AP - A regulatory group told hospitals Wednesday to adopt strict measures to prevent errors involving blood thinners including heparin — mistakes that have been made nearly 60,000 times and led to dozens of deaths in recent years. -- read full article
AP - Outspoken conservative Taro Aso took power as Japan's prime minister on Wednesday after he overcame opposition forces in a split parliament, tasked with rejuvenating the ailing ruling party ahead of elections.
AP - Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.
AP - Afghanistan's president, who addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, is urging the next American leader to send money, planes and equipment to strengthen the Afghan army.
AP - Major tax legislation that would save 20 million people from the clutches of the alternative minimum tax and renew dozens of popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals is being taken up in the House, where its fate is uncertain. -- read full article
AP - The Pakistani army said Wednesday it found the wreckage of a suspected U.S. spy plane near the Afghan border, but blamed a malfunction — not ground fire — for the crash.
AP - Executives whose companies get a piece of the $700 billion government bailout will have their pay packages strictly limited under proposals that are broadly supported by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
AFP - Eleven South African cabinet members abandoned ship on Tuesday in the wake of President Thabo Mbeki's resignation in what opposition parties termed a disaster for the country's stability.
AFP - A masked student went on the rampage at a Finnish school Tuesday, methodically gunning down 10 people before turning the weapon on himself, a day after police quizzed him over a chilling YouTube warning.
Reuters - The head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said on Tuesday there was no reason for Iran to pursue uranium enrichment technology because there was a plentiful supply of the nuclear fuel abroad. -- read full article
Reuters - Islamist safe havens in western Pakistan are threatening the existence of Pakistan's civilian government through increased attacks, including last weekend's Marriott hotel bombing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday.
Reuters - China vowed to stop toxic milk from reaching processors and export markets after tainted infant powder made more than 54,000 children sick in a scandal that has mired the nation's trade reputation in a fresh crisis.
Reuters - A student gunman shot and killed 10 people at a vocational school in western Finland on Tuesday before turning the gun on himself, in the country's second such attack in less than a year.
Reuters - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said on Tuesday a $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan would likely delay some campaign spending promises, as the reality sank in of the costs of the mammoth bailout.
