National editor's pick of the top news stories in the nation and world at this hour:

Conflicting accounts of Oscar Pistorius shooting

A second day of conflicting accounts in the Oscar Pistorius case played out in a Pretoria bail hearing Wednesday, with prosecutors saying the Paralympic star was a flight risk and the judge putting off a decision on bail. The prosecution, arguing that the "Blade Runner" intentionally killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp when he shot her through a closed bathroom door early Valentine's Day, cited "nonstop shouting" in Pistorius' home overheard by a neighbor for an hour before the shooting. "One of our witnesses heard a fight, two people talking loudly at each other ... from 2 in the morning to 3," detective Hilton Botha told the court. Defense attorney Barry Roux cast doubt on that assertion by saying the neighbors lived 600 meters away, prompting prosecutor Gerrie Nel to say the witness lived 300 meters away. Pistorius contends that he got up to close a window, heard something in the bathroom, grabbed his 9mm handgun and fired through the door at what he thought was an intruder. Prosecutors also said they found testosterone and syringes in the home, but the defense said it was a legal herbal remedy. Police also found a bloodstained cricket bat -- which Pistorius says he used to break down the door when he realized Steenkamp wasn't in bed. The prosecution did acknowledge that there was no physical evidence that positively ruled out Pistorius' claims of having made a horrible mistake.

Jesse Jackson Jr. pleads guilty to conspiracy

Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. pleaded guilty Wednesday in Washington to conspiring to misuse $750,000 in campaign funds for personal items like a $43,350 gold Rolex watch and $9,587.64 worth

of children's furniture. The former Illinois congressman's wife, Sandra Jackson, who prosecutors say spent $5,150 on fur capes and parkas, was expected to plead guilty later Wednesday to filing false tax returns. Both could face years in prison, and he faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and forfeitures. When prosecutors charged the couple last Friday, the former lawmaker and son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said he accepted full responsibility for his actions. Jackson Jr. resigned from Congress in November after a medical leave and revealed that he suffers from bipolar disorder.

Defendant doesn't remember killing boyfriend

Jodi

Arias, who told police two different stories before she admitting killing her Arizona boyfriend in self-defense, told a jury Wednesday that she doesn't actually remember killing him. Saying that day in June 2008 was a "huge gap" in her memory, Arias said Trevor Alexander got furious when she dropped a digital camera while taking provocative pictures of him in the shower at his Mesa home. She said he body-slammed her and chased her through the house, and she grabbed a gun from his closet, which went off as they fought. She said she wasn't sure she had hit him. Prosecutors say she stabbed him 27 times, slashed his throat and shot him in the head. "Do you remember stabbing Travis Alexander?" her defense lawyer asked. "I have no memory of stabbing him," she said. She did claim to remember putting a knife in the dishwasher. She initially told police she knew nothing about the killing, then blamed it on masked intruders, then settled on a claim of self-defense. Asked why she didn't call 911 after the killing, she said, "I was scared of what would happen to me." She said she disposed of the gun in the desert to "throw the scent off for a little while."

Missing tourist found in hotel's water tank

Guests said the hotel's water looked and tasted wrong, and the water pressure was terrible. Then a maintenance worker at L.A.'s Cecil Hotel found a body wedged in a water tank on the roof Tuesday.

Police said the body was that of 21-year-old Elisa Lam, a tourist from Vancouver who could be seen on hotel surveillance cameras acting somewhat erratically in the elevator. Police were trying to determine whether the woman was killed or suffered "a very, very strange accident," Officer Sara Faden said. "The location of the water tanks is very small and configured in a very tight way so it's a little more difficult to get the body out."

Hoop-shooting sea otter's got game

Eddie the rescued sea otter, a resident of the Oregon Zoo, is 16 years old, and doctors looking at X-rays noticed he was getting a little arthritis in his upper limbs. So they suggested the zookeepers find a way to let him exercise those shoulders and elbows, and thus was born ... the basketball-playing otter. Yes, he can dunk, and he hardly ever misses, but keepers note that when he does he always comes right back for the rebound.

The Wire, a summary of top national and world news stories from The Associated Press and other wire services, moves weekdays. Contact Karl Kahler at 408-920-5023; follow him at twitter.com/karl_kahler.