AFP - Australian koalas are dying by the thousands as a result of land clearing in the country's northeast, while millions of birds and reptiles are also perishing, conservation group WWF said Sunday.

AP - Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ? despite their robust cadre of economists and mortgage experts ? failed to heed warnings that the most dramatic housing bubble in U.S. history would burst.

Reuters - Several Russian ships and 1,000 soldiers will take part in joint naval maneuvers with Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea later this year, exercises likely to increase diplomatic tensions with Washington, a pro-government newspaper reported on Saturday.

AP - Powerful Hurricane Ike rolled down an uncertain path Sunday that may lead to the U.S. Gulf Coast late this week, forcing emergency officials to pay attention and leaving millions of people from Florida to Mexico to wonder where it will eventually strike.

AFP - European scientists were jubilant on Saturday after the pride of their space fleet, racing towards a rendezvous with a comet in 2014, enjoyed a close encounter with an asteroid likened to a "diamond in the sky."

AP - He's not known for his diplomatic graces, but blunt-talking French President Nicolas Sarkozy looks like Europe's best bet for making peace between Russia and Georgia.

AP - Ralph McClintock expected only a three-week mission when he boarded the USS Pueblo in January 1968.

AP - A super-sharp Earth-imaging satellite that can detail an area the size of a baseball diamond's home plate from space has been launched into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Central California coast.

AP - With the dollar a day he earns scrounging for scrap metal and paper, Jumadi can't buy his family beef or even chicken. But until now, the rail-thin scavenger could at least afford soy.

AP - TORONTO (AP) ? The Coen brothers' new movie gave John Malkovich a chance to blow off some steam. Malkovich's seething character in "Burn After Reading" bursts out in perpetual tantrums, a nice exercise in anger management, according to the actor.

AP - Haitians took to their roofs to escape rising floodwaters Sunday for the second time in a week as squalls from Hurricane Ike added insult to their misery, inundating homes and collapsing a bridge on the last open land route for aid to the desperate city.

AP - Skip Holtz followed his biggest coaching victory at East Carolina with an even more impressive one. Jonathan Williams had two short touchdown runs, quarterback Patrick Pinkney was nearly perfect and the Pirates routed No. 8 West Virginia 24-3 on Saturday for their third straight win over a ranked team.

Reuters - Tobey Maguire and "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi plan to reunite for the fourth and fifth installments of Columia Pictures' comic book franchise, dispelling speculation that a new actor would play the crime-fighter.

AP - Iraqi lawmakers end their summer break this week facing urgent tasks of approving a new election law and signing off on a still-unfinished security pact with the U.S. ? key steps in laying the foundation for a lasting peace.

AFP - A Republican lawmaker is calling for the Democratic head of a probe into vice-presidential pick Sarah Palin to be replaced, accusing him of exploiting the investigation for political ends.

AP - LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Anita Page, an MGM actress who appeared in films with Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford and Buster Keaton during the transition from silent movies to talkies, has died. She was 98.

AP - Tropical Storm Hanna rolled into Connecticut on Sunday, bringing heavy rain, wind gusts and oppressive humidity.