Nigeria: 800 inmates escape during prison attack (AP)

AP - A police commissioner says about 800 inmates escaped a prison holding Muslim extremists in northern Nigeria during an assault by gunmen.

New Zealand extends emergency following aftershock (AFP)

AFP - New Zealand authorities extended a state of emergency in Christchurch Wednesday after a powerful aftershock and doubled previous estimates of the damage bill from the disaster.

Sex, violence, Islam: Syrian TV soap raises drama (AP)

AP - In a new Syrian soap opera, a beautiful green-eyed young woman named Layla is torn over whether to take off the niqab, the billowing black Islamic garb that hides every part of her except her eyes.

China's Hu calls for stable ties with US (AP)

AP - Trying to smooth over recently rocky relations before a visit to Washington, Chinese President Hu Jintao told American officials on Wednesday that he wants to see healthy and stable ties between the two countries.

Demjanjuk health issues taking over trial (AP)

AP - John Demjanjuk attends most sessions of his trial in a hospital bed set up in the courtroom, wearing dark sunglasses and a hat pulled down over his face.

Australian government prepared to adjust mining tax (Reuters)

Reuters - Australia's fragile Labor government suggested on Wednesday it could adjust a planned profits-based tax on mining companies to bend to demands of the independent MPs giving it a slender grip on power.

Afghanistan: More voting stations to remain closed (AP)

AP - Afghan election officials said Wednesday that scores of additional polling stations will have to remain closed during the Sept. 18 parliamentary vote because of the deteriorating security situation in the country.

Servant testifies Filipino warlord ordered killing (AP)

AP - A house servant of the politically powerful clan accused in last year's massacre of 57 people told a Philippine court Wednesday that the family members plotted the killings of rivals and journalists over dinner six days before the ambush.

Weeks of rains leave thousands homeless in Mexico (AP)

AP - Tens of thousands of people have abandoned their homes across southern Mexico to escape flooding from weeks of torrential rains, and forecasts are predicting even more rainfall.

Suspected US missile strike kills 6 in Pakistan (AP)

AP - A suspected U.S. drone killed at least six militants in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday when it fired a missile at a house linked to a group that often carries out attacks on NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Koran burning will endanger US lives: Petraeus (AFP)

AFP - The US commander of the Afghan war has warned that his troops' lives will be endangered if a Florida evangelical church goes ahead with a planned burning of the Koran on Saturday's 9/11 anniversary.

NKorea asks South for flood aid despite tension (AP)

AP - North Korea requested a shipment of rice, cement and heavy equipment days after rival South Korea offered relief aid to its communist neighbor to help it recover from recent flooding, Seoul's Unification Ministry said Tuesday.