ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich claimed victory on Tuesday as the first Democrat elected to Congress by Alaska in more than a quarter of a century, unseating powerful Sen. Ted Stevens who was convicted last month of corruption after decades in the U.S. Senate.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at a house in northwestern Pakistan Wednesday, killing at least four suspected foreign militants, intelligence officers and a government official said.

AP - Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in Senate history, narrowly lost his re-election bid Tuesday, marking the downfall of a Washington political power and Alaska icon who couldn't survive a conviction on federal corruption charges. His defeat by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich moves Senate Democrats within two seats of a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

Reuters - Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich claimed victory on Tuesday as the first Democrat elected to Congress by Alaska in more than a quarter of a century, unseating powerful Sen. Ted Stevens who was convicted last month of corruption after decades in the U.S. Senate.

Reuters - A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at a house in northwestern Pakistan Wednesday, killing at least four suspected foreign militants, intelligence officers and a government official said.

AFP - Somali pirate attacks have spun 'out of control', becoming more violent, frequent and extending further from the attackers' bases, a maritime watchdog said Wednesday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's No.3 bank joined larger rivals seeking to raise funds to counter growing bad loans, deepening the economic gloom in Asia Wednesday, as markets fretted over the fate of the sinking U.S. car industry.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates have seized another ship, a Greek bulk carrier, despite a large international naval presence in the waters off their lawless country, a regional maritime group said Wednesday.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian returned to jail on Wednesday from almost three days of hospital care following a hunger strike, as supporters prepared to protest his arrest, which they call a political plot.

AP - Sen. Ted Stevens' election defeat marks the end of an era in which he held a commanding place in Alaska politics while wielding power on some of the most influential committees in Congress.

AP - Detroit's Big Three automakers are running out of time in their quest to convince skeptical lawmakers that Congress should throw them a $25 billion lifeline.

AP - The first black man elected U.S. president is poised to name Washington lawyer Eric Holder as the nation's first black attorney general — a historic appointment but one with some potential political problems over a 2001 pardon.

AP - Flight controllers were revamping plans Wednesday for the remaining spacewalks planned during space shuttle Endeavour's visit to the international space station, after a crucial tool bag floated out to space during a repair trip.

Reuters - Japan's No.3 bank joined larger rivals seeking to raise funds to counter growing bad loans, deepening the economic gloom in Asia Wednesday, as markets fretted over the fate of the sinking U.S. car industry.

Reuters - Somali pirates have seized another ship, a Greek bulk carrier, despite a large international naval presence in the waters off their lawless country, a regional maritime group said Wednesday.

Reuters - Former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian returned to jail on Wednesday from almost three days of hospital care following a hunger strike, as supporters prepared to protest his arrest, which they call a political plot.

AFP - An international watchdog said Wednesday that piracy in Somalia was 'out of control' and called on the United Nations to step in after a Saudi supertanker was hijacked with 100 million dollars of oil.

AFP - Germany was set Wednesday to extradite a Rwandan presidential aide to France to face anti-terror judges probing the downing of the former Rwandan president's jet, an attack which triggered a genocide.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's No.3 bank joined larger rivals seeking to raise funds to counter growing bad loans, deepening the economic gloom in Asia Wednesday, as markets fretted over the fate of the sinking U.S. car industry.

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks and oil fell on Wednesday while government bonds and the yen gained as U.S. automakers begged for a bailout from Washington, adding to evidence that the credit crisis is crippling the real economy.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and gunmen from Somalia seized two more vessels despite a large international naval presence off their lawless country.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will impose a long-awaited fuel tax 'very soon,' the head of National Development and Reform Commission's (NDRC) Energy Research Institute said in comments reported on Tuesday by the China Daily.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Congolese Tutsi rebels were pulling back south 'in the hundreds' from frontline positions in North Kivu province in a gesture to support a United Nations peace initiative, a U.N. military spokesman said on Wednesday.

