Rain continued to flood the Philippine capital on Wednesday, adding to the damage wrought by 11 days of monsoons that has inundated 60 percent of Manila, turning streets into rivers. Rescue workers face new dangers as they rush emergency aid to almost one million people in the city. Nineteen people have been killed since Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to 72 since typhoon rains began in late July. At least 850,000 people are stranded or displaced at temporary shelters, according to the national disaster agency, which has been asking people living near riverbanks to evacuate. "If there is a need for us to force them to leave their homes, we will do that for their own safety," said Benito Ramos, head of the agency.

Rebel forces said that they had been forced to pull back from parts of Aleppo after government forces launched a ground assault. One rebel commander said that they had withdrawn from parts of the Salaheddin neighborhood and that it looks as if “this is going to be a long battle because of the ammunition shortage.” He said the rebels need a supply of 60 rocket-propelled grenades per day to counter government tanks and armored vehicles. Other rebel commanders said government troops were massing at the southern edge of the city, and that troops had already taken back parts of Salaheddin. State television reported that the Army had “cleaned” Salaheddin and killed “terrorists.”

Having previously maintained that the Wisconsin Sikh temple gunman was shot dead by police, the FBI is now claiming that suspect Wade Michael Page died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head after he was hit by police. In a news conference Wednesday morning, FBI Special Agent Teresa Carlson told reporters that video footage showed Page shooting himself in the head after a police officer shot him in the stomach. She said that investigators have not yet “clearly defined a motive” for the Sunday shooting at the Sikh temple that left six worshippers dead, but agents have conducted more than 100 interviews nationwide, speaking with family, associates, and neighbors of Page. She also said 180 grand jury subpoenas have been issued. 

Gu Kailai, wife of Chinese politician Bo Xilai, is being tried for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. Gu and a household aide are charged with poisoning Heywood after a falling out over money last November. Political watchdogs say the two are likely to be found guilty in a Chinese state trial with such close international scrutiny. Gu faces anywhere between 10 years to life in prison, or the death sentence. Bo Xilai had been party chief of the city of Chongqing until this scandal forced a shameful ousting, shaking the country and exposing political infighting and corruption within the Chinese government.

Between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, a cluster of at least 30 earthquakes shook Southern California. The quakes were light and only three of them—including a 4.5 and a 4.4 quake—could actually be felt by residents of Orange County. There were no immediate reports of damages, but experts say there could be aftershocks in the area. "It shook us pretty good. We’ve felt earthquakes before so it came as no surprise,” said Chris Nordyke, director of marketing at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda. “It shook open the door but nothing fell off the shelves.”

After overcoming a tough Chinese team in the semifinals, U.S. volleyball stars Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh beat out their American teammates on Wednesday night to take the gold in the women’s beach volleyball tournament. They extended their Olympic streak to 21 straight wins by overpowering Jennifer Kessy and April Ross 21-16, 21-16. This is their third gold medal as a team. May-Treanor and Walsh also won gold in Athens and Beijing.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation announced a management shakeup Wednesday, with President Liz Thompson resigning and CEO Nancy Brinker taking on a new management role in the future. The news comes in the wake of the cancer-fighting organization’s controversial decision earlier this year to de-fund Planned Parenthood—and then re-fund the group amid a national outcry. Komen has struggled with turnout at some of its signature pink-ribbon races across the country this summer, citing both the controversy and the economy. Two members of Komen’s board of directors are leaving as well, the group said. Brinker will become chair of an executive committee as the group seeks a new CEO.

President Obama disagrees with the Boy Scouts of America’s policy banning gay Scouts and group leaders, according to a statement from White House spokesman Shin Inouye. Despite the criticism from up top, the Boy Scouts, a private organization, has decided to keep the controversial policy and says they don't have any plans to revisit the organization’s confidential review. Mitt Romney has also expressed opposition to the organization's stance. In 1994 he said, "I feel that all people should be able to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation," and his spokeswoman recently confirmed that his opinion remains the same. Gay rights activists have been ramping up their efforts to end the policy with online petitions and a symbolic returning of badges and medals by scouts.

