AP - Hurricane Ike's death toll in the U.S. climbed past 50 on Wednesday and appeared to level off in Texas, where search teams pulled out of Galveston having searched the entire island for survivors.

AP - The U.S. Army has charged three soldiers with murder for their role in the killing of Iraqis last year.

AP - Another day, but not just another bailout. This one's a stunning government takeover.

AP - Attackers armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and at least one suicide car bomb assaulted the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday. Sixteen people were killed, including six assailants, officials said.

AP - Wall Street plunged again Wednesday, with anxieties about the financial system still running high after the government bailed out insurer American International Group Inc. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped about 300 points.

AFP - Members of Israel's governing Kadima party headed to the polls on Wednesday to elect a new leader, with the foreign minister and a hawkish former general vying to replace scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

AFP - The US Federal Reserve pumped 85 billion dollars into AIG to stop the US insurance giant joining the Wall Street scrap heap, but stock markets were on edge on persistent fears over financial groups.

Reuters - China said on Wednesday a third infant had died after drinking contaminated milk, while the number of sick rocketed and an official said the health threat had been hidden for at least a month.

Reuters - The top U.S. military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, held talks with Pakistani leaders on Wednesday aiming to patch up ties strained by a flurry of U.S. strikes against militants in Pakistan.

Reuters - A roadside bomb killed four soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition force and an Afghan national in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

Reuters - A suspected car bomb followed by heavy gunfire targeted the U.S. embassy in Yemen on Wednesday and at least two people, including one of the attackers, were believed to be killed, witnesses and police said.

Reuters - Japan, Australia and India pumped $33 billion into money markets on Wednesday as a U.S. government rescue of insurer AIG failed to soothe frayed nerves and ease a funding squeeze triggered by the crisis engulfing Wall Street.

Reuters - Investment bank Morgan Stanley is weighing whether it should remain independent or merge with a bank, give the recent turbulence in the company's share price, broadcaster CNBC reported on Wednesday.

Reuters - U.S. authorities engineered an $85 billion rescue of insurance giant American International Group Inc , staving off bankruptcy and bringing a measure of calm to shell-shocked global markets.