AP - Most years the big questions preceding the Nobel Prize in literature are, will it be a man or woman, poet or novelist?

AP - A customer opened fire in a crowded shopping mall Wednesday afternoon, killing a clothing store employee before he was shot and wounded by police officers, authorities said. Witnesses said the gunfire sent people "stampeding" for cover.

AP - Barack Obama spent $3.3 million in TV advertising on Monday. At that rate the Democrat will spend more than $90 million on ads through Election Day — more than all the money Republican rival John McCain has to spend on his entire fall campaign.

AP - The leaders of Thailand's anti-government protesters said Thursday they will surrender to police after a court dropped treason charges against them, but vowed to continue their sit-in at the prime minister's office after posting bail.

AP - The United States on Thursday will push NATO allies to order their troops to target Afghanistan's thriving heroin trade in a bid to stem the flow of drug money to the widening insurgency against the troubled international military mission.

AP - Asian markets were mixed Thursday as investor enthusiasm over rate cuts around the world gave way to persisent fears over the severe strains in credit markets and the prospect of a global recession.

AP - The Bush administration is considering taking ownership stakes in certain U.S. banks as an option for dealing with a severe global credit crisis.

AFP - Russian forces completed a withdrawal from buffer zones around Georgia's rebel regions Wednesday, two months after a war over South Ossetia poisoned relations between Moscow and the West.

AFP - Major central banks launched coordinated interest rate cuts on Wednesday in a new gamble to counter the global financial crisis but failed to quell panic on global stock markets.

Reuters - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday abandoned the search for a coalition to take over from the current "orange" government, dissolved parliament and called an early election to the chamber.

Reuters - President George W. Bush on Wednesday signed legislation that will allow the United States and India to open up nuclear trade between the two countries.

Reuters - MetLife Inc shares fell 13 percent on Wednesday, one day after the largest U.S. life insurer by assets announced plans to raise capital, cut an unspecified number of jobs and withdrew its 2008 earnings guidance in the middle of a global credit squeeze.

Reuters - The International Monetary Fund, in its bleakest forecast in years, said on Wednesday the world economy was set for a major downturn with the United States and Europe either in or on the brink of recession.