LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Britney Spears has completed her rehab program and left the luxury facility that shielded the pop singer from the media glare for the first time in her career, a news report said on Wednesday.

AP - Speculation about Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco's political future swirled for months amid criticism about the sluggish pace of the state's hurricane recovery.

AP - The Navy is refusing to detail its sonar use for a federal court in a case involving potential harm to whales, saying the information could jeopardize national security.

AP - President Bush's former envoy to the United Nations says using military force against Iran would be preferable to allowing the country to acquire nuclear weapons.

AP - A 23-year-old soldier from Texas charged in one of the worst atrocities in the Iraq war is considering a plea offer, his attorney told a Houston newspaper.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc. said on Wednesday it has started to ship to U.S. stores its new Apple TV box, a device that lets viewers take music and video stored on a computer and play it on a television set.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Repairing damage to a space-shuttle fuel tank from a freak hailstorm probably will push the next launch of Atlantis from April to mid-May, NASA planning documents show.

AP - The 12-year-old Boy Scout who survived on creek water for four days alone in the North Carolina mountains had told his tent mate before wandering off that he didn't want to go on camping trips anymore, a fellow Scout said Wednesday. The boy's father said his son told him he was trying to find a road to hitchhike home.

AP - Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that the views of his conservative critics, including Rush Limbaugh, are irrelevant to his work in California.

AP - Two Border Patrol agents investigating bundles of marijuana left along the Rio Grande exchanged gunfire with unseen assailants shooting from the Mexican side of the river, officials said.

AP - A woman was arrested on manslaughter charges for failing to take her 2-month-old grandson to a doctor for treatment that could have saved his life, police said.

AP - A teacher accused of having sex with a former student who was shot to death outside her home tried to commit suicide five days later with a drug overdose, Nashville police said.

AP - A butcher who hacked his wife to death on a Manhattan street with a boning knife because he believed she was cheating on him could now face life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder.

AP - A man charged with raping a woman in 2005 is now accused of killing her by slashing her throat because she had agreed to testify against him.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Food and Drug Administration study that found milk and meat from cloned animals was safe to eat was 'flawed' and did not adequately check for possible side-effects, a consumer group said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld a decision that exempted Internet telephone companies like Vonage Holdings Corp. from many state regulations and oversight.

AP - Actor Woody Harrelson's father, Charles Harrelson, died of a heart attack in the Supermax federal prison where he was serving two life sentences for the murder of a federal judge, officials said Wednesday.

AP - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked Congress on Wednesday to reopen a compensation fund to cover more Sept. 11 terrorism attack victims, saying the city could otherwise lose billions of dollars to lawsuits.

AP - Episcopal bishops meeting privately in Texas have rejected demands from the world's Anglicans that they provide an alternate leader for conservatives who oppose ordaining gays — a move that brings the church to the brink of expulsion from the Anglican Communion.

AP - Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that the views of his conservative critics, including Rush Limbaugh, are irrelevant to his work in California.

AP - The owner of the Sago Mine, where 12 men died after an explosion last year, said Wednesday it has idled the coal operation because of high production costs and weak prices.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Findings of a U.S. government study that would help pave the way for the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals was 'flawed' and failed to adequately check for possible side-effects, a consumer group said on Wednesday.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp. Chairman Howard Schultz on Wednesday said a memo in which he warned of the 'commoditization' of the company's brand was not meant to be leaked to the media and was not a criticism of the coffee shop chain's management.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Britney Spears has completed a month in rehab and left a luxury Malibu facility with a plea for privacy while she rebuilds her life with her two young children.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (Reuters) - As many as 1 million U.S. seaport and ship workers must undergo background checks and obtain biometric identification cards as part of a federal program aimed at improving maritime security.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More Americans are being hospitalized with very serious head injuries, and government statisticians say they don't know why.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Sago mine in West Virginia, where 12 miners died in an explosion last year, is being temporarily shut for economic reasons, its owner said on Wednesday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Smoking during pregnancy is known to boost the risk of attention problems in children, but a study published on Wednesday suggests that teens who smoke and were also exposed to nicotine in the womb are even more impaired.

AP - Frustrated by what they see as a lack of aggressiveness on the federal government's part, lawmakers in several states want to start doing something that has long been Washington's job: cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

AP - New York's Republican-led Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation Wednesday to move the state's 2008 presidential primary from March 4 to Feb. 5, where it would join California and a host of other states for Super Tuesday.

AP - A convicted child molester and his parents were indicted Wednesday on charges they molested and then murdered a 6-year-old neighbor boy, whose body was found last week in a trash bag dumped by a roadside.

AP - The owner of the Sago Mine, where 12 men died after an explosion last year, said Wednesday it has idled the coal operation because of high production costs and weak prices.

AP - Jason Pellegrino (an 8.2 on the attractiveness scale) says the problem with Internet dating services is not enough really hot-looking people. So he and a business partner have created HotEnough.org, a sort of online version of Studio 54, the exclusive '70s disco where gaining admission was a pitiless Darwinian exercise.

AP - You're not eating that! Put the phone down! Pull those earbuds out! And put down that bat; you'll hurt someone!

AP - Attorneys for a reputed Ku Klux Klansman charged with kidnapping in the 1964 slayings of two black men are opposing the government's efforts to keep jury selection secret and to sequester jurors during trial.

