AP - Improved security in Iraq will give the U.S. military flexibility to do more in Afghanistan in coming months, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress Wednesday, after years of setting a lower priority for the Afghan fight.

AP - Hurricane Ike grew stronger as it barreled across the warm, energizing waters of the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday toward the Texas coast after crashing through Cuba's tobacco country and toppling aging Havana buildings.

AP - North Korea's Kim Jong Il is on the road to recovery from a stroke and still in control of his isolated country's communist regime, South Korea suggested Wednesday, disputing reports that the leader is gravely ill.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday accused Republican John McCain's campaign of using "lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics" in claiming he used a sexist comment against vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

AFP - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has suffered a minor stroke but his life is not in danger, a South Korean government official said Wednesday.

AFP - The world's most powerful atom-smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) began operations on Wednesday in a mission to pierce the greatest secrets of the physical Universe, scientists said.

Reuters - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Tuesday denounced the possibility of rich exit pay packets for the outgoing chiefs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as lawmakers weighed how to restructure the seized mortgage finance companies.

Reuters - Angry residents wailed and protested as rescuers in northern China kept hunting on Wednesday for dozens of victims feared trapped by a deluge of mud after a mine waste reservoir collapsed.

Reuters - After hours of wrangling, OPEC on Wednesday agreed to revise its complex output targets and said the move would effectively cut supplies by half a million barrels per day (bpd).

Reuters - The parties in Thailand's ruling coalition met behind closed doors on Wednesday to agree a replacement prime minister for Samak Sundaravej, who was removed by the courts for hosting TV cooking shows while in office.

Reuters - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is not ill, a top official in the secretive state was quoted as saying on Wednesday, dismissing speculation of a possible power shift in the world's first communist dynasty.

Reuters - Afghanistan welcomed on Wednesday a U.S. decision to send more troops but reiterated that the strengthening of Afghan security forces was the long-term answer to defeat militants.

Reuters - Hurricane Ike swirled over the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, targeting Texas near the U.S. offshore oil patch after toppling decrepit buildings in Cuba's capital and ripping the communist-run island from end to end.

Reuters - Lehman Brothers is set to announce key initiatives on Wednesday that could include plans to sell a package of British real estate assets to BlackRock Inc to raise much-needed capital to survive the global credit crisis.

AP - Lance Armstrong is ready to swear off the chips and salsa, climb back on the bike and win an eighth Tour de France. Three years after retiring, the 36-year-old says he'll return to competition and the Tour de France in 2009, giving up relaxed days of a few beers and Tex-Mex food for a self-described monk's life of disciplined training and punishing races.