Reuters - A U.S. missile strike killed five militants in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, a Pakistani official said.

Reuters - U.S. federal regulators recently called a number of banks asking if they would consider buying Washington Mutual Inc should it eventually falter, the New York Post said, citing sources.

Reuters - John McCain called for an end to the "casino culture on Wall Street" and Barack Obama demanded protection for ordinary investors on Wednesday as financial markets stumbled again on news of a government bailout of a giant U.S. insurer.

Reuters - British bank Lloyds TSB is in advanced talks to buy rival HBOS Plc to create a 24 billion pound ($43 billion) mortgage giant as the credit crunch forces more troubled banks into the arms of better-funded rivals.

Reuters - Two suicide car bombs set off a series of explosions outside the heavily fortified U.S. embassy in Yemen on Wednesday, killing 16 people including six attackers, a Yemeni Interior Ministry official said.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama has a 2-point lead in the U.S. presidential race on Republican John McCain, whose choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate helped shore up support for both candidates, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Reuters - Shares of Wall Street firms Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs plummeted on Wednesday and Britain's biggest mortgage lender neared a sale in the latest signs of extreme distress in the financial industry.

Reuters - Wall Street's woes continued on Wednesday as a spike in inter-bank lending rates fanned fears about the supply of credit in global markets, pushing stocks lower. The Nasdaq index fell more than 4 percent.

AP - Several Tour de France riders are having their blood samples retested for traces of the banned blood-booster EPO.

AP - Authorities say they have arrested actor Ryan O'Neal and his son on suspicion of having drugs in their Malibu home.

AP - The chairman of the of Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday he does not believe that Dr. Bruce Ivins acted alone in the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks.

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 - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a day after flatly rejecting the idea of a taxpayer bailout for American International Group Inc., said Wednesday that the government had been "forced" into proposing an $85 billion loan to the nation's largest insurer.

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.