AP - The ship, operating off the coast of Oman in the lawless waters of the Gulf of Aden, was crewed by heavily armed men, some carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Behind it were a pair of speedboats ? the sort pirates often use when they launch attacks on merchant ships in these violent seas.

AP - Katy Phiri, who is in her 70s, picks up single corn kernels spilled from trucks that ferry the harvest to market. She says she hasn't eaten for three days.

AP - Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women ? even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages.

AP - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites. The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies.

AP - The U.S. military apparently struck at Islamic militants outside Pakistan's lawless tribal belt for the first time Wednesday, firing a missile that killed six suspected insurgents taking refuge away from the conflict zone along the Afghan border.

AFP - Second-half goals from Sandor Torghelle and Fulham's Zoltan Gera saw Hungary to a 2-0 win against Northern Ireland at a rainswept Windsor Park in an international friendly here Wednesday.

AP - Israel stood fast Wednesday by its decision to clamp shut cargo crossings at the Gaza Strip, brushing off pleas to ease the blockade from United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

AP - Sunday's elections in Venezuela will be a key test for President Hugo Chavez a year after voters defeated his effort to change the constitution, and the socialist leader isn't missing a beat as he campaigns for his allies.

AFP - Rose Kabuye, a close associate of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, was placed under judicial investigation Wednesday in France over the April 1994 assassination of then-president Juvenal Habyarimana that preceded the Rwandan genocide, a judicial source said.

AP - Tearful relatives of sailors lost in a World War II sea battle threw flowers into the sea on Wednesday as Australia marked the 67th anniversary of the sinking of the HMAS Sydney ? the first since the ship was found on the ocean floor after decades of mystery.