AP - NASA is delaying next month's shuttle launch to the Hubble Space Telescope because of problems stemming from Hurricane Ike and replacement parts for the observatory.

AP - Food recalls expanded in Europe and Asia Thursday as an industrial chemical linked to the deaths of four babies turned up in candies and other Chinese-made exports that were quickly pulled from store shelves.

AP - Zimbabwe's president is only four Cabinet posts away from carrying out a power-sharing agreement with the opposition, he said in an interview ahead of his Thursday address to the U.N. General Assembly.

AP - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is visiting Washington to rally support in Congress for a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement reached long ago with the Bush administration.

AP - Pakistan's new president said he was trying to convince his country to support the war against Islamic extremists, after a group that claimed responsibility for the Marriott Hotel bombing threatened more attacks.

AP - John McCain and Barack Obama say presidential politics should have no role in the government's efforts to save the crippled financial system. Yet, each is playing his own politics toward the same goals — showing leadership during crisis, getting credit for any solutions, and, ultimately, winning the presidency.

AP - President Bush is bringing presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain into negotiations on a $700 billion rescue of Wall Street as Democrats and Republicans near agreement on a bailout plan with more protections for taxpayers and new help for distressed homeowners.

AFP - Gunmen ambushed and killed 12 policemen and eight anti-Qaeda fighters in Diyala province north of Baghdad on Wednesday as rebel violence continued despite a security force crackdown.

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 - The U.S. Navy said on Wednesday it appeared pirates had tried to attack one of its big military oil tankers.