SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's lawmakers failed to agree on a balanced budget by the start of its new fiscal year on Wednesday morning, clearing the way to suspend payments owed to the state's vendors and local agencies, who instead will get "IOU" notes promising payment.

MORONI (Reuters) - French and U.S. aircraft joined the hunt Wednesday for possible survivors from a plane that crashed off the Comoros archipelago, while in Paris expatriate Comorans tried to block another flight by the same airline.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras faced growing pressure to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya on Wednesday after the Organization of American States set a 72-hour deadline to end a crisis triggered by a military coup.

SEOUL (Reuters) - A North Korean ship tracked by the U.S. Navy on suspicion of carrying a banned arms cargo may be returning home, a U.S. official said, as Washington cracks down on companies helping Pyongyang export missile systems.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called off a trip to Libya for an African Union summit Wednesday that would have given the hardline president another chance to appear at an international forum after his disputed re-election.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese web users flooded to a trendy art zone cafe Wednesday to celebrate a last-minute halt to a rollout of government-sponsored filtering software, and make a stand for freedom of expression in the Communist-run state.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Jeff Yeager's book "The Ultimate Cheapskate" came out 18 months ago, he felt like a voice crying in the wilderness telling people to ditch their cell phones, hoard their pennies and pay off the mortgage.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bizarre in life, Michael Jackson's complex personal affairs are taking even stranger twists in death, with sketchy reports on Tuesday of plans for an elaborate public memorial and questions over the parentage of his children.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top security adviser has told U.S. military commanders there are no plans to send more troops to Afghanistan for now and that the focus instead will be on economic development and reconstruction, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

With the uncertainty of the market these days, a lot of investors are running for cover with their retirement funds. No wonder sales of fixed annuities surged 74% for the first three months of 2009, according to research association LIMRA.

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U.S. stocks were set to open the third quarter with gains Wednesday as investors await reports on employment, housing, manufacturing and auto sales.

The Big Easy is making a big comeback. New Orleans has steadily won back some of the population it lost in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, according to a government report released Wednesday.

Jun. 30 - Thousands of Michael Jackson fans line up for tribute at Harlem's Appolo theater

Jun. 30 - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya appealed to the United Nations General Assembly to help him return to office.

Jun. 30 - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak meets with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell to discuss settlement policy.

Jun. 30 - Hundreds of reporters from around the world are camped outside the Jackson family home.

Jun. 30 - The latest celebrity news about Michael Jackson's funeral and concert ticket refunds

Critics of President Barack Obama's health care reform plan believe that he is backtracking on his campaign pledge not to tax health benefits. The administration, meanwhile, is not giving a strong reassurance to the contrary.

Drug cartels have "gatekeepers"  who control parts of the U.S.-Mexico border, and now Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Bureao of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have decided to share intelligence to fight them.