AP - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton drew about 18 million votes as a presidential candidate. But that doesn't necessarily count for much in the Senate, where seniority rules, and so far not in her favor.

AP - With a trio of once-ferocious wildfires reduced to mostly embers, authorities in Southern California shifted their attention from the blazes to their causes, and said a group of careless college kids was behind the first of them.

AP - Before the Cavaliers' rout of New Jersey, LeBron James said he would not hesitate to leave Cleveland if another franchise offers him a better chance to win multiple NBA titles.

Reuters - World stocks and oil fell on Wednesday while government bonds and the yen gained as U.S. automakers begged for a bailout from Washington, adding to evidence that the credit crisis is crippling the real economy.

Reuters - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and gunmen from Somalia seized two more vessels despite a large international naval presence off their lawless country.

Reuters - China will impose a long-awaited fuel tax 'very soon,' the head of National Development and Reform Commission's (NDRC) Energy Research Institute said in comments reported on Tuesday by the China Daily.

Reuters - Congolese Tutsi rebels were pulling back south 'in the hundreds' from frontline positions in North Kivu province in a gesture to support a United Nations peace initiative, a U.N. military spokesman said on Wednesday.

AFP - An Indian warship opened fire at a Somali pirate 'mother ship', the navy said Wednesday, as bandits demanded a ransom for a Saudi super-tanker seized in the most daring sea raid yet.

LONDON (Reuters) - China has told police to ensure stability as its economy slows, Japan's No.3 bank sought to beef up its depleted capital on Wednesday and markets fretted about the stricken U.S. car industry.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stem cells from tiny embryos can be used to restore lost hearing and vision in animals, researchers said Tuesday in what they believe is a first step toward helping people.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A proposal to extend the Russian president's term by two years moved closer to becoming law on Wednesday when the lower house of parliament approved it on its penultimate reading.

AP - American consumers hit by a seemingly endless stream of bad news, from vanishing jobs to shrinking retirement accounts, may be in for a small dose of relief: lower prices at stores. The Consumer Price Index, the country's most closely watched inflation gauge, probably will show a dip of 0.5 percent in October, after being flat in September, when that report is released Wednesday, according to economists' forecasts.

AP - The senior Republican on the Banking Committee, said Wednesday he doesn't believe there will be a turnaround in the troubled U.S. auto industry until its top management is ousted and its manufacturing operations are revamped.

AP - An Indian naval vessel sank a suspected pirate 'mother ship' in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats into the night, officials said Wednesday, as separate bands of brigands seized Thai and Iranian ships in the lawless seas.

AP - A 74-year-old blind woman's 1 cent debt to a Massachusetts city has been settled.

AP - Brian Scalabrine, in the starting lineup while Kevin Garnett served a one-game suspension, hit a 3-pointer with 1:14 left to help Boston recover after its 15-point, fourth-quarter lead was trimmed to four and the Celtics beat New York 110-101 on Tuesday night.

Reuters - China has told police to ensure stability as its economy slows, Japan's No.3 bank sought to beef up its depleted capital on Wednesday and markets fretted about the stricken U.S. car industry.

Reuters - World stocks and oil fell on Wednesday while government bonds and the yen gained as U.S. car makers begged for a bailout from Washington, adding to evidence that the credit crisis is hitting the real economy.

Reuters - Stem cells from tiny embryos can be used to restore lost hearing and vision in animals, researchers said Tuesday in what they believe is a first step toward helping people.

AFP - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate 'mother vessel' in the Gulf of Aden, the navy said Wednesday, as bandits demanded a ransom for a Saudi super-tanker seized in the most daring sea raid yet.

AFP - Germany was to extradite to France on Wednesday an old comrade-in-arms of Rwanda's president over an assassination that triggered 1994's genocide, sparking mass anti-European protests in Kigali.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer prices dropped at the fastest rate on record in October and new home construction was at a record low, according to government reports on Wednesday that underlined how rapidly the economy was weakening.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's second-in-command urged Muslims to continue attacks on 'criminal' America and slammed U.S. president-elect Barack Obama for vowing to back Israel during his campaign.

