AP - Democrat Barack Obama reached for middle ground on education this week, opening a debate with John McCain over who would do more to put good teachers in classrooms and help parents find alternatives to bad schools.

AP - Some Texas residents who have special medical needs in the Corpus Christi area were being told to evacuate in advance of Hurricane Ike as it steams into the Gulf of Mexico.

AP - Top defense leaders are telling Congress the U.S. must be cautious as the Pentagon begins to cut troops in Iraq and focus more attention on the escalating fight in Afghanistan.

AP - OPEC oil ministers agreed Wednesday to trim overall output by more than 500,000 barrels a day in a compromise meant to avoid new turmoil in crude markets while seeking to bolster falling prices.

AP - The world's biggest physics experiment has succeeded in its first major test as a beam of protons was successfully fired all the way around a 17-mile tunnel beneath the Swiss-French border.

AP - North Korea denied Wednesday that leader Kim Jong Il is seriously ill, granting a Japanese news outlet a rare chance to interview top officials who dismissed widespread reports questioning Kim's health.

AFP - President George W. Bush announced Tuesday modest cuts in US troop levels in Iraq, a move that drew a sharp attack from opponents of the war pushing for a speedier drawdown.

AFP - Asif Ali Zardari took office as Pakistan's new president Tuesday, and immediately pledged to work with Afghanistan to fight terrorism which has claimed thousands of lives in both countries.

Reuters - Russia announced plans on Tuesday to station about 7,600 troops in Georgia's separatist regions, more than twice the number based there before last month's war and a level likely to alarm the West.

Reuters - President George W. Bush's plan to keep most U.S. troops in Iraq and shift a few thousand to Afghanistan drew quick criticism on Tuesday from top Democrats, led by presidential hopeful Barack Obama who said it was not enough to combat escalating violence in Afghanistan.

Reuters - The U.S. House of Representatives is discussing an auto industry request to set in motion at least $25 billion in government-backed loans to help beleaguered U.S. manufacturers retool plants to make more efficient cars and trucks, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday.

Reuters - More than 50 people were killed and hundreds more may be missing in north China after a reservoir of mining waste collapsed, burying cars and homes under a wall of sludge.

Reuters - The United States said on Tuesday it would examine how to help rebuild Georgia's military after Tbilisi's devastating war with Russia, risking renewed Russian wrath over military aid to the small U.S. ally.

Reuters - Republican presidential candidate John McCain has gained huge support among white women since naming Sarah Palin as his running mate and now leads Democrat Barack Obama among those voters, according to a survey published on Tuesday.