AP - Brad Pitt has donated $100,000 to fight California's November ballot initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

AP - The wife of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards says her husband's extramarital affair has allowed her to focus on the importance of her children and health reform as she goes through "an ongoing process of finding your feet again."

AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Thursday he would fire Securities and Exchange Chairman Christopher Cox if he were president, accusing the former GOP congressman of betraying the public's trust.

AP - An ultra-Orthodox Jewish party run by an octogenarian rabbi who has said Hurricane Katrina was divine punishment emerged Thursday as the kingmaker in forming the next Israeli government.

AP - The barrier island community of Galveston just "isn't ready" for residents to return even briefly to the city thrashed by Hurricane Ike, officials said Thursday as they pleaded for at least another week to make repairs.

AP - Eager to show that he feels people's pain, President Bush scuttled a political fundraising trip Thursday to tell the country his administration is working feverishly to calm turmoil in the financial markets.

AP - Wall Street's biggest crisis since the Great Depression forced the Federal Reserve and central banks in other countries to pump billions of dollars into the world's banking system in an urgent bid to stop further damage.

AFP - Fresh from her election as the head of Israel's governing Kadima party, Tzipi Livni on Thursday set out to become the country's second woman prime minister and avert snap elections that could stall Middle East peacemaking.

AFP - The Bank of England on Thursday announced a package of liquidity-boosting measures backed by other central banks including the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan.

Reuters - Yemeni authorities have arrested 19 people suspected of being connected to al Qaeda and having links to Wednesday's attack on the heavily fortified U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Al-Arabiya television said on Thursday.

Reuters - The United States did not inform Pakistan about a missile strike on militants hours after the top U.S. military officer said the United States would respect Pakistan's sovereignty, Pakistan's foreign minister said.

Reuters - Seven U.S. soldiers were killed when a Chinook transport helicopter crashed in southern Iraq on Thursday, the U.S. military said.

Reuters - Tzipi Livni was narrowly elected leader of Israel's ruling party and vowed on Thursday to start work immediately on forming a new coalition that will let her succeed the scandal-hit Ehud Olmert as prime minister.

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