AP - Residents and recovery teams began fanning out across south Texas at dawn Thursday and cars crept along roads with darkened stoplights as the region got its first look at the destruction left by Hurricane Dolly.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as climate and energy issues at Germany's chancellery Thursday, part of a tour aimed at lifting the first-term senator's international standing.

AP - Ford Motor Co. posted the worst quarterly performance in its history Thursday, losing $8.67 billion in the second quarter.

AP - Sales of existing homes fell more sharply than expected in June as the housing industry continued to be bruised by the worst slump in more than two decades.

AP - About 2 million Americans get a raise Thursday as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers.

AP - The towering trucks that give U.S. troops the best protection against roadside bombs and enemy bullets also make them vulnerable to routine hazards like sharp turns, rutted roads and rickety bridges.

AP - Batman star Christian Bale asked for privacy Thursday in his first comments since allegations he assaulted his mother and sister at a London hotel, saying the incident was personal.

AP - Japanese and Mongolian scientists have successfully recovered the complete skeleton of a 70-million-year-old young dinosaur, a nature museum announced Thursday.

AP - Jessica Hardy's first trip to the Olympics could be over before it began. The swimmer tested positive for a banned substance, leaving her just two weeks to pursue any appeals before the Beijing Games begin.

AP - CC Sabathia threw a three-hitter, his third straight complete game for his new team, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 on Wednesday night.

Reuters - U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama is expected to call on Europe to do more in hotspots like Afghanistan when he speaks in Berlin on Thursday in his only formal address of a week-long foreign tour.

Reuters - After Hurricane Dolly unleashed a fury of damaging winds and wicked rain on the U.S.-Mexico coastline and diminished to a tropical storm, widespread flooding along the populous Rio Grande Valley became the top concern on Thursday.

Reuters - Existing home sales fell more sharply than forecast in June and dragged the annual sales pace to a 10-year low, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday.

Reuters - Investors snapped up shares of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before Wall Street opened on Thursday, a day after the House of Representatives passed a massive rescue package to shore up the struggling housing market.

Reuters - Talks to salvage a global trade deal faced a crunch point on Thursday after three days of scant progress, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would not sign a deal in its current form.

Reuters - The Bush administration has proposed using counterterrorism funds from aid to Pakistan for the upkeep of Islamabad's F-16 fighter jets, the White House said on Thursday.

Reuters - A black-and-white interrogation video of Osama bin Laden's driver showed Salim Hamdan denying under questioning in a dark cell that he worked for al Qaeda.

AFP - US presidential hopeful Barack Obama discussed transatlantic ties with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday, at the start of a European tour aimed at burnishing his foreign policy credentials.

AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice led calls Thursday for restraint over a Thai-Cambodia border dispute and North Korea signed a non-aggression treaty during annual Asian security talks.