AFP - North Korea has told a visiting US delegation that it will miss Saturday's deadline to begin shutting down its main nuclear reactor but could start within 30 days, NBC News reported Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House wants to appoint a high-profile overseer to manage the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but has had trouble finding someone to take the job, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said it could start shutting down its nuclear reactor, now that a dispute over frozen bank funds has been settled, but Pyongyang will likely miss a Saturday deadline on the disarmament deal, NBC news said on Wednesday.

AP - North Korea's key condition for halting nuclear weapons development has been met now that frozen funds have been released, but it wants to delay a weekend deadline for shutting down its atomic reactor by a month, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

AP - Newly empowered to conduct oversight on the Bush administration, congressional Democrats are giving Alberto Gonzales and the White House little space to plan for the attorney general's Senate testimony on the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

AP - The custody dispute over Anna Nicole Smith's baby enters its next round Friday when a judge plans to discuss who will raise the infant after DNA tests showed Larry Birkhead is her biological father.

AP - Sen. John McCain, staking his struggling presidential candidacy on the Iraq war's outcome, embraced the unpopular conflict anew and defended his unwavering support for President Bush's troop increase.

Reuters - The White House wants to appoint a high-profile overseer to manage the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but has had trouble finding someone to take the job, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Reuters - North Korea said it could start shutting down its nuclear reactor, now that a dispute over frozen bank funds has been settled, but Pyongyang will likely miss a Saturday deadline on the disarmament deal, NBC news said on Wednesday.

AFP - The presidential election in troubled East Timor was heading for a run-off next month with three candidates virtually tied Wednesday after most of the votes were counted.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Companies including Procter & Gamble Co. and Staples Inc. are pulling advertisements from Don Imus' show due to the shock jock's on-air racial slur about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States announced new standards for renewable fuels for cars and trucks on Tuesday, but stopped short of committing to regulate greenhouse gases that spur global warming.

AP - Bodies lay scattered across two central Baghdad neighborhoods Wednesday after a raging battle that left 20 suspected insurgents and four Iraqi soldiers dead, and 16 U.S. soldiers wounded, witnesses and officials said.

AP - Rutgers basketball player Kia Vaughn doesn't know what radio host Don Imus meant when he called her and her teammates 'nappy-headed hos,' but she's sure that she's not one.

Reuters - The United States announced new standards for renewable fuels for cars and trucks on Tuesday, but stopped short of committing to regulate greenhouse gases that spur global warming.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 20 suspected gunmen were killed in a fierce day-long battle between U.S. and Iraqi troops in central Baghdad on Tuesday in which 16 U.S. soldiers were also wounded, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea says it will start moves to shut its nuclear reactor within a day of receiving millions of dollars blocked for 18 months in a Macau bank, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson told reporters on Wednesday.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The suffering of Iraqi civilians is worsening and there is no sign yet that a security crackdown in Baghdad is bringing relief, the international Red Cross said on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc. on Wednesday said it will eliminate 17,000 jobs as part of a broad restructuring plan designed to cut costs and bolster its long underperforming stock price.

PARIS (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, elaborating his views on evolution for the first time as Pontiff, says science has narrowed the way life's origins are understood and Christians should take a broader approach to the question.

AP - Iraqi Cabinet ministers allied to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened Wednesday to quit the government to protest the prime minister's lack of support for a timetable for U.S. withdrawal.

AP - A large explosion near the prime minister's office rocked the capital of Algeria on Wednesday, and a fire department official said at least 10 people have been killed.

AP - U.S. stocks headed toward a slightly higher opening Wednesday as investors waited for details about a major restructuring at Citigroup Inc. and minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting.

Reuters - At least 20 suspected gunmen were killed in a fierce day-long battle between U.S. and Iraqi troops in central Baghdad on Tuesday in which 16 U.S. soldiers were also wounded, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

Reuters - North Korea says it will start moves to shut its nuclear reactor within a day of receiving millions of dollars blocked for 18 months in a Macau bank, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson told reporters on Wednesday.

Reuters - The suffering of Iraqi civilians is worsening and there is no sign yet that a security crackdown in Baghdad is bringing relief, the international Red Cross said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Citigroup Inc. on Wednesday said it will eliminate 17,000 jobs as part of a broad restructuring plan designed to cut costs and bolster its long underperforming stock price.