AP - The former lover of a woman accused of killing her husband and stuffing his remains into luggage testified Wednesday that they had both planned to leave their spouses and start a life together.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Britney Spears has completed a month in rehab and left a luxury Malibu facility with a plea for privacy while she rebuilds her life with her two young children.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is set to announce on Thursday the first legal action stemming from his office's wide-ranging probe into the student loan industry, people familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A lawyer accused of helping former media kingpin Conrad Black skim millions of dollars from one of the world's largest media companies made honest mistakes but is not guilty of fraud, his attorney told a jury on Wednesday.

DALLAS (Reuters) - Episcopal bishops meeting in Texas have called for a crisis meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury in a bid to resolve a divisive dispute over gay clergy in the U.S. branch of the global Anglican Communion.

MIAMI (Reuters) - The Atlantic hurricane season will be exceptionally active this year, according to a British forecasting group, raising the possibility that killer storms like Hurricane Katrina could again threaten the United States.

AP - A Fort Campbell soldier pleaded guilty Wednesday to being an accessory to the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the slaying of her family.

AP - A judge on Wednesday suspended the murder trial of a man accused in a 2005 courthouse killing spree because of problems the state has had funding his defense.

AP - The California Transportation Department shielded from public view details of at least 290 contracts worth more than $13 million, though there is no record the agency was given authority to strike the information from state records, an Associated Press investigation has found.

AP - A norovirus outbreak sickened at least 150 inmates and seven guards at the county jail, authorities said Wednesday as crews tried to decontaminate the building.

AP - A Chicago man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges that he plotted to recruit and train terrorists to attack U.S. and allied troops.

AP - The grocer, the butcher, a cabinet maker and several other members of the town's Mennonite community are planning to move to Arkansas over a Missouri requirement that all drivers be photographed if they want a license.

AP - A judge accused of trying to hide a beer after a drunk colleague he was riding with got into a car crash has pleaded guilty to illegally transporting alcohol.

NASSAU (Reuters) - Anna Nicole Smith's longtime lawyer and companion is appealing a judge's directive for a DNA swab test on the former Playboy Playmate's 6-month old daughter, the subject of a custody battle in the Bahamas, legal sources said on Wednesday.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Firefighters brave perilous smoke, flames and crumbling buildings as they work, but the deadliest threat they face is heart attack, researchers said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth will attend the Kentucky Derby, the pre-eminent American horse race, in May when she makes her first visit to the United States in 16 years, Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday.

AP - A Fort Campbell soldier pleaded guilty Wednesday to being an accessory to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the slaying of her family.

AP - The mayor of New York City asked Congress on Wednesday to reopen the government fund for victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks — and spare his city the prospect of losing billions of dollars in related lawsuits.

AP - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made nice with Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, calling in to his radio program a day after dismissing the conservative host as 'irrelevant.'

BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard University's undergraduate tuition will rise 3.9 percent next year to $31,456, increasing at a pace nearly double the U.S. rate of inflation, a Harvard statement showed on Wednesday.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. said on Wednesday it was recalling over 37,000 of its new 2008 model-year F-Series Super Duty trucks after reported tailpipe fires in the diesel version of the pickups.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly agreed to give popular middle class tax breaks top priority for renewal should the budget plan currently being debated produce a surplus in five years.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A lawyer accused of helping former media kingpin Conrad Black skim millions of dollars from one of the world's largest media companies made honest mistakes but is not guilty of fraud, his attorney told a jury on Wednesday.

AP - A soldier pleaded guilty Wednesday to being an accessory to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the slaying of her family.

AP - The owner of the Sago Mine, where 12 men died after an explosion last year, said Wednesday it has idled the coal operation because of high production costs and weak prices.

DALLAS (Reuters) - U.S. Episcopal Church leaders said on Wednesday they wanted to remain in the global Anglican Communion but rejected a demand they give up authority over conservative American parishes opposed to their stance on gay issues.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier who pleaded guilty in connection with the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family was sentenced to 27 months in prison, officials at Ft. Campbell in Kentucky said on Wednesday.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Hunters will now get cash and other incentives to kill wolves under Alaska's predator-control program that aims to protect moose populations, state officials said on Wednesday.

AP - An off-duty police officer in street clothes was caught on video by a bar surveillance camera beating up a female bartender half his size, authorities said.

AP - A man accused of killing a teenage student over an affair with his teacher wife said Wednesday he had been in denial about the relationship 'for a long time.' Eric McLean, 31, told NBC's Today Show in a jailhouse interview to be aired Thursday morning that he 'never had any suspicions' about his wife of 11 years.

AP - The city's airport will begin screening all employees who enter secure areas, action that follows the arrest of baggage handlers accused of smuggling guns onto a commercial flight, officials said Wednesday.

AP - A mortgage broker on Wednesday admitted he helped a real estate developer cheat a bank by falsely pledging to cover a $25 million check the developer had deposited from a closed account.

AP - A judge sentenced a man to 240 years in prison Wednesday for taking hostages in a bar and telling patrons that 'white people are going to burn tonight.'

AP - A child who brought a realistic replica of a gun to school told a teacher she needed it 'for protection,' police said.