AP - Using his trusty BB gun to help him return to Earth, a 48-year-old gas station owner flew a lawn chair rigged with helium-filled balloons more than 200 miles across the Oregon desert Saturday, landing in a field in Idaho.

Reuters - A current slump in the global automotive sector could give fresh impetus to plans for consolidation within the industry, the head of French carmaker Renault said on Saturday.

AP - Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer.

AP - Thrilled as she was to win her fifth Wimbledon singles championship, Venus Williams dialed down her celebration. No hopping in place and skipping to the net after match point, the way she's done so often on that Centre Court lawn. No giddy laughter and whoops of joy, as she's let out in the past.

Reuters - U.S. employers cut workers for a sixth straight month in June for the longest such streak since 2002 and the country's vast service sector unexpectedly contracted, underscoring the economy's frailty.

AP - Is Barack Obama close to being shadowed by giant flip-flops and, worse, having the image stick with people all the way to the voting booth?

AFP - Fast asleep in the forests of the Rhodope mountains, this former miners' town, like a lot of other near-forgotten places in Bulgaria, is hoping for an EU financial kiss to waken from its slumber and start pulling in the tourists.