AP - Attackers armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and at least one suicide car bomb assaulted the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday. Sixteen people were killed, including six assailants, officials said.

AFP - French Defence Minister Herve Morin on Wednesday said years of under-investment in defence by European countries was to blame for a critical shortage of international forces in Afghanistan.

AFP - US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen Wednesday held talks with Pakistan's top army official and prime minister amid tensions after recent cross-border raids by US forces based in Afghanistan.

Reuters - Nigerian militants threatened on Wednesday to broaden their "oil war" to offshore oilfields, after attacking another Shell-operated oil flow station in the Niger Delta.

AP - The message was clear when two explosions ripped through crowds of Mexican Independence Day revelers: Anyone, anywhere, is fair game when it comes to Mexico's intensifying violence.

AFP - Bank Lloyds TSB is in talks to buy bank HBOS, whose share price has collapsed in value this week, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

AP - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday expressed "personal regret" for recent U.S. airstrikes that killed Afghan civilians, and pledged more accurate targeting in future.

AP - The U.S. military chief met with Pakistani officials Wednesday amid a flap between the two allies over recent American attacks on militant targets in tribal areas near the Afghan border.

AP - Thai lawmakers on Wednesday turned to the brother-in-law of deposed leader Thaksin Shinawatra to be the new prime minister, setting up a showdown with protesters determined to tear down his political legacy.

AP - Rivals for the leadership of Israel's ruling party faced off Wednesday in a race which will put one of them a step closer to leadership of the country.

AP - A car bomb targeting the U.S. Embassy hit the front gate of the compound in Yemen's capital on Wednesday, causing unspecified casualties, a U.S. spokesman said.

AP - A powerful undersea earthquake rocked East Timor's capital on Tuesday, sending terrified residents fleeing from homes and buildings, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Reuters - U.S. defence chiefs visited Afghanistan and Pakistan on Tuesday amid growing fears that American-led forces are failing to crush a rising Taliban insurgency, and anger in Pakistan over U.S. cross-border raids.

AFP - Sudan and Chad are to restore diplomatic relations, mediators said Tuesday, five months after Khartoum accused Ndjamena of backing rebels in its Darfur region.