AP – President Barack Obama met on his own turf with top BP officials on Wednesday to press his demands that the London-based oil giant pay into a claims fund for victims of the worst oil spill in the nation’s history.

AP – BP began burning oil siphoned from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday as part of its plans to more than triple the amount of crude it can stop from reaching the sea, the company said.

AP – A series of powerful earthquakes hit Indonesia on Wednesday, killing at least three people, damaging hundreds of homes and triggering a brief tsunami warning that sent residents fleeing to high ground. Rescue officials said the death toll could climb, with several hard-hit remote areas yet to be reached.

AP – Home construction plunged last month and building permits also fell, the latest signs that the construction industry won’t fuel the economic recovery.

AP – A tropical depression has formed in the Pacific off Mexico’s southwestern coast and a tropical storm warning was issued for the area.

AP – Kurdish rebels have dramatically stepped up attacks in Turkey this month in an escalation that poses a dire threat to a remarkable attempt at ending one of the world’s longest guerrilla wars.

AP – More than 100 members of a Christian religious sect have barricaded themselves in an abandoned building in southern Malawi over their refusal to give their children the measles vaccine, a regional health official said Wednesday.

AP – Turkey sent hundreds of elite soldiers across the border into northern Iraq on Wednesday to chase a group of Kurdish guerrillas escaping after a failed attack on a Turkish unit near the border.

AP – Italian researchers believe they have found the remains of Caravaggio, but 400 years later some of the mysteries surrounding the death of the master artist may never be solved.

AP – Brunei’s sultan announced Wednesday he is divorcing his Malaysian wife after five years of marriage.