AFP - The Iraqi people face an "ever-worsening crisis," the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday in a report highlighting the growing suffering of civilians four years after the US-led invasion.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 14 suspected gunmen were killed and four U.S. attack helicopters hit in a fierce day-long battle between U.S. and Iraqi troops and gunmen in central Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Bombs killed 30 people in Algiers on Wednesday in the first such attacks in Algeria's capital in years, raising fears of a return to the north African oil exporter's recent history of political bloodletting.

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas signaled a willingness on Wednesday to negotiate over the list of Palestinian prisoners it wants Israel to release in exchange for a captive Israeli soldier, but ruled out major changes.

AP - Iran has been training Iraqi fighters in the assembly of deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs, the U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.

AP - Bombs heavily damaged the prime minister's office and a police station Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens, the country's official news agency said.

AP - Citigroup Inc., the nation's largest financial institution, said Wednesday it will eliminate about 17,000 jobs as part of a companywide restructuring to reduce costs and improve profit.

AP - Republican presidential contender John McCain said Wednesday the four-year war in Iraq is 'necessary and just' and accused anti-war Democrats of being reckless.

AP - Democratic presidential contender John Edwards toiled on the early shift at the Sarah Neuman Nursing Home in Mamaroneck, a northern suburb of New York, waking patients, serving breakfast and living — for a few hours, anyway — the life of a $14-per-hour health care aide.

AP - Three members of Duke University's lacrosse team could learn as early as Wednesday whether state prosecutors will drop the remaining charges accusing them of sexually assaulting a stripper at a team party.

AP - Larry Birkhead, the biological father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, said Wednesday there is no need to share legal custody of the child, a day after DNA tests proved that he is the father.

AP - Snow follows the Cleveland Indians — only it doesn't matter much at their temporary home field in Milwaukee, where there's a retractable roof. After sitting through a weekend's worth of snow in Cleveland without playing a game that counted, the Indians finally got to play a home opener of sorts, beating the Los Angeles Angels 7-6 Tuesday night under the retractable roof at Miller Park — some 450 miles away from Jacobs Field.

Reuters - At least 14 suspected gunmen were killed and four U.S. attack helicopters hit in a fierce day-long battle between U.S. and Iraqi troops and gunmen in central Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Bombs killed 30 people in Algiers on Wednesday in the first such attacks in Algeria's capital in years, raising fears of a return to the north African oil exporter's recent history of political bloodletting.

Reuters - Hamas signaled a willingness on Wednesday to negotiate over the list of Palestinian prisoners it wants Israel to release in exchange for a captive Israeli soldier, but ruled out major changes.

AFP - At least 17 people were killed and scores injured in a series of car bombs that rocked the Algerian capital on Wednesday, including one that targeted the government headquarters.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Bombs killed 30 people in Algeria's capital on Wednesday, attacks claimed by al Qaeda that raised fears the north African oil exporter was slipping back into the intense political violence of the 1990s.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military in Iraq displayed more weapons it said were made in Iran and alleged militants were being taught in the Islamic Republic how to use roadside bombs that have killed scores of American soldiers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Possible Republican 2008 presidential contender Fred Thompson revealed on Wednesday he has a slow-growing form of cancer, now in remission, and he does not expect it to shorten his life.

AP - Prosecutors have decided to drop all charges against three Duke lacrosse players accused of sexual assaulting a stripper at a team party, a person close to the case told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

AP - Citigroup Inc., the nation's largest financial institution, said Wednesday it will eliminate about 17,000 jobs as part of a companywide restructuring to reduce costs and improve profit.

AP - Bombs heavily damaged the prime minister's office and a police station Wednesday, killing at least 23 people and wounding about 160, the country's official news agency said. Al-Jazeera television said it received a claim of responsibility from al-Qaida in the Maghreb for both bombings.

Reuters - Bombs killed 30 people in Algeria's capital on Wednesday, attacks claimed by al Qaeda that raised fears the north African oil exporter was slipping back into the intense political violence of the 1990s.

Reuters - The U.S. military in Iraq displayed more weapons it said were made in Iran and alleged militants were being taught in the Islamic Republic how to use roadside bombs that have killed scores of American soldiers.

Reuters - Possible Republican 2008 presidential contender Fred Thompson revealed on Wednesday he has a slow-growing form of cancer, now in remission, and he does not expect it to shorten his life.

AFP - Two car bomb attacks rocked the Algerian capital on Wednesday, killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 160 outside government headquarters and on the road to the international airport.

