AP - A black bear walked into a New Hampshire house through an open door, ate two pears and a bunch of grapes, took a drink from the family fishbowl and grabbed a stuffed bear on its way out the door. Mary Beth Parkinson said the bear apparently took advantage of the open outside door to get into her kitchen Tuesday in Laconia, about 20 miles north of Concord. She thinks the garage door going up scared the bear enough that it fled the house.

Politico - The Oval Office is nearly as familiar an image as the president himself.

Reuters - Several U.S. government agencies are preparing a criminal probe of at least three companies involved in the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, though it could take more than a year before any charges are filed, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

AFP - Police have found the body of Lorenzen Wright, a 13-year NBA player missing since July 19, in a wooded area of southeast Memphis, the Commercial Appeal newspaper reported Wednesday.

AP - WikiLeaks' editor-in-chief claims his organization doesn't know who sent it some 91,000 secret U.S. military documents, telling journalists that the Web site was set up to hide the source of its data from those who receive it.

Reuters - Mortgage loan originators will have to be fingerprinted and sign up to a central registry to do business in future, according to final rules issued on Wednesday by the Federal Reserve and other regulators.

AFP - Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said Wednesday she would swiftly appeal a judge's ruling blocking key parts of a new state immigration law, vowing to take it all the way to the Supreme Court.

AP - The plane slowly descends from white clouds and sweeps over a panorama of a city destroyed by the Nazis: the skeletons of bombed bridges jutting from a quiet river, the empty walls of burned-out houses, the Jewish ghetto totally flattened.

AP - Lawmakers in the region of Catalonia thrust a sword deep into Spain's centuries-old tradition of bullfighting, banning the blood-soaked pageant that has fascinated artists and writers from Goya to Hemingway.

AP - More bystanders are willing to attempt CPR if an emergency dispatcher gives them firm and direct instructions — especially if they can just press on the chest and skip the mouth-to-mouth, according to new research.

Reuters - A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked key parts of Arizona's tough new immigration law hours before it was to take effect, handing a victory to the Obama administration as it tries to take control of the issue.

AP - A cloud of harmful smog has enveloped Moscow, raising airborne pollutants to four times the norm, officials said Wednesday, and prompting doctors to urge residents to stay indoors as the city swelters in a record heat wave.

Reuters - Russia marked its adoption of Christianity in 988 on Wednesday with a new public holiday, the latest show of Kremlin support for an Orthodox Church that has grown increasingly powerful since the fall of Communism.

AP - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday brought back furloughs for thousands of state workers until California passes a budget that addresses a $19 billion deficit.

The Atlantic Wire -