AP - Jason Kidd had 20 points and nine assists, Caron Butler added 16 points, and the Dallas Mavericks recovered from a lethargic start to match the NBA's longest winning streak this season with their 13th straight victory, 96-87 over the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday night.

AFP - Prospects for indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks lay in tatters after the Arab League came out against them unless Israel reversed its plans to build more settler homes in the occupied territories.

AFP - Prospects for indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks lay in tatters after the Arab League came out against them unless Israel reversed its plans to build more settler homes in the occupied territories.

AP - A 7-year-old boy who called 911 from a locked bathroom while armed robbers threatened his parents hugged and high-fived on Wednesday the sheriff's dispatcher who took his call.

AP - House GOP leaders are pushing rank-and-file Republicans to break their addiction to pet projects by going cold turkey and giving up the long-cherished practice of directing federal dollars to their home districts.

AP - On his first day as Dodgers interim manager, hitting coach Don Mattingly said Wednesday that the team has made overtures about him eventually becoming Joe Torre's permanent replacement.

Reuters - President Barack Obama declared on Wednesday the "time for talk is over" and urged the Congress to vote on healthcare as his health secretary directly challenged insurers to forgo profits to make coverage more affordable.

AP - Mexico's Carlos Slim, the son of an immigrant shopkeeper who amassed a $53.5 billion fortune and bought a major stake in the New York Times, became the first person from a developing nation to be named the world's richest person.

AP - Six years after he was traded away for the final pieces of Boston's World Series puzzle, Nomar Garciaparra finally got a friendly farewell from the Red Sox.

Reuters - Arab League chief Amr Moussa said on Wednesday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had told him he would not enter indirect talks with Israel, only days after the Palestinian side had agreed to the contacts.

AP - A troublingly high number of U.S. patients who are given angiograms to check for heart disease turn out not to have a significant problem, according to the latest study to suggest Americans get an excess of medical tests.

AP - Reports of sudden acceleration in the Toyota Prius have spiked across the country. But that doesn't mean there's an epidemic of bad gas pedals in the popular hybrid.

AP - Corey Haim, a 1980s teen heartthrob whose career was blighted by drug abuse, has died. He was 38. Haim died early Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said.

AP - Colleen LaRose spent long days caring for her boyfriend's father in a second-floor apartment in Pennsburg, a small town north of Philadelphia.

AP - Church abuse scandals in Germany have reached the older brother of Pope Benedict XVI and are creeping ever closer to the pontiff himself.

AP - They flew planes during World War II but weren't considered "real" military pilots. No flags were draped over their coffins when they died on duty. And when their service ended, they had to pay their own bus fare home.

AP - An open diplomatic row during the visit of Vice President Joe Biden has shined a spotlight on the U.S. failure to rein in Israeli settlement ambitions and deepened Palestinian suspicions that the United States is too weak to broker a deal.

AP - Democrats claimed momentum Wednesday in their drive to enact the sweeping health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama, citing near agreement on crucial issues despite persistent Republican efforts to knock them offstride.

Reuters - Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, knocking Microsoft founder Bill Gates into second spot, as the wealth of the world's billionaires grew by 50 percent over the last year, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday.

AP - A former Detroit city councilwoman was sentenced to more than three years in prison Wednesday for bribery after a federal judge refused to set aside her guilty plea during a stormy court hearing dominated by a dispute over evidence of other payoffs.

AP - A troublingly high number of U.S. patients who are given angiograms to check for heart disease turn out not to have a significant problem, according to the latest study to suggest Americans get an excess of medical tests.

Reuters - With Governor David Paterson enveloped in scandal, New York's lieutenant governor is leading the notoriously difficult budget process and freeing up his boss to fight for his political life, experts say.

AP - Nomar Garciaparra rejoined the Red Sox for one day and then retired, ending a 14-year career in which he won two batting titles with Boston and became a beloved player in the city.

AP - A long-overlooked group of women who flew aircraft during World War II were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday. Known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, they were the first women to fly U.S. military planes.