News Corp. revealed a net loss of close to $1.6 billion on Wednesday after months of losses due to the company’s phone-hacking scandals. During the fiscal year ending June 30, the corporation spent $224 million due to investigations into the hacking, including $57 million in the fourth quarter alone. The media conglomerate also said that its decision to split its publishing and entertainment divisions is "on course." Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said that the company was "targeting to make its initial regulatory filings around the end of the calendar year."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seemed to have ignored all the warning signs in the days leading up to his estranged wife’s suicide. After her death, Kennedy told police that “she needed me to take care of her,” and according to the file, he had told Mary’s caretaker that he couldn’t do more for her because “she doesn’t want to help herself.” The caretaker along with Mary’s Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor contacted Kennedy just days before her suicide with concerns that she was not doing well. The 52-year-old mother of four was found hanging in her barn in May. Even after death Mary couldn’t escape controversy, as her siblings fought with her husband over where she should be buried.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says it is time to start preparing to prevent sectarian violence in Syria after President Bashar al-Assad’s regime falls, what she calls “the day after.” She said, “The intensity of the fighting in Aleppo, the defections, really point out how imperative it is that we come together and work toward a good transition plan.” Clinton is scheduled to hold emergency talks on Syria this weekend, and discussions are expected to focus on the period immediately after Assad’s fall. Clinton declined to guess when Assad would fall, but did say that the opposition is becoming “increasingly organized and effective.”

NASA’s new rover Curiosity just landed on Mars Sunday night, and it’s already behaving like quite the tourist. The rover, which is on the Red Planet searching for evidence that Mars once harbored or could in the future harbor microbial life, snapped its first color image of its surroundings Tuesday, revealing the north wall and rim of Gale Crater. The success of the picture proved that key instruments were in good working order following the rover’s dramatic descent to the planet’s surface Sunday.

Loughner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the shooting in Arizona that killed six people and injured 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. In exchange for the plea deal, the government will not seek the death penalty, and Loughner will receive an automatic life sentence. Rep. Giffords announced in a statement through her husband that she supports Jared Loughner's plea agreement. “The pain and loss” caused by the rampage “are incalculable,” Mr. Kelly said. “Avoiding a trial will allow us — and we hope the whole Southern Arizona community — to continue with our recovery and move forward with our lives.”

At 6:27 local time, Marvin Wilson was executed in Texas. The Supreme Court denied on Tuesday a stay of the execution on the grounds that Wilson was mentally retarded. Marvin Wilson was convicted of beating Jerry Williams, a police informant, and then shooting him in the head and neck at close range in November 1992. Wilson’s lawyers said their client has a low IQ of 61 and never progressed beyond the elementary-school level in reading and math. In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that mentally deficient defendants couldn’t be put to death, but left it up to the states to determine the threshold.

A suicide bombing killed three NATO troops when it struck a patrol in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province. NATO did not provide the nationalities of the troops who were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said that two insurgents drove vehicles with explosives into the NATO patrol and killed 17 troops. NATO disputed that figure, adding that only one suicide bomber has been confirmed so far and that he was on foot. The Taliban often claim wildly high death tolls in their attacks.

China plans to cut production of rare-earth minerals by 20 percent in an effort to consolidate the industry and aid the environment. New production rules in the country will close a third of China’s 23 mines and half of its smelting companies. The United States, Japan, and the European Union have all complained to the World Trade Organization that China is violating trade rules. Rare earths are 17 minerals that are used in most electronic devices, including smartphones, hybrid cars, and weapons. About one third of the world’s rare earth deposits are in China, but the country controls more than 90 percent of production.

Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan is a top contender to be Mitt Romney’s running mate, and that’s launched a heated debate in GOP circles. As House Budget Committee chairman, Ryan was the driving force behind the GOP’s controversial tax plan, and some say he could add some much needed policy heft to Romney’s rather general campaign. Others, however, argue that if Romney picks Ryan he will be inviting an unfavorable showdown over Medicare, since Ryan’s budget proposal would have revamped the program as a voucher-based system. The speculation over Ryan symbolizes a larger debate going on in GOP circles: whether Romney’s campaign should continue its cautious strategy of simply criticizing Obama until Election Day or adopt a more assertively conservative stance.


Kanye West lucked out. Kim Kardashian is perfectly fine with having inspired her boyfriend’s  new song “Perfect Bitch.” The reality TV star has reportedly said: “I’m honored. I love it,” adding, “I know he doesn’t mean it in a negative way when he says the word ‘bitch.’” Kardashian praised the song, saying that it “talks about how he was with so many other girls but could never find the right one until he met me.” The rapper tweeted yesterday, “I wrote the song ‘Perfect Bitch’ about Kim.” But the tweet was deleted soon after.

Ernesto has become a tropical storm and is expected to weaken, according to the National Hurricane Center. Even though it is no longer a Category 1 hurricane, the storm continued to hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula with heavy rain and 70 mph winds as of Wednesday morning. The storm is expected to emerge from the Yucatan into the Bay of Campeche on Wednesday afternoon, where it could build back to hurricane strength once again. As much as 12 inches of rain are expected in some areas and the storm will cause a surge of two to four feet when it hits the coast.

A fire that was reported at on the 88th floor of 1 World Trade Center on Wednesday was likely a false alarm according to officials. The fire was reported at 7:45 a.m., and it was supposedly extinguished by 8:30. But a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said that the fire was called in by a member of the public and it is belived to have been a false alarm. The report is believed to have been related to welding at the tower.