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks and oil fell on Wednesday while government bonds and the yen gained as U.S. car makers begged for a bailout from Washington, adding to evidence that the credit crisis is hitting the real economy.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at a house in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five suspected militants, possibly including an Arab al Qaeda operative, intelligence officials said.

KANYABAYONGA, Congo (Reuters) - Hundreds of Congolese rebel fighters pulled back on Wednesday from frontline positions in a move U.N. peacekeepers hoped would open the way for talks on ending weeks of conflict in east Congo.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Iranian banks are operating in the Gulf financial hub of Dubai despite U.N. sanctions and authorities should keep a close eye on them, a U.S. official involved in tracking suspicious financial activity said on Wednesday.

VIENNA (Reuters) - The election of Barack Obama as U.S. president has given crucial impetus toward implementing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty more than a decade after it was negotiated, pact officials said on Wednesday.

AP - Consumer prices plunged by the largest amount in the past 61 years in October as gasoline pump prices dropped by a record amount.

AP - Former President Bill Clinton has offered several concessions to help Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his wife, become secretary of state, people familiar with President-elect Barack Obama's transition vetting process said Wednesday.

AP - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, using a demeaning racial term implying that the president-elect is a black American who does the bidding of whites.

AP - Sen. Ted Stevens' election defeat marks the end of an era in which he held a commanding place in Alaska politics while wielding power on some of the most influential committees in Congress.

Reuters - Consumer prices dropped at the fastest rate on record in October and new home construction was at a record low, according to government reports on Wednesday that underlined how rapidly the economy was weakening.

Reuters - Al Qaeda's second-in-command urged Muslims to continue attacks on 'criminal' America and slammed U.S. president-elect Barack Obama for vowing to back Israel during his campaign.

Reuters - World stocks and oil fell on Wednesday while government bonds and the yen gained as U.S. car makers begged for a bailout from Washington, adding to evidence that the credit crisis is hitting the real economy.

Reuters - A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at a house in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five suspected militants, possibly including an Arab al Qaeda operative, intelligence officials said.

Reuters - Hundreds of Congolese rebel fighters pulled back on Wednesday from frontline positions in a move U.N. peacekeepers hoped would open the way for talks on ending weeks of conflict in east Congo.

Reuters - Iranian banks are operating in the Gulf financial hub of Dubai despite U.N. sanctions and authorities should keep a close eye on them, a U.S. official involved in tracking suspicious financial activity said on Wednesday.

Reuters - The election of Barack Obama as U.S. president has given crucial impetus toward implementing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty more than a decade after it was negotiated, pact officials said on Wednesday.

AFP - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate 'mother vessel' in the Gulf of Aden, the navy said Wednesday, as bandits demanded a ransom for a Saudi super-tanker seized in the most daring sea raid yet.

AFP - Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri warned US president-elect Barack Obama against sending more troops to Afghanistan, in an Internet audiomessage released on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has offered to allow ethics reviews of future business and charitable activities should his wife be picked by President-elect Barack Obama as secretary of state, Democrats familiar with the issue said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Auto executives headed to Capitol Hill for a second day to argue their case for a $25 billion aid package in the face of mounting political opposition to another huge government bailout.

VIENNA (Reuters) - A Syrian complex bombed by Israel bore features resembling those of an undeclared nuclear reactor and Syria must cooperate more with U.N. inspectors, a watchdog report said on Wednesday.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and gunmen from Somalia seized two more vessels despite a large international naval presence off their lawless country.

AP - The top Senate Democrat sought Wednesday to lower expectations for legislation this week to help endangered carmakers, saying it would be the Bush administration's job to save the industry if Congress doesn't.

