Diversity is not just a black-and-white issue, Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap said when she spoke to about 100 people at Rudder Theater Wednesday night. "There's so many different focuses of diversity," said Dunlap, a 22-year-old senior at the University of Central Florida.

An active storm pattern that is currently stalled over the Gulf of Mexico dumped more than three-and-a-half inches of rain in the Bryan-College Station area in the past three days, according to meteorologists at the National Weather Service in League City, Texas.

Karina Handoyo said she drives to Houston Aerodrome once a month to practice figure skating.As a member of the Aggie Figure Skating Club, Handoyo, a sophomore biomedical sciences major, said she loves the ice.

A report released last week indicated that local law enforcement agencies are more likely to pull over and search minorities. Local law enforcement officials said the report should be cause for some concern, but falls short of proving that profiling exists.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide driver blew up his explosive-rigged car Wednesday outside an army recruiting center in central Baghdad where hundreds of Iraqis were lined up to volunteer for the military, killing at least 36 people, U.S. officials and Iraqi witnesses said.

A tiny fossil discovered in the 1920s and then largely ignored has been identified as the oldest known insect, scientists report. The discovery pushes back the origins of Earth's most prolific life form some 20 million years. The new analysis of the 400-million-year-old specimen also suggests that it may have had wings, hinting that winged insects - and insects in general - arose much earlier than had been presumed.

WASHINGTON - Americans eat more than twice the salt they should but don't get enough potassium, an imbalance that fuels high blood pressure. So says a long-awaited nutrition report, released Wednesday by the Institute of Medicine, that sets the nation's recommended intake levels of key nutrients.

WASHINGTON - The nomination within reach, John Kerry's advisers are discussing strategies for sharpening his message, spending his money, airing TV ads and collecting a winner's share of the 538 electoral votes in November's general election. While the candidate focuses on defeating John Edwards and Howard Dean to sew up the Democratic race, parts of his mushrooming political team have put President Bush firmly in their sights.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Cable television giant Comcast Corp. made a surprise bid Wednesday to buy The Walt Disney Co. for more than $54 billion, a deal that would take advantage of Disney's growing vulnerability to create the world's biggest media conglomerate.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli troops rode tanks into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday searching for Islamic militants firing rockets at nearby Jewish settlements, and the ensuing battle left at least 15 Palestinians dead and more than 50 wounded.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) - A costumed Disney World employee was run over and killed by a float during a Wednesday afternoon parade at the Magic Kingdom. The death occurred in a backstage area near the Splash Mountain ride, said Jim Solomons, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate opponents of a permanent ban on taxing Internet access proposed extending a moratorium two years, saying their plan would soothe state and local officials worried about losing a tax base to new technology. The senators said Wednesday their bill would offer a temporary fix while Congress and federal regulators assess how to respond to the increasing use of the Internet for phone service and downloading videos, TV shows and music.