AP - Their control of the House in peril, Democrats are playing defense all across the country. Disgruntled voters, a sluggish economy and vanishing enthusiasm for President Barack Obama have put 75 seats or more - the vast majority held by Democrats - at risk of changing hands.

AP - Firefighters ramped up their fight Tuesday against a wildfire that forced about 3,000 people to flee their homes as the wind-whipped blaze filled the surrounding canyon with heavy smoke and spit flames.

AP - A Christian minister said Tuesday that he will go ahead with plans to burn copies of the Quran this weekend to protest the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks despite a warning from the top U.S. general in Afghanistan that doing so would endanger American troops.

AP - Maybe the language lovers who looked up "refudiate" this summer wanted to refute or repudiate its existence as a real word.

Reuters - Republicans in the Congress showed little willingness to help President Barack Obama approve $350 billion worth of measures to boost the economy with midterm elections less than two months away.

AFP - A tense maritime incident Tuesday in which two Japanese patrol vessels and a Chinese fishing boat collided near a disputed island chain triggered a diplomatic spat between the Asian giants.

AFP - Former France coach Gerard Houllier has agreed to join English side Aston Villa on a two-year contract, according to a report on the website of French sport daily L'Equipe on Tuesday.

AP - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard barely retained power on Tuesday when the last two independent legislators made kingmakers by deadlocked elections ended a tense 17-day standoff and agreed to join her government. Her next challenge? Keeping the unlikely bedfellows of her coalition together.

AP - A 36-year-old man who spent much of his adult life in prison was charged Tuesday with murdering a 14-year-old girl whose badly burned body was found behind an asphalt plant where he worked.

Reuters - Stocks fell on Tuesday, led by declines in financial shares as reports on the European banking system renewed worries over the sector's health.

AP - The flight attendant accused of onboard antics that captured the nation's attention when he told off a passenger and slid down the plane's emergency chute with a beer will undergo a mental health evaluation with the aim of avoiding jail time in a possible plea deal.

AP - Germany's intelligence service has turned over thousands of files on top Nazi Adolf Eichmann's whereabouts after World War II to a journalist who sued for them. But with so many passages blacked out and pages missing, she's taking the matter back to court.

AP - European Union nations agreed to create new financial oversight institutions Tuesday, hoping to prevent a repeat of the government debt crisis that nearly left Greece bankrupt and brought the European banking system to its knees.

AP - European Union nations agreed to create new financial oversight institutions Tuesday, hoping to prevent a repeat of the government debt crisis that nearly left Greece bankrupt and brought the European banking system to its knees.

AP - Hermine weakened Tuesday but continued dumping heavy rains on a northern crawl through Texas, barely holding on to tropical storm strength but leaving behind a path of widespread power outages and landslides in Mexico.

AP - A car bomb ripped through a police compound in a northwestern Pakistani city on Tuesday, killing 11 women and children and one officer, the latest in a string of attacks proving that Islamist militants remain a potent force in the country.

AFP - Much-vaunted EU plans to tax banks skidded into trouble after moves to clamp down on big-spending governments also hit buffers despite broad agreement on Tuesday to regulate the financial sector.

AP - World stocks fell Tuesday, particularly in Europe, where concerns about the health of banks resurfaced and EU finance ministers created new financial oversight bodies but failed to agree on a bank or trading tax.

AP - Motorists should see pump prices slide again after they spending a little more to fill their tanks over the Labor Day weekend.

Reuters - China's state-owned chemicals group Sinochem Corp has approached Singapore state investor Temasek to join a consortium that may bid for Canada's Potash Corp , sources with knowledge of the deal said on Tuesday.

AP - Turns out politics, for all its focus on the gloomy economy, is a recession-proof industry.

AP - Russia would have suffered less severe damage from wildfires this summer if authorities had engaged firefighting aircraft more quickly, a Cabinet member said Tuesday.

AP - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has asked the U.S. to settle a dispute with Israel over settlement expansion that is threatening to derail Mideast peace talks.