Reuters - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has offered to allow ethics reviews of future business and charitable activities should his wife be picked by President-elect Barack Obama as secretary of state, Democrats familiar with the issue said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Auto executives headed to Capitol Hill for a second day to argue their case for a $25 billion aid package in the face of mounting political opposition to another huge government bailout.

Reuters - A Syrian complex bombed by Israel bore features resembling those of an undeclared nuclear reactor and Syria must cooperate more with U.N. inspectors, a watchdog report said on Wednesday.

Reuters - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and gunmen from Somalia seized two more vessels despite a large international naval presence off their lawless country.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Auto executives appeared on Capitol Hill for a second day on Wednesday to argue their case for a $25 billion aid package as legislators in both houses and in both parties seemed to move closer to a deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama has chosen former U.S. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle as his top official to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, two Democratic sources said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will loosen terms of its foreclosure-prevention effort so that the program, meant to backstop $300 billion in home loans, can be more effective, the agency said on Wednesday.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's second-in-command urged Muslims to keep up attacks on the 'criminal' United States and criticized U.S. president-elect Barack Obama for promising to back Israel.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Wednesday that Israel had made a final decision not to participate in a U.N. forum on racism and urged other countries to boycott what she termed an 'anti-Israel tribunal.'

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - An Indian warship blew up a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and gunmen from Somalia seized two more vessels despite a large international naval presence off their lawless country.

AP - Top Senate Democrats suggested Wednesday that a bill to rescue Detroit's Big Three automakers was stalled and called on the Bush administration to take steps to help save the industry if congressional efforts falter.

AP - The health insurance industry said Wednesday it will support a national health care overhaul that requires them to accept all customers, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions, but in return it wants lawmakers to mandate that everyone buy coverage.

AP - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites.

AP - Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's offer to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, Democratic officials said Wednesday.

AP - Scientists for the first time have unraveled much of the genetic code of an extinct animal, the ice age's woolly mammoth, and with it they are thawing Jurassic Park dreams.

AP - Suri Cruise is the most popular kid on the playground. The 2-year-old daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes tops Forbes.com's second annual list of 'Hollywood's 10 Hottest Tots.'

AP - Don Wakamatsu became the first Asian-American manager in major league baseball history when he was hired Wednesday by the Seattle Mariners.

Reuters - Auto executives appeared on Capitol Hill for a second day on Wednesday to argue their case for a $25 billion aid package as legislators in both houses and in both parties seemed to move closer to a deal.

Reuters - Barack Obama has chosen former U.S. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle as his top official to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, two Democratic sources said on Wednesday.

Reuters - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will loosen terms of its foreclosure-prevention effort so that the program, meant to backstop $300 billion in home loans, can be more effective, the agency said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Al Qaeda's second-in-command urged Muslims to keep up attacks on the 'criminal' United States and criticized U.S. president-elect Barack Obama for promising to back Israel.

Reuters - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Wednesday that Israel had made a final decision not to participate in a U.N. forum on racism and urged other countries to boycott what she termed an 'anti-Israel tribunal.'

AFP - Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri ridiculed US president-elect Barack Obama and warned him against sending more troops to Afghanistan, in an Internet audio-message released on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve officials slashed economic growth forecasts through 2009 and some believed even deeper interest rate cuts may be needed if growth slows further, minutes of their October policy meeting show.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's deputy leader accused Barack Obama of betraying his race and his father's Muslim heritage on Wednesday and urged more attacks, as the group tried to counter the incoming U.S. president's global popularity.

AP - Associates of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the former first lady is weighing whether to leave the Senate and become secretary of state in the Obama administration, a job they say she believes is hers if she wants it.

AP - The security agreement between U.S. and Iraq provides both the time and authority needed for American troops to train Iraqi forces and go after terrorists, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Wednesday.

AP - Israeli archaeologists excavating what they believe is the tomb of biblical King Herod said Wednesday they have unearthed lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East and signs of a regal two-story mausoleum, bolstering their conviction that the Jewish monarch was buried here.