AFP - Bangladesh's main opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed has been charged over the murder of four people during political violence which racked the nation's capital last October, police said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a one-time favorite trying to shore up his troubled campaign, defended his support for the unpopular Iraq war on Wednesday and accused Democrats of putting politics ahead of U.S. security.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea says it will start moves to shut its nuclear reactor within a day of receiving millions of dollars blocked for 18 months in a Macau bank, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson told reporters on Wednesday.

OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming will damage the hunting cultures of Arctic peoples, thaw polar ice and could release toxic wastes now trapped in permafrost dumps, a U.N. study showed on Wednesday.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet on Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas under a U.S.-brokered deal but Israel made clear the focus would not be on steps toward a Palestinian state as Abbas hoped.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Help Wanted: White House seeks high-profile manager of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to coordinate competing agencies and make sure President George W. Bush's unpopular strategy is implemented.

AP - Bombs heavily damaged the prime minister's office and a police station Wednesday, killing at least 23 people and wounding about 160, the country's official news agency said. Al-Qaida's wing in North Africa claimed responsibility.

Reuters - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a one-time favorite trying to shore up his troubled campaign, defended his support for the unpopular Iraq war on Wednesday and accused Democrats of putting politics ahead of U.S. security.

Reuters - North Korea says it will start moves to shut its nuclear reactor within a day of receiving millions of dollars blocked for 18 months in a Macau bank, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson told reporters on Wednesday.

Reuters - Global warming will damage the hunting cultures of Arctic peoples, thaw polar ice and could release toxic wastes now trapped in permafrost dumps, a U.N. study showed on Wednesday.

Reuters - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet on Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas under a U.S.-brokered deal but Israel made clear the focus would not be on steps toward a Palestinian state as Abbas hoped.

AFP - Two suicide car bomb attacks claimed by an Al-Qaeda affiliate rocked the Algerian capital, including the prime minister's office, on Wednesday, killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 160.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Army soldiers sent to Iraq and Afghanistan will be required to serve up to 15 months in country instead of the current one year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Bombs killed 30 people in Algeria's capital on Wednesday, attacks claimed by al Qaeda that raised fears the north African oil exporter was slipping back into the intense political violence of the 1990s.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Three student athletes accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a black stripper at a Duke University lacrosse team party were cleared of all remaining criminal charges on Wednesday, authorities said.

HAVANA (Reuters) - He has not appeared in public for more than eight months, but on Wednesday ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro was back in his familiar role as chief critic of the American government.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four genes gang up together to help cancer spread throughout the body, researchers said on Wednesday, including one affected by arthritis drugs.

AP - Beginning immediately, all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours — three months longer than the usual standard, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.

AP - Prosecutors dropped all charges Wednesday against the three Duke lacrosse players accused of sexually assaulting a stripper at a party, saying the athletes were innocent victims of a 'tragic rush to accuse' by an overreaching district attorney.

Reuters - Army soldiers sent to Iraq and Afghanistan could be required to serve 15 months in country instead of the current one year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Bombs killed 30 people in Algeria's capital on Wednesday, attacks claimed by al Qaeda that raised fears the north African oil exporter was slipping back into the intense political violence of the 1990s.

Reuters - Three student athletes accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a black stripper at a Duke University lacrosse team party were cleared of all remaining criminal charges on Wednesday, authorities said.

Reuters - He has not appeared in public for more than eight months, but on Wednesday ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro was back in his familiar role as chief critic of the American government.

AFP - The United States expects North Korea to fulfill the terms of a landmark nuclear deal as a key deadline looms, the State Department said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a one-time favorite trying to shore up his slumping campaign, defended his support for the unpopular Iraq war on Wednesday and accused Democrats of putting politics ahead of U.S. security.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Robin Hood lives!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told environmentalists on Wednesday they needed to stop nagging and make their cause sexy, likening it to bodybuilding's evolution from a weird pursuit to mainstream.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Intelligence chief Mike McConnell on Wednesday unveiled a broad new program to enhance collaboration between agencies and expand the number of intelligence workers with Middle Eastern and Asian backgrounds.

AP - Iraqi militia fighters are being trained in Iran to build and use deadly armor-piercing roadside bombs and complex attack strategies against American forces, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

AP - Al-Qaida's new wing in North Africa claimed responsibility for suicide bombings that ripped through the prime minister's office and a police station in Algeria on Wednesday, killing at least 24 people. The attacks highlighted the menacing spread of Islamic militancy across North Africa.

AP - The Phoenix Coyotes cleaned out their front office, firing general manager Mike Barnett, director of hockey operations Cliff Fletcher and assistant general manager Laurence Gilman, a person with knowledge of the move said Wednesday.

