Reuters - On a misty mountaintop on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, scientists for the first time in more than eight decades have observed a living pygmy tarsier, one of the planet's smallest and rarest primates.

Reuters - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and gunmen from Somalia seized two more vessels despite a large international naval presence off their lawless country.

AP - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton drew about 18 million votes as a presidential candidate. But that doesn't necessarily count for much in the Senate, where seniority rules, and so far not in her favor.

AP - Sen. Ted Stevens' election defeat marks the end of an era in which he held a commanding place in Alaska politics while wielding power on some of the most influential committees in Congress.

AP - The first black man elected U.S. president is poised to name Washington lawyer Eric Holder as the nation's first black attorney general — a historic appointment but one with some potential political problems over a 2001 pardon.

AP - Detroit's Big Three automakers are running out of time in their quest to convince skeptical lawmakers that Congress should throw them a $25 billion lifeline.

AFP - Just ahead of the 725th anniversary of the Pied Piper reputedly banishing a plague of rats from Hamelin, there has been an "explosion" in the German town's rodent population, officials said Tuesday.

AP - A suspected U.S. missile strike hit a village deep inside Pakistani territory Wednesday, officials said, killing six alleged militants and indicating American willingness to pursue insurgents beyond Pakistan's lawless tribal regions.

U.S. News & World Report - KABUL--As the U.S. military garners increasing counterinsurgency experience in America's long-standing war in Afghanistan, soldiers are questioning one military restriction that has long been the norm within the U.S. armed forces: the prohibition against beards.

AP - Cody Linley won't be graduating "Dancing with the Stars." The 18-year-old "Hannah Montana" actor and his professional partner, Julianne Hough, were eliminated Tuesday from ABC's popular dancing competition.

AP - The prostitute at the center of the salacious scandal that brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and generated national headlines is going to dish on her life as a pricey escort.

AP - The U.S. military says it has arrested an alleged senior member of the Iranian security forces suspected of funneling weapons into Iraq.

AP - Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been indicted on state charges involving federal prisons in a South Texas county that has been a source of bizarre legal and political battles under the outgoing prosecutor.

Reuters - General Electric Co is recalling about 244,000 wall ovens under the GE, GE Profile, Monogram and Kenmore brands because of a fire and burn hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Tuesday.

AP - With a trio of once-ferocious wildfires reduced to mostly embers, authorities in Southern California shifted their attention from the blazes to their causes, and said a group of careless college kids was behind the first of them.

Reuters - Bolivian farmer Primo Rivera had long wondered about the dents in a rocky hill near his home. Paleontologists solved the mystery this month: they are fossilized dinosaur footprints -- the oldest in Bolivia.

AP - Flight controllers were revamping plans Wednesday for the remaining spacewalks planned during space shuttle Endeavour's visit to the international space station, after a crucial tool bag floated out to space during a repair trip.

AP - Minnesota's deadlocked U.S. Senate race will edge closer to resolution on Wednesday as an army of election workers begin a statewide recount of more than 2.9 million ballots.

Reuters - Cleveland's LeBron James became the youngest player to score 11,000 career NBA points in Tuesday's game against the New Jersey Nets.