AP - Winona Ryder was briefly hospitalized after falling ill on a flight to London's Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, her publicist said. Mara Buxbaum said the 37-year-old actress was taken to a west London hospital 'as a precaution' and had been released.

AP - Three male and three female inmates at a southern Indiana jail face charges that they devised a way to sneak between cell blocks to help pass their time behind bars by having sex.

AP - The Kansas City Royals picked up the leadoff hitter they had been seeking on Wednesday, acquiring center fielder Coco Crisp from the Boston Red Sox for reliever Ramon Ramirez.

Reuters - Federal Reserve officials slashed economic growth forecasts through 2009 and some believed even deeper interest rate cuts may be needed if growth slows further, minutes of their October policy meeting show.

Reuters - Al Qaeda's deputy leader accused Barack Obama of betraying his race and his father's Muslim heritage on Wednesday and urged more attacks, as the group tried to counter the incoming U.S. president's global popularity.

AFP - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate 'mother vessel' in the Gulf of Aden, the navy said Wednesday, as bandits demanded a ransom for a Saudi super-tanker seized in the most daring sea raid yet.

AFP - Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri ridiculed US president-elect Barack Obama as a 'house negro' and warned him against sending more troops to Afghanistan, in an Internet audio message released on Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a legal challenge against the state's voter-approved ban on gay marriage and let the ban stand until it ruled.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama selected Tom Daschle, a heavyweight former senator, to be his health secretary on Wednesday, while former President Bill Clinton took steps to help secure his wife the nation's top diplomatic job.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co , Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp tumbled to multiyear lows on Wednesday on expectations that deteriorating credit conditions and a contracting economy will weigh heavily on the three largest U.S. banks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer prices fell at a record pace in October and new-home building slumped to fresh lows, according to government reports on Wednesday that suggested the economy likely is already in a recession that may be long and deep.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is refusing to make public the security pact it has signed with Iraq, even though it has already been published in full in an Iraqi newspaper, a congressional hearing was told on Wednesday.

AP - Wall Street hit levels not seen since 2003 on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average plunging below the 8,000 mark as the fate of Detroit's Big Three automakers amid a slumping economy disheartened investors.

AP - California's highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state's new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules.

AP - King Herod may have been buried in a crypt with lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday. The scientists found such paintings and signs of a regal two-story mausoleum, bolstering their conviction that the ancient Jewish monarch was buried there.

Reuters - California's Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a legal challenge against the state's voter-approved ban on gay marriage and let the ban stand until it ruled.

Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama selected Tom Daschle, a heavyweight former senator, to be his health secretary on Wednesday, while former President Bill Clinton took steps to help secure his wife the nation's top diplomatic job.

Reuters - Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co , Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp tumbled to multiyear lows on Wednesday on expectations that deteriorating credit conditions and a contracting economy will weigh heavily on the three largest U.S. banks.

Reuters - Consumer prices fell at a record pace in October and new-home building slumped to fresh lows, according to government reports on Wednesday that suggested the economy likely is already in a recession that may be long and deep.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve officials have pared their outlook for economic growth through 2009 to minimal levels and are prepared to cut interest rates further, while concern has risen that a deflationary spiral may take hold.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Tom Daschle, a key early supporter and former U.S. Senate leader, as his top official to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, two Democratic sources said on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc faced a crisis of confidence on Wednesday as investors questioned the survival prospects of the U.S. banking giant, and its shares tumbled 23 percent to a 13-year low.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's deputy leader accused Barack Obama of betraying his race and his father's Muslim heritage on Wednesday and urged more attacks, as the group tried to counter the incoming U.S. president's global popularity.

AP - A Democratic Congress, unwilling or unable to approve a $25 billion bailout for Detroit's Big Three, appears ready to punt the automakers' fate to a lame-duck Republican president.

AP - A growing fear of economic deflation helped take the air out of the stock market Wednesday, and another white-knuckle final hour on Wall Street pushed the Dow Jones industrials under 8,000 to their lowest close since the financial meltdown began.

