AFRICA-FAMINE-MINNESOTA
MINNEAPOLIS — From Facebook campaigns to car washes and concerts to local collection sites, Minnesota’s Somali community — the nation’s largest at an estimated 25,000 — is raising tens of thousands of dollars to help the starving millions back home. They’re also taking precautions to make sure their money gets to the right place. By Amy Forliti.
AP Photos
— EAST AFRICA-FAMINE — 7-month-old Somali famine victim fights for life in Kenyan field hospital. AP Photos.
INTERNATIONAL
AFGHANISTAN
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber, explosives hidden in his turban, walks into the office and kills the mayor of Kandahar — the second assassination this month of a powerful figure in the southern Taliban stronghold. Mayor Ghulam Haider Hamidi had been mentioned as a person to replace President Hamid Karzai’s powerful half brother who was gunned down July 12 by a close associate in his heavily fortified home. By Mirwais Khan.
SYRIA
BEIRUT — A human rights group says Syrian security forces have killed eight people in an attack on a Damascus suburb. By Bassem Mroue.
PERU-GARCIA’S LEGACY
LIMA, Peru — When Alan Garcia handed over power as his first term ended in 1990, Peru’s Congress erupted in a din of catcalls. The South American nation was saddled with hyperinflation and was bleeding badly from the Shining Path’s fanatical rebellion. Garcia leaves Peru in much better shape as he ends his second term on Thursday. Economic growth averaged 7 percent a year during his 2006-2011 administration and the government amassed $47 billion in foreign reserves. The economic numbers only tell part the story, however. Social conflicts in which authorities had to intervene nearly tripled on his watch. By Carla Salazar.
AP Photos
— PHILIPPINES-STORM — 20 dead, 9 missing in floods and landslides unleashed by slow-moving storm in NE Philippines. AP Photos.
— SKOREA-LANDSLIDE — South Korean landslides leave 32 dead, 10 missing as heavy rain pounds the country
— CHINA-TRAFFICKED CHILDREN — China rescues 89 trafficked children as young as 10 days, arrests 369 suspects
HEALTH
HYPNOSIS SURGERY
LONDON — As the surgeons cut into her neck, Marianne Marquis was thinking of the beach. As she heard the doctors’ voices, she was imagining her toes in the sand, the water lapping. Marquis had been hypnotized before surgery to have her thyroid removed. She’s among a growing number of surgical patients at the Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc in Brussels who choose hypnosis and a local anesthetic to avoid the groggy knockout effect of general anesthesia. By Medical Writer Maria Cheng.
AP Photos
WASHINGTON
US-IRAQ-REFUGEES
WASHINGTON — Hussein Ibrahim al-Tikriti has a name and a resume that can create a lot of enemies in Iraq. A native of Saddam Hussein’s hometown and a translator for American and British security companies, the 31-year-old hoped to find safety by moving to the United States under a program designed to help Iraqis who’ve risked their lives for the U.S. government. But like many other would-be refugees, al-Tikriti has been stuck in limbo amid a sharp tightening in security checks for entry to the United States. By Bradley Klapper and Sameer N. Yacoub.
AP Photos.
— CLOSING WALTER REED — In cost-cutting move, storied Walter Reed Army hospital in Washington closing after 102 years. AP Photos.
— TERROR HEARINGS — Lawmaker: More than 40 Americans radicalized and joined Somali terror group to fight.
NATIONAL
AIRSPACE VIOLATORS
DENVER — Authorities say fewer pilots are violating airspace restrictions this year despite a recent weekend surge near the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md. The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled fighter jets twice on July 9 and once on July 10 to intercept private planes that were flying near Camp David and weren’t in radio contact with civil aviation officials. Federal Aviation Administration statistics show 122 airspace violations so far in 2011. At that pace, the total would be about 220 for the full year. That would be the lowest by far since 2008, when the agency began tracking the numbers in detail. By Dan Elliott.
NATIONAL PARKS-DRILLING
SALT LAKE CITY — Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher became an antihero when he derailed a government auction of oil and gas leases. He used his sentencing Tuesday as a platform for a 35-minute address urging others to take similar steps of civil disobedience to fight climate change. During the sentencing about 100 protesters gathered at the courthouse in support of DeChristopher and over two dozen were jailed. By Jennifer Dobner. AP Photos. By Jennifer Dobner.
AP Photos
— FOOD AND FARM-TEXAS DROUGHT — Severe drought in Texas could result in record losses in nation’s No. 2 agriculture state
ENTERTAINMENT
AMY WINEHOUSE-LESSONS
NEW YORK — Most entertainers prepare for a concert tour with rehearsals. For Amy Winehouse, it was rehab. Just before her disastrous European tour last month, she entered a rehabilitation center on doctor’s orders. She left a week later, with her publicist announcing she was “raring to go.” But she clearly wasn’t. At the concert’s kickoff, she struggled and stumbled. Her tour was soon canceled. A little over a month later, she was dead. The music industry has a long history of performers who wither away because of addiction and Winehouse’s death has again raised questions of whether the entertainment community could have done more to prevent the self-destruction of one of its most gifted young artists. By Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody.
AP Photos.
— AMY WINEHOUSE-SALES — Amy Winehouse gets posthumous sales bump as fans purchase her music after her death. AP Photos.
CHINESE OPERA-STAR STUDENT
SAN FRANCISCO — Tyler Thompson is an unlikely star in the world of Chinese opera. The African American teenager from Oakland has captivated audiences in the U.S. and China with his ability to sing pitch-perfect Mandarin and perform the ancient Chinese art form. Thompson, 15, is a standout student in Chew’s Oakland-based Purple Silk Music Education program, which teaches children and youth — mostly from low-income immigrant families — how to sing and play traditional Chinese music. The program’s Great Wall Youth Orchestra and Chorus has performed around the country. By Terence Chea.
AP Photos, Video
SPORTS
SALT LAKE CITY — Olympic silver medalist Jeret “Speedy” Peterson was found dead in a remote canyon in Utah in what police are calling a suicide. One of the world’s most risk-taking and innovative freestyle skiers, the creator of the one-of-a-kind “Hurricane” called 911 before shooting himself, police said. By Eddie Pells and Lynn DeBruin.
AP Photos.
ALSO GETTING ATTENTION
— LIBYA — Libyan state TV shows Lockerbie bomber, in wheelchair, attending pro-Gadhafi rally.
— DRUG WAR-MEXICO-HIT BOY — Mexican judge sentences teenager to 3 years for organized crime, homicide, kidnapping.
— STREET CROSSING DEATH — Ga. mother is spared prison in son’s jaywalking death; charges had caused an outcry
— TEXAS-BORDER INCURSION — Dozens of uniformed Mexican troops cross Texas border; US officials return them to Mexico
— US CHICKEN NUGGETS RECALL — Pilgrim’s Pride expands voluntary recall of chicken to nuggets shipped to Dollar General
— NEW ZEALAND GOLDFISH — New Zealand goldfish survive Christchurch quake, 134 days without food before being rescued