AP - Even with India's last-minute revival of a languishing civil nuclear accord with the United States, it may be too late for time-pressed U.S. lawmakers to ratify what has been one of President Bush's top foreign policy initiatives.

AP - Think of your favorite recipe for salsa. Three common ingredients now are suspects in the salmonella poisonings that have become the nation's largest foodborne outbreak in at least a decade.

AP - Prosecutors cleared JonBenet Ramsey's parents and brother Wednesday in the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old beauty queen, saying they were "deeply sorry" for putting the family under a cloud of suspicion that hung heavy for more than a decade.

AP - Hundreds of thousands of homeowners could get safe, cheaper loans rather than losing their homes under a massive election-year mortgage rescue that's drawing bipartisan support.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday that the United States will not back down in the face of Iranian threats against Israel.

AFP - Three gunmen and three Turkish policemen were killed Wednesday in an attack outside the well-fortified US consulate in Istanbul that was condemned by US and Turkish officials as a "terrorist" act.

AFP - Iran on Wednesday test-fired a missile it said is capable of reaching Israel, angering the United States amid growing fears that the standoff over the contested Iranian nuclear drive could lead to war.

Reuters - Iraqi security forces will largely be able to fight on their own without combat help from U.S. ground forces by the middle of 2009, the senior U.S. Army officer in charge of training Iraqi forces said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Russia will consider how to retaliate over a planned U.S. missile shield but wants to continue talks on the issue with Washington, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Hurricane Bertha was expected to strengthen again as it neared Bermuda but it remained uncertain whether the first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic storm season would actually hit the British colony, U.S. forecasters said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Northwest Airlines Corp said on Wednesday it would cut its frontline and management staff by 8 percent as part of a sweeping capacity reduction aimed at offsetting the soaring cost of jet fuel.

Reuters - Barack Obama has spent days rejecting charges of flip-flopping on Iraq, but the presidential contender on Wednesday owned up to changing positions on another issue -- letting his daughters be interviewed on television.

Reuters - The United States on Wednesday condemned the attack on its consulate in Istanbul and a State Department spokesman said he could neither confirm nor rule out al Qaeda involvement.

Reuters - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday he planned to reopen a $35 billion competition between Boeing Co and a team of Northrop Grumman Corp and Europe's EADS to build new aerial refueling tankers.

Reuters - Iran test-fired nine missiles on Wednesday and warned the United States and Israel it was ready to retaliate for any attack over its disputed nuclear projects.