AP - Barack Obama is enlisting former Senate leader Tom Daschle as his health secretary, embracing a third Washington insider in the early stages of Cabinet-building by the president-elect who promised change. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the capital's most famous woman for two decades, seemed ever more likely to be his secretary of state.

AP - A Texas judge has set an arraignment for Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other officials accused of involvement in prisoner abuse.

AP - The Kansas City Royals picked up the leadoff hitter they had been seeking, acquiring center fielder Coco Crisp from the Boston Red Sox for reliever Ramon Ramirez on Wednesday.

Reuters - U.S. auto executives went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a second day to plead for $25 billion in government aid, but legislators tried to fashion a last-minute compromise bailout bill that could pass both Congressional and White House muster.

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Tom Daschle, a key early supporter and former U.S. Senate leader, as his top official to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, two Democratic sources said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Citigroup Inc faced a crisis of confidence on Wednesday as investors questioned the survival prospects of the U.S. banking giant, and its shares tumbled 23 percent to a 13-year low.

AFP - At least one Thai anti-government protester was killed and 21 were wounded in a pre-dawn bomb blast Thursday inside a demonstration site in Bangkok, emergency services said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. auto executives went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a second day to plead for $25 billion in government aid, but legislators tried to fashion a last-minute compromise bailout bill that could pass both Congressional and White House muster.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks plunged to their lowest in five-and-a-half years on Wednesday as investors girded for a lengthy economic downturn and automotive executives predicted a far-reaching calamity without a government lifeline.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The government is investigating if homeowners were misled by California bank and mortgage issuer Golden West Financial, which was acquired by Wachovia Corp -- another possible victim.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The only Guantanamo Bay inmate convicted of terrorism offences, Australian David Hicks, has broken his self-imposed silence, calling on police to relax stringent controls over his freedom since his release from jail.

AP - Animals and plants in danger of becoming extinct could lose the protection of government experts who make sure that dams, highways and other projects don't pose a threat, under regulations the Bush administration is set to put in place before President-elect Obama can reverse them.

AP - A Texas judge has set a Friday arraignment for Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others named in indictments accusing them of responsibility for prisoner abuse in a federal detention center.

AP - Paris Hilton and her boyfriend of nine months, Benji Madden, have broken up. Hilton publicist Alanna McCarthy said Wednesday that the two 'remain very good friends.' She wouldn't say more.

AP - Desperate for starting pitchers, the New York Yankees expect to enter next season without 20-game winner Mike Mussina. FoxSports.com reported Wednesday that Mussina intends to retire and will make the move official this week. In the report, the Web site cited unidentified major league sources.

Reuters - The government is investigating if homeowners were misled by California bank and mortgage issuer Golden West Financial, which was acquired by Wachovia Corp -- another possible victim.

Reuters - The only Guantanamo Bay inmate convicted of terrorism offences, Australian David Hicks, has broken his self-imposed silence, calling on police to relax stringent controls over his freedom since his release from jail.

AFP - The Saudi owners of the Sirius Star are in negotiations with Somali pirates who have demanded a ransom for the super-tanker laden with 100 million dollars of oil they hijacked at the weekend.

AFP - French judicial officials on Wednesday charged a longtime comrade-in-arms of Rwanda's president over an assassination in the run-up to the 1994 genocide, as anti-European protests unfolded in Kigali.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chances dimmed that a last-minute plan being crafted by Republican senators, with White House support, to provide $25 billion to bail out U.S. automakers would receive enough backing from Democrats to pass before the end of this week.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's top choice to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Missouri woman established a fake identity online to torment a vulnerable teenage girl who later committed suicide, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday in a trial that is being closely watched by the burgeoning social networking industry.

Reuters - Chances dimmed that a last-minute plan being crafted by Republican senators, with White House support, to provide $25 billion to bail out U.S. automakers would receive enough backing from Democrats to pass before the end of this week.

Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's top choice to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources.