nation world budgets from Associated Press
DEVELOPING
— EUROPE-FINANCIAL CRISIS — Premier Silvio Berlusconi addresses Parliament at 8 a.m. about a threatened economy as investors batter Italian and Spanish financial markets.
— KATRINA-BRIDGE SHOOTINGS — A federal jury is set to begin deliberating after court resumes at 9:30 a.m. in the trial of five current or former police officers charged in deadly shootings on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina.
— ECONOMY-SERVICES — The Institute for Supply Management issues its service sector index for July at 10 a.m.
— FACTORY ORDERS — The Commerce Department reports on orders to U.S. factories in June at 10 a.m.
TOP STORIES
EGYPT-MUBARAK TRIAL
CAIRO — Ousted President Hosni Mubarak denies all charges of corruption and complicity in killing protesters during Egypt’s uprising after a court detailed the allegations against him at the opening session of his trial. The trial answers, at least in part, a growing clamor in Egypt for accountability for decades of wrongs under the old regime and for the deaths of some 850 people during the uprising. By Hamza Hendawi.
AP photos, videos. An interactive with ongoing updates, the history of Mubarak’s rule and his removal from power is available. A separate advisory has also moved.
— EGYPT-WATCHING MUBARAK — The father of a youth killed by police during Egypt’s uprising watches Mubarak at the opening of his trial.
— ISRAEL-MUBARAK — Israeli lawmaker says he offered Egypt’s Mubarak asylum during uprising but was turned down.
— EGYPT-MUBARAK TIMELINE — Key dates in the life of Egypt’s ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.
DEBT SHOWDOWN-WHAT NOW?
WASHINGTON — The nation’s bills are being paid and Congress has bolted the hothouse of Washington, one debt limit deadline beaten and another ahead for a dozen yet-to-be-named lawmakers on the final piece of a $2 trillion deficit-cutting deal. By Laurie Kellman.
AP photos, video, interactive.
OBAMA-LOSING ON TAXES
WASHINGTON — Time and again during his presidential campaign, Barack Obama was unequivocal: We are going to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. But when the chips are down, now-President Obama has blinked and backed away. By Jim Kuhnhenn.
— OBAMA-FUNDRAISING — Obama campaign expecting lower summer fundraising after canceled events. AP photo.
WORLD MARKETS
LONDON — Worries over the state of the U.S. economy weigh on global stocks again Wednesday while the Swiss franc drops dramatically after the country’s central bank cut its main interest rate target to halt the export-sapping appreciation of the currency. By Pan Pylas.
AP photo.
— EUROPE-FINANCIAL CRISIS — Italy’s borrowing rates hit a new euro-era high as a global market sell-off reignites fears that the debt crisis will engulf the eurozone’s third-largest economy. Premier Silvio Berlusconi prepares to address parliament Wednesday. AP photos.
KIDNAPPED GIRL FOUND
SAN FRANCISCO — A day after releasing disturbing new videos taken by one of Jaycee Dugard’s captors and a report highlighting law enforcement failures in the case, a California prosecutor joins a state lawmaker Wednesday to develop ideas for improving supervision of parolees. By Jason Dearen.
AP photos, video.
SCANDINAVIA-FAR RIGHT
STOCKHOLM — He feared immigrants and stalked his targets with a gun. The case carries echoes of Anders Behring Breivik — a lone gunman unleashing xenophobic fury in a shocking explosion of violence. And although the shooter who terrified the Swedish city of Malmo last year was less lethal, new revelations provide a daunting reminder of the current of ethnic enmity beneath the Nordic countries’ placid surface. By Jim Heintz.
AP photos.
NATIONAL
MISSING GIRL-NH
STEWARTSTOWN, N.H. — Residents of Stewartstown were saddened, and a little nervous, when they learned that an autopsy of 11-year-old Celina Cass did not determine how she died. Further toxicology tests and investigation are needed, officials have said. The community is looking for answers. By Lynne Tuohy.
AP photos, video.
POT TOWN
WILLIAMS, Ore. — Medical marijuana has taken root in this idyllic Oregon town like nowhere else in the state, with 20 percent of the population registered by the state to grow the drug. The issue became the talk of the town last summer when new Google Earth satellite images showed little green circles in neat rows all over the area. And 6-foot-tall fences that screen marijuana gardens from public view have become so common that a local pastor uses them as landmarks for giving directions. By Jeff Barnard.
AP photos. An interactive map details the number of medical marijuana growers in Oregon counties.