Mitt Romney may be trying to appeal to centrists and moderates as we approach Election Day, but that doesn’t mean his party won’t continue to lavish attention on the Tea Party. Next week the RNC will announce that former Texas solicitor general and current Senate candidate Ted Cruz, a favorite of the Tea Party, will get a prime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention later this month in Tampa. Last week Cruz beat Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the Texas GOP primary runoff. Cruz will be joined by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño, and Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens.


The latest Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS Poll found Barack Obama and Mitt Romney practically tied in the three key swing states of Colorado, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Romney has a 5-point advantage in Colorado, but that lead is within the poll’s margin of error. Obama leads Romney by 4 points in Virginia, but that is also within the poll’s margin of error. The poll found that Obama had a statistically significant 6-point lead in Wisconsin, but that figure pales in comparison with the 14 percentage points he won the state by in 2008. In all three states, women felt that the president would do a better job on health care, while working-class voters in all the states said that Romney would do better with the economy.

When the going gets tough, Randy Travis turns to the bottle…and to exhibitionism? The country singer was reportedly buck naked when cops arrested him for DWI, sources told TMZ.

Travis was arrested Tuesday night in Texas for driving while intoxicated and also charged with “retaliation and obstruction” for threatening to kill the troopers. Police arrived after receiving a 911 call that there was a man lying on the side of the road next to his wrecked car outside the town of Tioga. Travis had been involved in a single-car accident, according to police. They found him with minor cuts and bruises and a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath and several signs of intoxication.” Travis was also busted in February for driving with an open bottle of wine in his car.

July turned out to be the hottest month on record in the continental U.S., the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration reported Wednesday. The average temperature was 77.6 degrees, which beat out the previous record of 77.4 degrees set in 1936. This year is shaping up to be the warmest of any year on record, NOAA also said. Every state except Washington has faced hotter-than-average temperatures.

The ex-girlfriend of Wade Michael Page, the Army veteran who killed six people at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, was arrested for being a “felon in possession of a firearm.” Misty Cook was nabbed in connection to a South Milwaukee Police and FBI investigation. When the cops searched Cook’s apartment, they found a gun. Page had been living there earlier in the year. Cook, who had a prior felony conviction, had participated in white supremacist online forums—though she has not been accused of having a role in the shooting.

That’s got to feel good. U.S. sprinter Allyson Felix won her first gold medal on Wednesday, cruising to victory in the 200-meter sprint with a time of 21.88 seconds. The 26-year-old had come close to winning at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, when she took home silver in the event. Felix beat out teammate Carmelita Jeter, who came in third with a time of 22.14 seconds. The 200 wasn’t the only bright spot for American track and field. Brittney Reese won the long jump while Aries Merritt took gold in the 110-meter hurdles.

Remember Sandra Fluke? Last winter she went from anonymous Georgetown law student to household name after Rush Limbaugh called her a "slut" for thinking employer health care plans should include birth control. Now Fluke is joining Barack Obama on the campaign trail, introducing the president to an audience in Denver as he shifts his focus to women's rights and, effectively, women voters. The Obama camp has also enlisted the help of actress Elizabeth Banks to tout the value of Planned Parenthood and the president's dedication to women's rights. 

The United States Census Bureau is seeking to redefine the way it classifies races in its surveys. After a 2010 survey found that many people filling out the census forms felt limited or offended by their options, the Bureau has decided to address concerns about the current method of counting demographics. Proposed changes include plans to end use of the term “Negro,” new ways to identify Middle Easterners, and options for Hispanics to identify as a distinct category regardless of race. But changes won’t come without controversy. Some groups worry that their race or ethnicity will get a lower count if more options are available, since census data is used to determine more than $400 billion in federal aid and is also used to draw political districts.

In one of President Morsi's first crises, Egypt reportedly deployed attack helicopters to the Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday in retaliation for the shooting of 16 Egyptian soldiers on Sunday. The attacks also followed more violence in the area on Tuesday night when gunman carried out a series of coordinated assaults on government checkpoints and a military factory that injured at least two people. Egyptian security officials said that attack helicopters opened fire in an area called Sheikh Zuwayed, and state media reported that the attacks killed 20 people. The recent airstrikes are the first to be launched on the Sinai Peninsula in decades.

After Kristen Stewart was publicly caught cheating on Robert Pattinson with Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, it looks like the pair might be on, kind of, speaking terms. According to a friend who spoke with In Touch magazine, Pattinson has been drunk dialing Stewart, his girlfriend of three years. "Rob had been avoiding her calls, but now they're talking … well, they're barely talking," the friend said. "There's a lot of dead silence on the phone because there's not a lot to talk about." Pattinson has yet to comment on the affair, but Stewart issued a recent apology, saying, "This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry."