AP - Sen. Joe Biden has emerged as the clear favorite among Democrats to be Barack Obama's running mate for his understanding of foreign policy in grave global times and his fighting spirit against the rival Republican ticket.

AP - Iraqi and U.S. negotiators have completed a draft security agreement that would see American troops leave Iraqi cities as soon as June 30, Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

AP - A jetliner heading to the popular Canary Islands vacation resort crashed during takeoff Wednesday, turning a wooded area off the end of a runway into a hellish scene of charred bodies and smoldering wreckage. Some 153 were believed dead — Spain's worst air disaster in nearly 25 years.

AP - Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress and a strong critic of the Iraq war, died Wednesday after having a brain hemorrhage, a Cleveland Clinic official said.

AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain chided his Democratic rival on Wednesday for getting "a little testy" as Barack Obama sharpened his tone amid a tightening White House race.

AP - The United States and Poland signed a deal Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defense base just 115 miles from Russia — a move followed swiftly by a new warning from Moscow of a possible military response.

AP - Arms churning high, face twisted in pain as he sprinted toward the finish line, Usain Bolt kept glancing at the clock. The win in the Olympic 200 meters was a given, his second gold medal of the Beijing Games assured. This was now about a world record. About racing against history.

AP - Matt Damon's wife Luciana gave birth to a baby girl Wednesday, his spokeswoman said. The baby's name is Gia Zavala Damon, spokeswoman Jennifer Allen told The Associated Press, adding: "Everyone is great and she is a healthy, beautiful baby girl."