TRIBE-GAY MARRIAGE
SEATTLE — Standing up before dozens of Suquamish Tribal members at a general council meeting in March, Heather Purser told them she was a lesbian, and asked her people to recognize same-sex marriages at the tribe’s Washington state reservation. Even after four years of lobbying tribal members, the 28-year-old didn’t know how much support she had. On Monday, the Suquamish Tribal Council voted to ratify the people’s wishes and recognized gay marriage, making it only the second tribe in the country known to do so. By Manuel Valdes.
AP photos.
NATIONAL GUARD BONUSES
PORTLAND, Ore. — The National Guard will allow an Oregon recruit the $20,000 bonus it promised her in 2007, even though it believes the money was among $34 million worth of incentives improperly granted in recent years. The Guard confirmed Tuesday it changed its position in the case of Pfc. Chelsea Wells after congressional pressure to honor her contract. A month ago, it asked her to return the first half of the bonus, which she got in 2008, and refused to pay the second half — even though it didn’t suggest she had done anything wrong. By Tim Fought.
POLICE-HOMELESS DEATH
SANTA ANA, Calif. — The parents of a California homeless man demand the release of audio and surveillance tapes that they hope will shed more light on what led to a physical altercation between police officers and their son, who later died of his injuries. In video taken aboard an Orange County Transportation Authority bus, passengers say officers pounded 37-year-old Kelly Thomas’ face and hogtied him as he cried out for his father. By Gillian Flaccus.
AP photo.
SEPT 11-PEACE ACTIVISTS
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Out of the ashes of the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans, some relatives of the victims channeled their grief into the peace movement. The families argued the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and calls for vengeance were the wrong response to the terrorist attacks. They would rather the legacy of their loved ones be a rise in peace activism, and have spent the last decade trying to spread that message and prevent further suffering by civilians that they endured. By John Christoffersen.
AP photos.
— 80-YEAR-OLD TEACHER — An 80-year-old New York City teacher says she was wrongfully fired after complaining about a room assignment that forced her to shepherd her entire kindergarten class frequently to a distant bathroom on a bad knee.
INTERNATIONAL
TROPICAL WEATHER
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Tropical Storm Emily brushes past Puerto Rico and sets its sights on the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where more than 630,000 people are still without shelter after last year’s earthquake. By Trenton Daniel.
AP photo.
MALAWI-PRESIDENT IN TROUBLE
JOHANNESBURG — Malawi’s president faces growing international condemnation after anti-government demonstrations left at least 19 people dead last month. He’s expelled a British diplomat who criticized him publicly and alienated foreign donors to this impoverished southern African nation. It’s an unlikely turn for a man who was easily re-elected two years ago but whose demise has become intertwined with the ailing Malawian economy. “This old man has to go,” says one disillusioned taxi driver. By Nastasya Tay.
AP photo.
— SYRIA — Syrian activists say fresh blasts heard from inside besieged city of Hama. AP photos, videos.
— TURKEY-KURDS — Turkey files separatism charges against 106 former Kurdish mayors, politicians.
WASHINGTON
VIOLENT EXTREMISM-STRATEGY
WASHINGTON — Local communities around the country are best suited to take on the challenge of combatting the kind of violent extremism that inspires people to kill, the Obama administration concludes in a new national plan to fight the threat of al-Qaida and other violent radicals at home. By Eileen Sullivan.
— TAINTED GROUND TURKEY — Source still unknown of tainted ground turkey linked to one death in California; 76 others ill.
— PERRY’S PRAYER RALLY — Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s call for day of prayer and atonement shadows his potential 2012 bid. AP photos.
ALSO GETTING ATTENTION
— APARTMENT FALL-MINNESOTA — 11-month-old girl dies after falling from 9th floor window of Minneapolis apartment.
— OSCARS-GOVERNORS AWARDS — Oprah Winfrey, James Earl Jones, makeup artist Dick Smith to receive honorary Oscars. AP photo.
— NJ POLITICIAN-NUDE PHOTOS — Democratic NJ politician resigns after nude photos he sent woman appear on GOP activist’s website.
— WOODS RETURNS — Tiger Woods gets back to golf after a 3-month injury break.
— PAKISTAN-DRONES VS DIPLOMACY — AP Exclusive: An urgent phone call highlights diplomatic cost of US drones strikes in Pakistan.
— OFFICERS SHOT-SOUTH DAKOTA — Rapid City police chief: 1 officer fatally shot, 2 injured after confronting suspect in street.