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DUBLIN (AP) -- Ireland plans to split its most troubled financial institution, Anglo Irish Bank, in two as part of wider efforts to reassure international lenders that the Irish are taking control of their debt crisis....

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Nevada had unrealistic growth expectations before the nation's financial meltdown battered the state's tourism industry and erased billions of dollars in real estate equity, an economist told a federal commission examining the causes of the Great Recession....

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The hidden face of the Emirates' economic crunch is in places such as Industrial Zone 18 and the ramshackle compound for about 700 migrant workers within. For more than six months, they have lived on charity, fought off rats and slept amid piles of trash after a construction company abruptly closed and left them jobless....

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Hungary will not seek any more loans from the International Monetary Fund or the European Union and will be able to meet its financing needs by selling bonds to international and domestic investors, Economics Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy said Wednesday....

LONDON (AP) -- The little-known body that organized this summer's stress tests into 91 EU banks defended itself Wednesday against charges that its assessment was not rigorous enough, particularly with regard to the banks' exposure to potentially-risky government debt....

PARIS (AP) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Wednesday to press ahead with his contested overhaul of the country's pension system and unions promptly announced new national strikes and protests, a day after bringing more than 1 million people to the streets....

LONDON (AP) -- A solid showing on Wall Street and a relatively successful Portuguese government debt sale helped Europe's stocks recover early losses Wednesday to close higher, though fears of a flare-up in the region's debt crisis lingered amid news that Greece's recession deepened in the second quarter....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks resumed their rally Wednesday after a successful auction of Portuguese government debt eased worries about Europe's financial system....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oracle Corp. plans to pay newly appointed co-President Mark Hurd a base salary of $950,000 annually and said the ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO is eligible for a target bonus of $5 million in the current fiscal year....

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- In an internal report released Wednesday, BP blames itself, other companies' workers and a complex series of failures for the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the drilling rig explosion that preceded it....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The lead BP PLC investigator is saying that eight separate failures had to occur for the company's deepwater well to unleash the largest offshore oil spill in history....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says that being mayor of Chicago isn't something that rolls around often and he's sure chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will take some time to weigh his options....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top two national security advisers in President Barack Obama's Cabinet on Wednesday denounced plans by a small church in Florida to burn the Muslim holy book to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, saying it would inflame tensions and put Americans abroad at risk....

No single election contest this fall combines the buzz and history-making potential of California's Proposition 19, which would make the state the first to legalize recreational use of marijuana....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that plans by a small church in Florida to burn the Muslim holy book are "outrageous" and "aberrational" and do not represent America....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Seldom visible in the Yemeni mountains, the elite U.S. commandos training the Yemen's military represent the Obama administration's quest to fight terrorism without inflaming anti-American sentiment....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- At his inaugural parade a half-century ago, President John F. Kennedy watched the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's marching unit pass him on Pennsylvania Avenue and declared it unacceptable. Not one cadet was black, he told an aide, and something ought be done about it....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates assured lawmakers Wednesday he expects Russia to abide by a new nuclear arms treaty, but that even if Moscow cheats it won't gain any military advantage....

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Sen. Russ Feingold defended himself as a "career politician" on Wednesday, challenging his Republican opponent to explain to him in person why that's such a bad thing....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is voicing unwavering opposition to extending Bush-era tax breaks for the nation's wealthiest families even for a year or two, drawing a sharp contrast with Republicans eight weeks before the November elections....