AP - Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, who always has been afraid of flying, says he's glad to be alive after suffering severe burns in a fiery plane crash last month.

AP - Russian forces pulled back from positions outside Georgia's separatist South Ossetia region, bulldozing a camp at a key checkpoint and withdrawing as European Union monitors followed. A Russian general said the pullout would be completed Wednesday.

AP - Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain tried to rectify perceived shortcomings and played against type at key moments in Tuesday's presidential debate, but neither seemed to change a campaign dynamic that favors Obama for now.

Reuters - Britain offered to pump up to 50 billion pounds ($87.2 billion) into its biggest retail banks on Wednesday to help them survive the worst international financial crisis since the 1930s.

AP - Hurricane Norbert strengthened Wednesday to a Category 3 storm in the Pacific Ocean and was forecast to hit Mexico's Baja California peninsula by the weekend.