Reuters - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a one-time favorite trying to shore up his slumping campaign, defended his support for the unpopular Iraq war on Wednesday and accused Democrats of putting politics ahead of U.S. security.

Reuters - Robin Hood lives!

Reuters - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told environmentalists on Wednesday they needed to stop nagging and make their cause sexy, likening it to bodybuilding's evolution from a weird pursuit to mainstream.

AFP - The United States expects North Korea to meet a Saturday deadline to fulfil its side of a landmark deal to rein in its nuclear programme, officials said Wednesday, as news came from the reclusive state that its premier had been sacked.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. soldiers will serve up to 15 months in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of one year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday, the latest sign of the strain the wars have placed on the U.S. military.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday to lift a key restriction by President George W. Bush on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Calls for Don Imus' head sounded loudly on Wednesday, as the ranks of advertisers dropping their support and activists vowing not to rest until he is off the air grew.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Climate change could diminish North American water supplies and trigger disputes between the United States and Canada over water reserves already stressed by industry and agriculture, U.N. experts said on Wednesday.

AP - MSNBC said Wednesday it will drop its simulcast of the 'Imus in the Morning' radio program, responding to growing outrage about the radio host's racial slur against the Rutgers women's basketball team.

AP - A stubborn Senate voted Wednesday to ease restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, ignoring President Bush's threat of a second veto on legislation designed to lead to new medical treatments.

AP - Stretched thin by four years of war, the Army is adding three months to the standard yearlong tour for all active-duty soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, an extraordinary step aimed at maintaining the troop buildup in Baghdad.

AP - Strengthening a fragile detente, Japanese and Chinese leaders meeting in Tokyo pledged Wednesday to work together on North Korea, energy development and the environment, while defusing thorny disputes over history and territory.

AP - They began arriving soon after the sun came up over the piney woods: football greats, government figures and everyday people — all of them there to say goodbye to former Grambling football coach Eddie Robinson.

Reuters - U.S. soldiers will serve up to 15 months in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of one year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday, the latest sign of the strain the wars have placed on the U.S. military.

Reuters - The Democratic-led U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday to lift a key restriction by President George W. Bush on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

Reuters - Calls for Don Imus' head sounded loudly on Wednesday, as the ranks of advertisers dropping their support and activists vowing not to rest until he is off the air grew.

Reuters - Climate change could diminish North American water supplies and trigger disputes between the United States and Canada over water reserves already stressed by industry and agriculture, U.N. experts said on Wednesday.

NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters Life!) - Syndicated radio and television host Don Imus was dumped from television by MSNBC on Wednesday as major advertisers abandoned him and activists vowed not to rest until he was off the airwaves altogether.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday for city police officers to be deployed in peacekeeping units while the mayor's delegation in turn warned of fire hazards at U.N. headquarters.

AP - MSNBC said Wednesday it will drop its simulcast of the 'Imus in the Morning' radio program, responding to growing outrage about the radio host's racial slur against the Rutgers women's basketball team.

AP - 'Girls Gone Wild' creator Joseph Francis was indicted Wednesday on charges that his companies, which sell videos of topless young women, claimed more than $20 million in false business expenses.

Reuters - Syndicated radio and television host Don Imus was dumped from television by MSNBC on Wednesday as major advertisers abandoned him and activists vowed not to rest until he was off the airwaves altogether.

Reuters - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday for city police officers to be deployed in peacekeeping units while the mayor's delegation in turn warned of fire hazards at U.N. headquarters.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Syndicated radio and television host Don Imus was dumped from television by MSNBC on Wednesday as major advertisers abandoned him and activists vowed not to rest until he was off the airwaves altogether.

AP - The first film pairing of kung fu stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li will tell the tale of an American teenager's fantasy journey to ancient China to rescue a mythological monkey king, the film's U.S. distributor said Wednesday.

AP - Fans were treated to a great pitching performance in Daisuke Matsuzaka's Fenway Park debut — only it was by Felix Hernandez. Seattle's pitching phenom didn't allow a hit until J.D. Drew singled on his first pitch of the eighth inning, and the Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox 3-0 Wednesday night in the heralded first major league matchup between Dice-K and Ichiro Suzuki.

Reuters - Syndicated radio and television host Don Imus was dumped from television by MSNBC on Wednesday as major advertisers abandoned him and activists vowed not to rest until he was off the airwaves altogether.