AP - Life after Ike has come to mean misery by degree for many along the Texas coast.

AP - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday expressed "personal regret" for recent U.S. airstrikes that killed Afghan civilians, and pledged more accurate targeting in future.

AP - Rivals for the leadership of Israel's ruling party faced off Wednesday in a race which will put one of them a step closer to leadership of the country.

AP - A car bomb targeting the U.S. Embassy hit the front gate of the compound in Yemen's capital on Wednesday, causing unspecified casualties, a U.S. spokesman said.

AP - Offshore oil drilling, which has dominated energy debates in the presidential campaign, is now coming to the Senate.

AP - Asian stock markets partly recovered Wednesday after the U.S. government announced a $85 billion plan to bail out troubled insurance giant American International Group Inc.

AP - Another day, another bailout. The U.S. government stepped in Tuesday to rescue American International Group Inc., one of the world's largest insurers, with an $85 billion injection of taxpayer money.

AFP - Ukraine's governing coalition collapsed on Tuesday in a crisis that threatens to knock the ex-Soviet country of 47 million people off its pro-Western course and back into Moscow's orbit.

AFP - World stock markets tumbled for a second straight day on Tuesday, with investors unnerved by the risk of a full-blown global financial crisis despite huge cash injections from central banks.

Reuters - A major study links a chemical used in many plastic products including baby bottles to human problems such as heart disease and diabetes, while U.S. regulators on Tuesday said they still believe it is safe.

Reuters - The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on Tuesday on a comprehensive energy package that would open most of the U.S. coastline to offshore drilling, a Democratic aide said on Monday.

Reuters - The Bush administration has intensified efforts to send more security detainees from Guantanamo Bay to their own countries but hopes are very dim of closing the prison by year-end, senior U.S. officials say.

Reuters - President George W. Bush on Tuesday toured the island of Galveston, which bore the brunt of Hurricane Ike's devastation, and pledged swift federal aid for millions of storm-struck Texans as the energy hub of Houston struggled to recover.

Reuters - U.S. defence chiefs visited Afghanistan and Pakistan on Tuesday amid growing fears that American-led forces are failing to crush a rising Taliban insurgency, and anger in Pakistan over U.S. cross-border raids.