AFP - North Korea is preparing to restart a nuclear reprocessing plant used to make weapons-grade material as a crucial six-party disarmament-for-aid deal founders, the UN atomic watchdog said Wednesday.
Reuters - Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin heard about foreign policy challenges ranging from Russia to Latin America on Tuesday in a drive to prepare her for a debate with her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden.
Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday that North Korea's actions to reactivate its nuclear plant did not mean an end to six-party nuclear talks but deepened Pyongyang's isolation.
Reuters - The Pakistani military said on Wednesday a pilotless aircraft that crashed in the northwestern region of South Waziristan had been recovered, but the Pentagon denied any U.S. drone had been lost in the area.
Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama has opened a 9-point lead over Republican John McCain in the U.S. presidential race amid turmoil in the financial system and growing pessimism about the economy, according to a Washington Post-ABC News national opinion poll released on Wednesday.
Reuters - North Korea has expelled U.N. monitors from its plutonium-making nuclear plant and plans to start reactivating it next week, rowing back from a 2007 deal to scrap its atomic bomb program, officials said on Wednesday.
Reuters - The FBI is investigating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and insurer American International Group Inc, expanding its probe of potential corporate fraud, law enforcement officials said on Wednesday.
Reuters - The White House's proposed $700 billion financial bailout met skepticism and anger from lawmakers on Wednesday, stoking fresh anxiety on Wall Street despite a $5 billion Wall Street investment by billionaire Warren Buffett that was hailed as a vote of confidence.
AP - The investigation into the ages of China's gold-medal women's gymnastics team has been expanded to include members of the 2000 team that won a bronze in Sydney, the Associated Press has learned.
AP - Pop music icon Paul McCartney said Wednesday he's carrying a message of peace for Israel and the Palestinians, rejecting criticism of his planned concert in Tel Aviv.
AP - Iraq's parliament overwhelmingly approved a provincial elections law Wednesday, overcoming months of deadlock and giving a boost to U.S.-backed national reconciliation efforts.
AP - North Korea barred U.N. nuclear inspectors from its main plutonium reprocessing plant Wednesday and within a week plans to reactivate the facility that once provided the fissile material for its atomic test explosion, a senior U.N. nuclear inspector said.
AP - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday questioned John McCain's judgment to be commander in chief, arguing that the Republican presidential candidate would keep digging the United States into a hole of isolation and insecurity.
